Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Through a transformative partnership with Orr Group, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) successfully revitalized its fundraising efforts, expanded donor engagement, and secured vital resources to continue shaping the cultural landscape of San Francisco.
Challenge The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) was founded as the cultural cornerstone of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens neighborhood. Since its opening to the public in 1993, YBCA’s work has spanned contemporary art, performance, film, civic engagement, and public life, reimagining the role of art institutions in communities by emphasizing artists’ centrality to social and cultural movements. Despite its impressive track record, YBCA faced a pivotal challenge: leveraging recent philanthropic investments, including significant contributions from MacKenzie Scott and Jack Dorsey, to elevate fundraising efforts and pioneer innovative philanthropy.
Solution Recognizing this critical juncture, YBCA initiated a transformative partnership with Orr Group. The initial phase encompassed a comprehensive development assessment, including creating a compelling case for support and evaluating existing fundraising strategies. Concurrently, Orr Group initiated outsourced database work to strengthen YBCA’s infrastructure. As the collaboration evolved, key initiatives took shape: fostering a culture of collaboration, expanding donor pipelines, investing in research tools and capacity, and crafting tailored fundraising materials for specific target groups and donors.
Impact This collaborative effort yielded significant results, transforming YBCA’s fundraising operations. To date, YBCA has successfully renewed and expanded its donor pipeline for Corporate, Individual, and Foundation donors, including private family foundations, with comprehensive support for grants. The organization has also actively cultivated corporate partnerships, and grown portfolios of major and individual donors. Orr Group provided informed revenue projections and collaborated with new leadership across departments to work more holistically across fundraising and programming. The partnership has expanded to include ongoing Salesforce support and training, along with sustained thought partnership. This ongoing collaboration between YBCA and Orr Group continues to drive growth, innovation, and sustainability, ensuring that YBCA’s mission and vision will shape the cultural landscape for years to come.