Pittsburgh is Art Day of Giving - 5.11.11 Make Your Donations To Local Arts Oragnizations Go Further By Donating Tomorrow

The Pittsburgh is Art Day of Giving is a 24-hour donation match campaign and opportunity to increase giving to our thriving arts and culture sector. Initiated by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and the Heinz Endowments, it is sponsored by The Pittsburgh Foundation and modeled after their October 2010 Pittsburgh Gives Day of Giving. Other contributing foundations include: Hillman Foundation, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, The Buhl Foundation, and The Grable Foundation.

The match pool will contain between $475,000-500,000 from The Heinz Endowments, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Hillman Foundation, The Buhl Foundation, The Benedum Foundation and The Grable Foundation. Every organization that receives donations during the match period will receive a portion of the match. The matching dollars will be pro-rated.

Donors will have 24 hours to give. Only credit card gifts through PittsburghGives.org will be eligible for matching funds. No gifts from checks, cash, gift card redemptions, or donor-advised fund grants will be eligible for matching funds.Minimum gift eligible for match: $15

Maximum gift to a single organization: $10,000

Each participating organization is eligible to receive funds with no maximum limit for the organization. Organizations are prohibited from donating to themselves.

Participating organizations will receive pre- and post-event surveys which they must complete and return. Organizations are also required to report gift results including size of donor pool, average gift size, number of new donors, total amount of gifts received from returning donors.

Should have posted and hyped this much earlier--partly I didn't because I wanted to hype the great Kickstarter project by Fleeting Pages (only donations to registered Non Profit Arts Orgs in the region are eligable)

Please remember many of the less known and smaller arts organizations in The region--as well as the larger ones. A few suggestions of some you might not think of.

Future Tenant (not sure why website is down)

Artists Image Resource

The Waffle Shop

The Braddock Carnegie Library Arts Program

City Of Asylum, Pittsburgh

The Manchester Craftman's Guild, Youth and Arts Programs

The Silver Eye Center For Photography

Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival

The Union Project

Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka

The Sprout Fund

The Westmoreland Museum Of Art

Sprout Fund Hothouse Video

Pop City posted this somewhat dry but nicely shot video showing glimpses of the 2009 Hot House annual fundraiser to support The Sprout Fund.

The Sprout fund, I think would be called a "re granting agency" that allows large foundations and individuals to give more of their money to smaller scale, street level start up projects.

The relatively recent trend towards supporting and nurturing more grass roots ideas @ the non profit level has been a significant change for Pittsburgh's big money and old money foundation community.

I think most people here have experienced and love many of their ideas. Many, are one shot things or at least they provide funding only once. But some have lasted.

Unicorn Mountain
The Visionary Arts Festival
This Is Happening
Encylopedia Destructica
Open Thread

and dozens of other great ideas have been born through their cash. It's one thing to say you want "young people" (not me anymore) to come and stay in Pittsburgh, but it's another thing to actually back their ideas with cash.

Sprout Fund

Mural dedication of East Carson Street Treasures by David Hawbaker, a community mural created in the Southside community of Pittsburgh, 2006

The Sprout Fund Is Now Accepting Applications!

2007 CALL FOR ARTISTS & COMMUNITIES

Sprout Public Art encourages dialogue on public art between the community and the artist, contributes to community and neighborhood development and raises awareness about the important role that local artists can have in shaping communities. During the first four seasons of Sprout Public Art, communities collaborated with artists to develop 31 enduring works of public art that enhance the urban landscape and consider the people of the community, their history and their hopes for the future.

Application Deadline: Friday, March 23, 2007 at 5 pm

Information Sessions:

Learn More About Community Murals/Making An Application
Every Thursday, 12-1pm and again at 5:30-6:30pm, January 25-March 22, 2007 at The Sprout Fund offices, 4920 Penn Avenue, in Bloomfield/Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh

For more information or to RSVP for an information session, email, go to the website , or call 412.325.0646


Morton Brown
Program Coordinator
Sprout Public Art
4920 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224-1609