Last year, Level Ground became a decentralized, cooperative nonprofit. This means we are supported by three community groups who participate in various ways to keep us going, growing, and creating together.
Please consider becoming a Contributing Member by making a recurring donation to Level Ground. For as little as $5/month or $50/year, you can join our experiment in empathy.
Join our community as a Contributing Donor today and become part of our work to destabilize oppressive social structures through art making, community building, and resource sharing.
As part of our cooperative structure, Level Ground has created 3 community groups. Becoming a Contributing Donor means becoming part of the Level Ground Community.
STAFF ARTISTS
The small team of artists hired to run Level Ground’s programs, projects, and operations.
COLLECTIVE ARTISTS
A group of LA-based artists who produce community-building programs for artists and audiences.
CONTRIBUTORS
The supporting donors and artists who make our work financially and creatively possible.
Level Ground Contributors make a recurring financial contribution to Level Ground. For as little as $50/year you can become a Level Ground Contributor. Think of it as our own Patreon program, but because we are a 501(c)3 we run it outside of Patreon to save on fees.
Whether you give $5 or $500 a month, you’ll receive the same perks.
An annual art print from a Collective Artist (gets mailed each September)
A quarterly “community-only” newsletter
Special invites to community happenings before, during, and/or after all Level Ground events
A digital download of SKEW Magazine, plus password-protected access to the SKEW Digital Hub
Opportunity to vote in (and hold) a Level Ground board seat
An annual tax-deductible letter (emailed every January)
Yes, as a 501(c)3 all donations made to Level Ground are tax-deductible. Every Contributor will receive an annual letter stating the amount of their donation. We recommend connecting with a tax advisor if you have additional questions.
All Level Ground donations go through Donorbox, an online fundraising software that allows nonprofit organizations to easily receive and track donations online. We like Donorbox because the platform is user friendly for donors and organizations, and they offer the lowest fees in the industry.
Level Ground does not have access to any of your financial information. You can manage your membership directly through Donorbox at any time. You can email samantha@levelground.co if you have any problems or issues with you Donorbox account.
To help with our bookkeeping and accounting, we currently have 6 different donation levels through our Contributors program. If you need or want to give a different amount, please email samantha@levelground.co who can help set it up for you.
If you are interested in making a donation directly to a specific program, project, or artist, please email samantha@levelground.co to set it up.
Contributors support Level Ground for a variety of reasons. To help answer this question, and highlight the diversity of our contributors, we’re releasing short videos from current Level Ground Contributors. Check them out on YouTube.
No, artists do not pay to be part of the Level Ground Collective. The current cohort of about 40 Collective Artists decide together who, when, and how many artists to add on a rolling basis. If you’re interested in joining, check our submissions page and/or subscribe to our newsletter where we’ll announce when the Collective is open for new members.
The Collective is one of Level Ground’s annual programs and consists of a cohesive, committed, and curated group of artists who self-organize to produce and participate in programs, shows, and events. Not every artist that participates in Level Ground is (or has to be) a Collective Artist. However, any artist who contributes to a Level Ground program or project is invited to join the Level Ground Community as a Contributing Artist (and they do not have to pay for this).
Level Ground is an award-winning artist collective and production incubator creating experiments in empathy. We are at our best when we provoke both artists and audiences in spaces that may initially cause discomfort, but are ultimately transformative. Through organizing and creating with artists, Level Ground is committed to destabilizing oppressive social structures through art making, community building, and resource sharing. You can read more about Level Ground here.
Level Ground runs four annual programs and is currently leading 2 additional projects this year. Most of our current and past work is listed here.
One goal of the new Level Ground structure is to clearly answer this question! There are 3 groups that make up the Level Ground Community and include: Staff Artists, Collective Artists, and Contributors. You can learn more about our Staff Artists and Board Members here, and about our Collective Artists here.
The Level Ground budget is around $200,000 each year. These costs break down (roughly) to:
$100,000 - Staff Artists (the team of 5-7 artists who run LG day-to-day)
$35,000 - Programs (direct program support to our 4 annual programs)
$30,000 - Projects (funding for special projects, currently we have 2)
$20,000 - General & Admin (what you might call “overhead” aka everything related to our office, accounting, subscriptions, etc.)
$15,000.00 - Marketing, Comms, and Development (getting the word out about Level Ground, growing the health of our team and programs, etc.)
Level Ground has a diversified revenue stream to support our work including:
$90,000 - Grants (we apply to 2-3 grants every month for program, project, and general operating expenses)
$60,000 - Individual Contributions (this includes our Contributors program, as well as one-time donations from foundations and donors that support our programs and general operating expenses)
$30,000 - Earned Revenue (money earned through SKEW sales, events, renting our office, etc. and also through our fiscal sponsor program which we are beta-testing this year)
$10,000 - Project Contributions (any donation that supports a specific project)
$10,000 - Sponsorships (corporate or other organizational support for Level Ground programs and projects)
In the last 2 years, our financial supporters have included:
50+ individuals who are part of our Contributors program and 100+ individuals who made one-time donations
Grants from the California Arts Council, the LA County Arts and Culture Grant Program, and two family foundations
COVID Relief Programs from both the Federal and local government, including two PPP grants, an EIDL grant, and the California Community Foundation
The best way to get involved in Level Ground is to participate. Come to an event, join a syllabus discussion, follow each of our programs. Our 2022 calendar is still a work-in-progress, but you can view it here.
You can also subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Instagram and YouTube to stay up-to-date on all Level Ground happenings. That’s where we also put out the occasional call for volunteers.
We totally understand that not everyone is able to financially contribute to Level Ground. If you’re an artist and want to support our Community, you might be a good fit for our Artist Collective, or another open call we post throughout the year. You can also help us by telling friends and family about Level Ground and posting about our May Member Drive on social media. Get more details on how to do that here.
