Remembering Beth Straus

In my first nonprofit capacity-building job in New York, Beth Straus was our “angel.”

It was for the Cultural Council Foundation, in the late eighties. CCF was an arts incubator – we acted as a bank and fiscal sponsor for arts start-ups, and provided advice in all areas of arts management (that was my department).

Beth was the honorary board chair, but I remember our CEO explaining that she was really his hands-on boss. She opened doors for him, constantly making introductions for CCF and explaining to her peers that New York City was the arts capital of the world and if we didn’t support our young artists, where would we be?

And if we had a cash flow crunch and had trouble making payroll, Beth would fill the gap, with loans that turned into gifts at year’s end.

Those days are long gone.

There’s a certain public citizen/philanthropist model of commitment to New York City’s diversity, coupled with a hands-on, roll-up-your-sleeves approach – someone with time and financial wherewithal – that today’s board members are hard-pressed to meet.

People today are working, are pressed for time, and don’t have the sense that their financial assets are secure (here today, gone tomorrow?). Their hearts are in the right place but their capacity to help a nonprofit as Beth Straus did, just isn’t there.

CCF ultimately shut down, the victim of changing economic conditions for the arts – and the loss of patrons like Beth and her peers. But I learned a lot from her – from afar – about the sense of responsibility, and partnership with the CEO, that a stellar board leader has.

Beth Straus died last week, at the age of 94. She made a difference.