Building Financial Bench Strength

 

 

Point Breeze Performing Arts Center

With a mission of promoting “arts for social change,” Point Breeze Performing Arts Center (PBPAC) provides instruction to more than 1,000 performing arts students and sponsors performances and community events for over 70,000 people each year. As the scope of the organization has grown since its inception in 1984, so did its financial challenges. Its budget, which was about $5,000 when Executive Director Donna Brown joined the organization two decades ago, is now more than $1 million.

 

“We had a part-time bookkeeper coming in once or twice a week, but we couldn’t function that way,” Brown said. “We were at the mercy of whoever put the information into the computer the last time. She said she saw her time increasingly diverted to financial questions and away from critical work on fundraising, strategy and other issues. “It was hard for me because I was pulled in 30 different directions.”

 

A $55,200 PCMI Organizational Development Fund grant allowed Point Breeze to hire its first Director of Finance and Administration, along with an assistant. “It has had a profound effect on our organization,” she said. “We were able to completely overhaul our financial operations. We have to know where the money is being spent. Ultimately this is a business and while funders might appreciate the good works that you do, they also want to know where the money is being spent.”

 

Brown said rigorous financial systems also help in their planning. “At this point we are able to know when we can do something and when we can’t do something.” After proving the value of the position through the PCMI grant, they have now been able to attract other funds to sustain it.

 

“Being able to access PCMI funds and expertise gives organizations another level of sophistication and that is just key in today’s climate,” she said. “PCMI is a good resource for organizational capacity building. They provide more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on grants; you can have a conversation about what you need to do before you get to the point of submitting an application.”

 

After 20 years at Point Breeze, Brown is now working on succession issues with help from PCMI. “While we would all like to think we will live forever, you have to prepare for succession. I have a passion for seeing this organization live well beyond me. One thing I’ve learned in all these years is that your challenges change every time you reach another plateau. At each step, it is another challenge.”

 

Photo:

Courtesy of Point Breeze Performing Arts Center