The Arts, Government, and a Wake-Up Call
When the Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) announced it was losing $60,000 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the backlash was swift. News outlets lamented the blow to cultural heritage. CTH’s artistic director Ty Jones said it best: “I do hope that people will come out in droves.” He’s not wrong—what they do is vital to New York City’s cultural ecosystem, and their free “Uptown Shakespeare in the Park” in Marcus Garvey Park is a beloved community staple.
But pause for a moment before rushing to the nearest soapbox.
Let’s strip the emotional varnish off this situation and look at it through the cold, clear lens of business logic—the kind rarely used in nonprofit discourse, yet sorely needed. The truth is, President Trump’s proposed cuts to the NEA (and similar actions toward PBS and NPR) weren’t simply acts of barbarism against the arts. To some, these were acts of political vandalism. But to others—including many in the business world—they looked like strategic moves from someone who views funding through the unforgiving eye of return on investment and accountability..
Not good. Not bad. Just… different.
Unforgiving eye of return on investment and accountability. Not good. Not bad. Just… different. Or... just business.
The Problem No One Wants to Admit
Let’s address the elephant pirouetting in the wings: complacency.
Many nonprofit leaders—off the record, of course—will admit it’s an epidemic. There’s a well-documented lack of innovation, a near-total absence of urgency, and very little internal reward for taking real risks. A government check has often substituted for grit.
How often do you see nonprofit professionals bounce from job to job, never staying long enough to own the results of their efforts? That’s not a talent retention crisis—it’s a culture of evasion.
Trump, like any businessman, recognized a sector with its hand out and no performance metrics in sight. And he acted accordingly. If your knee-jerk reaction is to scream “censorship” or “anti-intellectualism,” stop and read Why Grantmakers Are Getting Tougher With Nonprofits. It’s a not-so-gentle reminder that philanthropy is increasingly allergic to complacency—and rightfully so.
And let’s be brutally honest here: some people I know in the nonprofit sector would be devoured if they entered the for-profit world. Crushed. Paralyzed. Not because they aren’t smart, but because they’ve been marinated in an environment where accountability is optional, results are subjective, and “collaboration” is often a substitute for decision-making.
Many nonprofit leaders admit complacency is an epidemic in the sector.
We're Hard Working. Hard Working In Our Comfort Zone.
Yes, the cuts sting. And yes, groups like CTH are the baby being thrown out with the bathwater. But here’s the part no one wants to say out loud: if your organization can’t survive without a government grant, the real problem is your business model.
That said, many of the nonprofits we work with are anything but complacent. They’re committed, innovative, and relentlessly resilient—adapting, experimenting, and doing the hard work most people never see. But that’s exactly why the broader sector needs a cultural shake-up: because the complacency of a few continues to create vulnerability for the many.
Ty Jones of CTH gets it. He told CBS News, “We’re not going to panic, so we’ll strategize, we’ll mobilize and we will execute.” That’s exactly the mindset that separates survivors from casualties in today’s funding landscape.
Jones even went on to say: “If you believe that CTH is great for NYC, we hope that you’ll go to our website, maybe make a donation, maybe buy a t-shirt, and if you have access to deeper pools of funding, contact me directly.”
That’s not begging. That’s business development.
Jones is one of the few arts leaders responding with resilience instead of victimhood. He deserves support. The Classical Theatre of Harlem deserves to thrive. But more importantly, they deserve to evolve.
If your organization can’t survive without a government grant, the real problem is your business model.
PBS, NPR, and the Safety Net Delusion
Paula Kerger, President of PBS, also pushed back hard against Trump’s NEA and CPB cuts. And predictably, the public responded with righteous indignation—cue hashtags, fundraising drives, and statements about the soul of America.
What often gets overlooked is that PBS and NPR are not just any nonprofits. They were created through the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 as congressionally chartered entities—meant to provide education and journalism free from commercial or political influence. Cutting their federal funding isn’t just a budget line—it signals a shift in how we view public scrutiny and shared cultural responsibility. Still, despite their unique origins, both organizations have become highly proactive fundraisers, with only about 15% of their revenue coming from government sources. That kind of diversified funding is exactly the model more nonprofits should adopt.
Look, we can admit PBS leans left—calm voices, neutral backdrops, and all. They still have an ideological slant. But they also do deeply valuable work in journalism, history, and education that transcends partisanship. The point isn’t whether they lean left or right. The point is whether we expect our most trusted public institutions to rely solely on government lifelines, or whether we build them to last. But here’s a counter-question: if these institutions are truly central to American culture, why should their survival hinge on a single line item in a federal budget?
What we’re witnessing isn’t an artistic crisis. It’s a test. And it’s long overdue.
The Solution That Doesn’t Make Headlines
There’s a reason we’ve been saying this for years at PlannedGiving.com and now on Philanthropy.org: don’t panic, plan. In fact, our editorial team just released a piece titled No One Ever Made Money by Panicking, and the title speaks for itself.
The arts—like every nonprofit subsector—need to move from the brittle model of transactional giving to the durable model of legacy giving. Planned giving isn’t sexy. It doesn’t trend on Twitter. But it works. And it lasts.
Imagine if every arts organization in America had invested even a fraction of their time building an endowment fueled by bequests, charitable gift annuities, or donor-advised funds. Would the NEA cuts still feel like a guillotine? Or would they simply feel like a shift in weather—uncomfortable, but not life-threatening?
Planned giving isn’t sexy. It doesn’t trend on Twitter. But guess what? It works. And it lasts.
Planned Giving: Your Safety Net Is You
Here’s the harsh but liberating truth: your donors already love you enough to support you for life.
You just haven’t asked them to support you beyond it.
Planned giving does what government grants and annual appeals can’t: it builds a future. Quietly. Reliably. Without needing to beg or plead.
The problem isn’t that Trump defunded the arts. The problem is that many arts organizations were never financially independent to begin with. And now they’re experiencing what business owners call “cash flow panic.” It’s ugly—but survivable.
If this is not addressed now, complacency will only metastasize. The next time the funding rug gets pulled, there may be no stage left to stand on.
At PlannedGiving.com, we’ve helped over 5,000 nonprofits—including theaters, museums, and orchestras—build the kind of revenue that doesn’t flinch in the face of political change. It’s time the arts joined them.
If this is not addressed now, complacency will only metastasize. The next time the funding rug gets pulled, there may be no stage left to stand on.
What Now?
It’s very straightforward:
- If you’re a donor: Don’t wait for Congress. Support the institutions you believe in. And ask how you can include them in your estate plans.
- If you’re a board member: Stop approving budgets that rely on hope and grants. Demand endowment strategies.
- If you’re a fundraiser: Learn how to talk about planned giving. If you don’t know how, start here. (You’re welcome.)
And if you’re part of an organization like CTH, don’t just survive this. Use it. Use it to build the kind of infrastructure that lasts beyond one presidency, one grant cycle, or one emergency appeal.
Or as we like to say around here, don’t panic—plan.
Because the arts shouldn’t have to beg. They should thrive!
Side note … Can you tell I am passionate about this? I am an artist myself.
