LAUNCHING NEW RESOURCES
Our Services
Benvenuti Arts works with arts-based nonprofits to bolster their operations, grow their fundraising efforts, and lay the groundwork for a bright and sustainable future. A few of our services are listed below. If you don’t see something you need, contact us and we’ll see if we can help!
Grants Writing and Management
We help you decide what grants to apply for, put together a calendar, and then manage the entire grantwriting process, from start to finish.
Leadership Advising and Training
Monthly calls to talk through what the leadership needs are: planning,
budgeting, fundraising, events, board,
strategy, any intermingled challenges that face leaders of small organizations.
Interim Management Services
Turnover is normal, but we know how stressful it can be. We can provide short-term support during these periods, maintaining your programs while you focus on a long-term solution.
Long- and Short-Term Planning
Do the words “Strategic Planning” make you itch? We get it! We work closely with partners to create practical, workable plans around fundraising or administration that they can actually use.
Fundraising and Administrative Support
Sometimes, the best plan can remain unused simply because we do not have the time to implement it! That’s why we provide scalable support services to help you implement our plans.
Financial Reporting and Advising
Numbers can be scary and confusing. We support leadership and board members to make decisions. Whether you need support in creating and understanding how financial reports can influence decisions, we are there with you.
Our Mission
We believe in the small and mighty, the community connectors and innovators, the dreamers and the doers. We believe that “big” is not the same as “good,” and that, often, the most important truths come in small packages. We believe that doing something better doesn’t always have to mean doing more, but that, with the right partners, it can simply mean being more fully supported.
With all of this in mind, Benvenuti Arts provides expertise for groups, meeting them where they are. We and our clients are whole people, so we recognize that inflexible processes and ten-point plans don’t work for every human. We provide support around all areas of arts administration – fundraising, management, finance, producing, marketing, human resources, planning, and more – through processes customized to the client.
We seek to partner and teach, not make you dependent on us forever. If you have a need, chances are, we have a solution.
" My experience working directly with Benvenuti Arts over the past two years has been nothing but a positive one that has resulted in our organization receiving more grants and communicating with more funders than ever before. My interaction with the representatives from BA are professional and hugely supportive in a variety of ways. I feel confident about the grant writing as well as their (BA's) understanding of the nuanced world of the funding community. High fives all around!
Kyle Houser
Executive Director, Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media
" Sarah Benvenuti has been a huge part of taking The Indie Theater Fund to the next level back in 2015. With her help, we received our first grant from NYSCA and we were able to pay one part time employee. Sarah and the BA team are diligent, responsive and have a wealth of information in the development and fundraising field. We have been gladly continueing working with her to help grow our organization ever since.
Randi Berry
Executive Director, Indiespace
Erika Floreska
Executive Director, Bloomingdale School of Music
" Brava. And thank you for modeling what progressive leadership looks like in practice. So grateful to know you and your team.
Paul Brewster McGinley
Managing Director, Trusty Sidekick Theater Company
" Working with Sarah Benvenuti at Benvenuti Arts has been a life-changing experience for me as a founder of a new theatre company. She has been instrumental in helping Shakespeare Downtown grow as an organization - guiding us to focus on appropriate grants, suggesting grants we had not applied for (which we then won), editing our grant applications, and helping us to formulate long-term plans for the organization. There is no possible way I can recommend working with her enough.
Billie Andersson
Executive Director, Shakespeare Downtown
“ Sarah has become an important part of our development team and strategy. Over the last year she has lightened the load on our staff by finding and applying for new grants and working with us on our annual fundraising campaigns. We have had a significant uptick in our unearned income due to her work. She has been a pleasure to work with and bringing her on board has been a great investment.
Paula Marchiel
Managing Director, id Theater
“ Sarah Benvenuti has been a huge part of taking The Indie Theater Fund to the next level in 2015. With her help, we received our first grant from NYSCA and we are now able to pay one part time employee. Sarah is diligent, responsive and has a wealth of information in the development and fundraising field. We will gladly continue working with her to help grow our organization.
Randi Berry
Executive Director, The Indie Theater Fund
“ I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sarah for four years as she helped our medium sized non-profit establish a development department from a small effort supported by 1/2 time person, to a robust department securing increased support from board, individuals, government, foundations, corporate, and events. As our staff grew, Sarah focused on our events. As the lead driver, she would keep us on task and focussed on the priorities and deadlines that needed to be attended to. Growing our silent auction, motivating committee members, and moving us to an online platform, we saw growth and broader engagement. Sarah is responsive, efficient, productive, and professional.
Erika Floreska
Executive Director, Bloomingdale School of Music
“ Sarah Benvenuti is a thoughtful, dedicated, efficient, and thorough development consultant. She has the attention to detail coupled with the passion for the cause needed to develop excellent grants, maintain relationships with funders, and forward the goals of our organization!
Amanda Selwyn
Artistic/Executive Director, Notes in Motion
“ Working with Sarah Benvenuti at Benvenuti Arts has been a life-changing experience for me as a founder of a new theatre company. She has been instrumental in helping Shakespeare Downtown grow as an organization – guiding us to focus on appropriate grants, suggesting grants we had not applied for (which we then won), editing our grant applications, and helping us to formulate long-term plans for the organization. There is no possible way I can recommend working with her enough.
Billie Andersson
Executive Director, Shakespeare Downtown
Our Blog
How to Make Grant Writing Easier
When we ask potential clients what grants they have applied for and received in the past, we often get answers like this: Well, we got our city’s grant one year, but then we were in production when the application came up, so we missed it the next time. I have a list...
Practical Tips for Approaching NEA
While federal funding is not the primary source of money for cultural organizations in the United States, there is no doubt that receiving a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is seen as a badge of honor in our field. For many groups, adding the NEA...
Planning with budgets has never been easier!
“Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.” - President Joe Biden (amongst many others!) Anyone who has worked with me for any length of time knows that I’m a bit of a budgeting obsessive. The first question I typically ask...
Celebrating 10 years of Benvenuti Arts
In October of 2014, I had already given my notice at my last full-time employment job, with a plan to launch Benvenuti Arts that November, when I received an email. The exact words are no longer with me but, paraphrased, it said: “The Indie Theater Fund is looking for...
Industry Round-Up: Making Sense of Changing Times
In May of this year, I sent an email to our clients about the state of the industry in response to their concerns. In meeting after meeting, folks were feeling stressed, financially drained, and unsure about the future. In the weeks preceding and following that email,...
Fundraising during an Election
It has been a wild four years. Scratch that: a wild eight years. I was reminded this summer - as grant deadlines seemed to change and condense amongst many funders, with programs changing, and funding holding steady but feeling smaller due to inflation (Sato, Grace) -...
Welcome back to the BA Blog!
It’s been some time since we have been communicating regularly. Like so many others in our field, we have been working hard to navigate the changes in philanthropy, while also taking much-needed time to codify our values and direction after four years of rapid...
Our Clients
Organizational Partners
Request a Consultation
We work with you to determine how we can best serve your needs within your budget restrictions.
Contact us for a free 30-minute consultation to see for yourself!
