BCA Affiliates
General Information

The Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA), founded in 1967 by David Rockefeller, is a national not-for-profit organization that brings business and the arts together. BCA and BCA Affiliates provide business with the services and resources needed to develop strategic alliances with the arts that meet business objectives, foster creativity in the arts and the workplace, and enhance the quality of life in communities large and small.

A BCA Affiliate is a not-for-profit organization that encourages businesses in its operating areas to develop alliances with the arts. It is not a grant-making organization. A BCA Affiliate may be organized to operate in a city, a county, a state or a geographic region. Each BCA Affiliate must establish the following structure:

Organization
A not-for-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization with by-laws.

Mission Statement
To bring business and the arts together.

Affiliate Name
A BCA Affiliate must use the name of its geographic operating area, followed by the words "Business Committee for the Arts ’’ (i.e. Colorado Business Committee for the Arts; Montgomery Area Business Committee for the Arts; etc.)

Board of Directors
BCA Affiliate Board of Directors, consisting of business owners and executives, to guide the operation of the Affiliate.

Membership
Limited to businesses that pay dues and provide in-kind services to the organization.

Fees
The national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. charges an organizing fee of $1,000, plus travel and accommodation costs to cover a site visit and/or meetings with community members. This organizing fee also includes professional support services via telephone and e-mail, as well as printed and electronic materials.

Beginning in the 13th month of operation, a BCA Affiliate is charged an annual affiliation fee based on its total annual membership revenue:

Membership Revenue Fee
Less than $25,000 $ 500
$25,000 to $74,999 $1,000
$75,000 and more $1,500

Letter of Agreement
To operate as a BCA Affiliate, a not-for-profit organization must be structured as defined in this document and have a signed letter of agreement with the national Business Committee for the Arts. This allows the organization to use the name Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. and the BCA logo (a registered trademark), plus all BCA Affiliate materials, along with the use of all trademark BCA programs, inclusion on the BCA Web site with links to the BCA Affiliate Web site. Each BCA Affiliate must include in all of its printed and on-line materials the following line: (Name of Affiliate) is a member of the national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.

Budget
The national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. does not provide financial resources to a BCA Affiliate. A BCA Affiliate must raise its own operating revenue, sufficient to pay a staff and to operate programs necessary to accomplish the organization’s mission.

A BCA Affiliate must assume all travel and accommodation expenses to attend national and regional Business Committee for the Arts meetings, conferences and events.

Staff
A BCA Affiliate must have a full or part-time executive director to work with its Board of Directors, develop membership and create and orchestrate programs, and additional staff as required.

Services an Affiliate Receives from the national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.

  • Use of the name and logo of the national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA) – an organization recognized nationally for its accomplishments in bringing the business and the arts together since 1967.
  • Consulting services provided by the national BCA staff to develop an operating structure, a strategic plan, a membership structure, programs and events.
  • Access to business leaders who serve on the national BCA Board of Directors, as well as BCA Members to speak to the business community about the value business-arts alliances.
  • Research and information about business-arts alliances to build business support for the arts at the community level.
  • Publications, case studies and ads to promote business support to the arts and selected opportunities to tailor these to the BCA Affiliate area.
  • Opportunities to recognize exemplary business support to the arts as part of THE BCA TEN: Best Companies Supporting the Arts in America.
  • Subscriptions to BCAnews – a quarterly publication of the national BCA – and members-only access on the national BCA Web site.
  • An annual BCA Affiliate Conference, attended by a representative from all BCA Affiliates, to discuss issues facing BCA Affiliates, as well as trends in business-arts alliances.
  • Invitations to all BCA events, such as conferences, workshops and the national recognition event.
  • Access to the programs of the national BCA, such as art@work®, After Hours: Executive Creativity, BCAnews, Travel with the Arts, THE BCA TEN recognition program, Forum for New Ideas

BCA Affiliates Obligations to the national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.

  • An identification line in all its printed and electronic media that reads: (name of Affiliate) is an Affiliate of the national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.
  • A mailing list of its Board of Directors and members, plus periodic updates.
  • Current information about its activities and programs to be used in BCAnews, BCA publications, on the national BCA Web site, and shared with other BCA Affiliates.
  • Copies of all announcements, program invitations, news releases, research and program materials.
  • Invitations to BCA Affiliate events and programs such as Awards presentations and conferences.
  • Representation at the annual BCA Affiliate Conference.
  • Submit nominations, as appropriate, for THE BCA TEN.
  • Involvement of the BCA Affiliate Chairman and/or an appropriate board member in national BCA events, such as the presentation of THE BCA TEN

BCA Affiliate Activities
Each BCA Affiliate develops programs to encourage businesses to form alliances with the arts that are appropriate in its operating area. BCA Affiliates may undertake any of the following programs:

  • Advertising and Public Relations
    A BCA Affiliate may adapt national BCA advertisements or work with a local advertising agency to create public service advertisements that encourage business to support the arts. Additionally, a BCA Affiliate may work with the national BCA and/or a local communications firm to develop strategies to promote business-arts alliances in local media.
  • Audience Development Programs
    A BCA Affiliate may work with its members to create audience development programs such as a cultural pass for discount tickets/admissions for employees, customers and stakeholders.
  • Data Bank
    A BCA Affiliate may maintain a data bank for business which includes information about arts organizations in its area, services the arts can offer businesses, facts and figures about business alliances with the arts, cash and non-cash opportunities for business to assist the arts, and research about the impact of the arts on K-12 education, economic development and the quality of life.
  • Conferences and Workshops
    A BCA Affiliate may organize conferences and workshops that address specific issues relating to business alliances with the arts, such as how the arts enhance the economy, K-12 education, health and human services, and the quality of life. A BCA Affiliate may also work with the national BCA to present its workshops – Think Small for Big Results and Invest a Little. Get a Lot.
  • Consultations
    A BCA Affiliate may develop a consultation program designed to assist businesses to create and further their alliances with the arts.
  • Employee Art Exhibitions
    A BCA Affiliate may collaborate with the national BCA to implement art@work‚ within its member companies or it may develop special exhibitions in its operating area of art created by employees.
  • Leadership Training
    A BCA Affiliate may offer leadership training programs that provide individuals from business with the information and training necessary to be effective volunteers, directors and trustees of arts organizations, or workshops that help the arts work more effectively with business.
  • Publications
    A BCA Affiliate may develop publications such as a newsletter, arts event calendars and guides, case studies and special publications designed to encourage business involvement with the arts and/or it may customize national BCA publications.
  • Recognition Programs
    A BCA Affiliate may develop a Business in the Arts Awards program, based on the national program of the same name, to recognize those companies and business executives that have developed outstanding alliances with the arts in the Affiliate operating area. To gain national recognition for an exceptional business partnership with the arts in the operating area of a BCA Affiliate, BCA Affiliates may also nominate companies for THE BCA TEN: Best Companies Supporting the Arts in America.
  • Research
    A BCA Affiliate may undertake a variety of research initiatives designed to provide information about the economic impact of the arts, the value of the arts to fostering creativity in the workplace and the importance of the arts in K-12 education to the development of a prepared workforce, as well as issues and trends in business-arts alliances, etc.
  • Special Events
    A BCA Affiliate may develop special events separate from or in conjunction with arts organizations and arts events in its operating area, to further business involvement with the arts. Such events may include workplace performances, behind-the-scene tours of arts organizations and facilities, lectures for employees, and sneak previews of art events for employees, their families and friends, etc.
  • Web site
    A BCA Affiliate must develop a Web site to promote business alliances with the arts and to make business and the public aware of its services and the accomplishments of its members. This site must offer a link to the national Business Committee for the Arts’s Web site and vice versa

For additional information about the BCA Affiliate program, contact:

Emily Peck
Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.
29-27 Queens Plaza North
Long Island City, New York 11101
T: 718.482.9900
F: 718.482.9911
E-mail: epeck@bcainc.org

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