Behind the ongoing programmatic and financial stresses being felt by nonprofit organizations at a time of economic uncertainty lays a vast territory of change in the sector as a whole. This means practitioners of all stripes unlearning a lot of things we have taken for granted, surfacing new assumptions to drive new thinking, and doing things differently across the board. Organizational innovation is challenging in a resource-strapped sector, but is now essential if field leaders are to successfully re-orient themselves to this new era. Fortunately, innovation can be systematized as a new organizational discipline, one that brings our best thinking together across traditional organizational and sector boundaries, and helps us make competitive use of our creative assets. Organizations across many countries are beginning to see that daring to risk a new approach can reveal new pathways to relevance and sustainability.

Video of the Conference Marketing de las Artes in Madrid 2016.

This case study originally released in 2011 describes how the Steppenwolf Theatre Company has addressed the vexing problem of falling ticket subscription rates by developing deeper relationships with both subscribers and non-subscribers. To that end, it launched an experiment centered on promoting a dialogue among audience members and the artists about the process of creating theater. Audience members took part in nightly post-show discussions, attended special thematic events and were offered access to a rich selection of online content—including videos, podcasts, blogs, articles and slide shows—in which the artists talked about their work from a variety of perspectives.

The result: During a two-year period, many audience members who used to attend only one performance per season bought tickets to two, three or more shows. At the same time, the relationship-deepening initiatives had the added benefit of supporting high subscriber renewal rates.

This report is part of a set of case studies and reports looking at the efforts of arts organizations that received Wallace Excellence Awards to reach new audiences and deepen relationships with current ones.

There are many important ways that nonprofit organizations can leverage the potential to collaborate, but one powerful strategy that is too often overlooked is to form a long-term, durable partnership through a strategic alliance or restructuring. Strategic partnerships can open whole new worlds of opportunity for serving your mission. They can broaden your reach, expand the range of your programs or services, and help you find more efficient ways to support your organization’s important work. 

This resource is a discussion guide for boards about these topics with cases studies.