Removing Barriers for Arts Participation in Marginalized Communities by Mapping The Invisible Needs of Arts & Culture Nonprofits…

Arts & Culture Invisible Needs Mapping Project

Opening and Building New Doors for Creativity, Creating Collaborative Environments For All To Reach Their Full Potential, Increasing Community Well-Being…

The simple fact is that while our arts, culture, and creativity nonprofits across the United States struggle amidst economic downturn, pandemics, budget cuts and more — we can use these same powers of creativity to listen to what these nonprofits needs, and bind together to fulfill these needs — collaboratively!

So, how do we help our arts & culture based nonprofits? How do we increase access to the arts for more people?

First, we LISTEN. We listen to what these organizations actually need. Here at ImpactPass we have been listening to our local nonprofits, and they don’t only need money — they have other needs that people simply don’t know about because the tools and infrastructure are not in place for these organizations to efficiently voice their needs.

We call these unknown needs ‘Invisible Needs’ and we are on a mission to map these needs, make them visible to would-be supporters, make it easy to fulfill these needs, and bridge the funding gap for nonprofits by giving millions of everyday people that opportunity to use a little creativity in their giving.

The Problem:
Our arts and culture nonprofits have needs that nobody in our communities know about. Think about this for a second.

Millions of everyday people that would love to support local arts & culture nonprofits literally have no clue what nonprofits in their local communities actually need. We are not talking about folks in the philanthropic ecosystem, we are talking about everyday people.

Believe us, we know. Incredible Art based nonprofits like ‘Give Kids Art’ routinely need art supplies for their holiday gift bags — yet nobody knows.

What we have found is that if everyday community members do know about these nonprofit needs — they step up and help. When everyday people do help, they not only increase arts participation, but increase positive community engagement and overall community well-being.

Importantly, giving can’t just be about money. This is a big turnoff for many folks who want to use their time, skills, or even unused stocking stuffer items they wish they could donate to someone. We need to make ‘Making an Impact ‘ about all the other invisible needs of nonprofits. Let’s talk about it. What are these invisible needs we keep talking about?

Invisible needs of local arts and culture nonprofits include everything from individual items, to volunteer time, skills, learning capacity, people’s powerful voices — and yes — monetary donations are always in need. Sadly, even if local community members wish to support these local nonprofits they can’t because they:

A. Don’t know the needs
B. Don’t have the time to research & find the needs
C. Live in an on-demand world where assisting a person or organization should be (scratch that / has to be!) as easy as ordering groceries or an Uber to your door.

The blank-check giving era is over. Increasingly, new generations of philanthropists of all ages want to know where their resources are going. This is where listening, understanding nonprofit needs, and serving them up to the public comes into play.

The Solution:
Let’s map the invisible needs of our arts and culture nonprofits so that local member’s of our communities can actually SEE what nonprofits need. It’s not brain surgery, it’s just commonsense, but the reality is that right now nonprofits (especially local on-the-ground smaller groups) have needs that nobody knows about.

Let’s give community members the ability to see the local arts and culture nonprofits in their neighborhoods that need assistance, and the ability to decide whether they want to give money, their time, items, skills, their voice or even their learning capacity! Often forgot about, the gift of learning about an issue, cause, or person is an action step that can lead to more giving and community involvement.

Let’s automate the giving process for art and culture nonprofits so that supporters can see and give in an on-demand fashion, as if they were ordering an Uber or Amazon groceries to their door.

Imagine a world where barriers for arts participation for marginalized communities — and beyond — are removed (or at least lessened) because we have a better understanding of the actual needs of our arts & culture nonprofits and the communities and people they serve. #ArtsParticipation #RemovingBarriers

Imagine a world where young people grow up with a better understanding of the needs in their local communities to be able to better assist their fellow neighbor. #listening #empathy #collaboration

Imagine a world where people wake up and right before they check their email, social media, or make a TikTok video in their kitchen — they have the ability to open up their local needs map and see which organizations in their cities have immediate real-time needs that day. #sustainablecities #integratedimpact

Imagine a world where we instill empathy for others, a deeper sense of gratitude, a willingness to listen to your neighbor and assist — and dare we say a world where we inject some fun and creativity into getting folks on lifelong personal philanthropic journeys. #personalgivingjourneys #collaborativephilanthropy #impacttogether

Imagine a world where The Arts aren’t left behind, but instead, our out-front. A world where people realize the importance of creativity and the importance of art that tells our stories, gives us energy and inspiration, and binds our nation together.

Imagine this new world, and let’s go create it together!

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ImpactPass Mission:
We are on a mission to make it easy for people to make an impact in their city or anywhere they go, while uplifting the often suppressed voices of our heroic and knowledgeable local Impact Leaders so they can education and action everyday people to move causes forward!