San Francisco Arts Groups on Path to Becoming Property Owners

Artists need cheap living costs, but their presence improves a community and the property values. The State of Colorado and private developers are creating affordable housing and work spaces for artists in neighborhoods they want to thrive.

Like their for-profit counterparts, charities are starting to embrace Big Data as a means to perform more efficiently and share that performance with potential donors. Data gathered is used both to measure successes and to highlight areas where program structure could be improved.

In 2013, Detroit filed for bankruptcy because of a poor economy. While the city’s industrial businesses have floundered, the art scene has thrived, bringing in new sources of income through art galleries and investments in contemporary art. This new art scene is one factor to measure Detroit’s recovery and prospects of growth for the future.

Mitigating homelessness on Los Angeles' infamous "Skid Row" comprises myriad obstacles. But a collaboration between city officials, a USC architecture class project, and the Skid Row Housing Trust has responded with a multi-pronged solution in "pod-style" housing units. They have composed a cost-effective pre-fab design technology that eases their transportation, on-site construction and visual imposition on a neighborhood, while the pods' zoning classification as "congregant housing" minimizes the risk for local opposition to homeless support services on claims of structural or aesthetic noncompliance.

Traditional models of non-profit funding - as well as antiquated perceptions that create public pressure to limit overhead spending in philanthropic initiatives - has created an unsustainable, impossible-to-scale system in which many organizations with otherwise great potential often drown. "Much like [private] companies offering standard services or products, nonprofits need to build stability, investing in talent, training, R&D, and non-dilapidated offices, while putting aside some cash so they don’t live and die by the next grant cycle." The Ford Foundation is looking to challenge the ineffective result-driven method of funding non-profits through its new BUILD Program, which will allow for better focus on organizational resilience and sustainability.

In Tanzania, Population Services International is leading a project using Human Centered Design to solve reproductive health issues with the support of a philanthropist who is not only funding the project but it is bringing her expertise to support the work. This new philanthropy model has been launched by Maverick Collective and is stepping away from the traditional model, allowing philanthropists to work together with design and implementation teams.

'Tha Flower Factory' is setting out to help provide employment, mentor kids, and restore hopefulness and beauty to the city of Baltimore. This project employs individuals to plant flowers and seeds, helping bring down criminal records and change the landscape at the same time.

Some communities in Malawi are beginning to fight child marriage their own way—with music, dance, and a few tears, using theater to motivate cultural change.

Ecological toilets that use natural composting to break down waste are simple to construct, waterless and are easy to fix. But as philanthropists are finding, getting these to those that need it most is harder than anticipated.

An Oakland nonprofit that uses art for therapy has a startling track record for helping developmentally disabled adults become prolific—and profitable—artists.