Speaking Of Time Wasters…

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There must be something in the air, yesterday I posted something about the time suck that are logo requirements and later that same day was a tweet from @ArtsAdminSay about the habit some foundations have of online grant applications that require uploading a PDF of the very information you just entered into several dozen different fields.

All of this stumbles right into Vu Le’s territory at NonprofitAF, where he routinely calls out Foundations and Government agencies, hiring practices, and more. There’s never anything spiteful, rather, it’s simply acknowledging the ways we can be our own worst enemies. One of my recent favs is this one about the internal role of foundation board members and staffers.

But I’m curious to hear about what sorts of pain points you would love to see improve and why.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

View all posts by Drew McManus | Website

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