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Masco Corporation supports arts
By ANN RICHARDS
DETROIT, Mich. — Michigan’s economic difficulties have made it tough for the nonprofit community to fund-raise — particularly the arts community, according to Melonie Colaianne, president of the Masco Corporation Foundation.
“This is a time when the nonprofit community needs us most,” she said.
Masco, a Fortune 200 company headquartered in Taylor, has operated its foundation since 1952, donating $6 million in 2007, most of which was directed to Michigan nonprofits.
Since 2001, Michigan’s rank in per capita arts funding has dropped from fourth to 35th nationally. In response to this decrease in support for the arts, considered an essential component of metro Detroit’s civic and economic revitalization — Masco initiated REACH (Revitalize and Enhance the Community through Arts, Culture and Housing) in 2003. The foundation awarded $350,000 in challenge grants to local arts and cultural organizations that year.
“The arts can make a huge difference,” Colaianne said. “Most of the grants were unrestricted. We were particularly interested in those organizations that also provide outreach efforts benefiting underserved groups, especially schoolchildren.”
The challenge grants have been successful in helping arts organizations of all sizes raise operating dollars, prompting Masco to issue additional operating and endowment challenges. In 2007, Masco’s REACH contributions for the arts exceeded $2 million.
In 2004, MASCO also became one of the first Michigan corporations to issue a Corporate Sustainability Report using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, the most commonly used framework for businesses, public agencies, industry groups and non-governmental organizations to communicate their economic, environmental and social performances.
“It was an eye-opening experience for us,” Colaianne said of the GRI process. “It [increased] the level of our sensitivity and responsiveness as a company to the issues that were raised.”
In fall 2007, Masco was named to one of the 10 best companies supporting the arts in America by the Business Committee for the Arts Inc. (BCA), founded in 1967 by David Rockefeller to encourage business to support the arts in the workplace, in education and in the community.
In accepting the award, Sharon Rothwell, vice president for corporate affairs and chair of the foundation, noted that throughout history, cities, regions and nations have been defined in large part by their artistic accomplishments.
“Masco’s home, Metro Detroit, has a rich heritage, with world-class institutions such as our Detroit Institute of Art as well as exciting younger organizations, including the Mosaic Youth Theatre. But, with public funding rapidly evaporating, future success for the arts is in jeopardy unless other corporations join all of us by increasing their support, not only for bricks and mortar, but also for programming and operating costs.”