Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is pleased to release In Whom We Trust VI: Governing Boards Survey 2024, their sixth comprehensive study of not-for-profit theatre governance and their first in over 10 years. Since 1998, Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has periodically conducted a survey that explores theatre governing boards in depth. In Whom We Trust provides a wide range of comparative data broken down by budget size to inform the evaluation of: giving levels, give/get requirements, board demographics, meeting practices, recruitment policies, and more.
“This latest edition of the Governing Boards Survey shows meaningful progress in the urgent work of diversifying not-for-profit theatre boards,” remarked Emilya Cachapero, TCG’s Co-Executive Director of National and Global Programming. “It was also heartening to see that in spite of several high-profile conflicts between board and staff, most theatre leaders rate the health of their relationships with trustees highly. Strengthening that critical relationship has been a decades-long priority for TCG, and we look forward to continuing that work with this report and future governance-themed programming.”
In Whom We Trust VI: Governing Boards Survey 2024 features data from 141 theatres, representing a wide range of budget sizes and regions. Key findings include:
- Increased racial diversity on boards: One of the most significant changes in governance since the 2013 Governing Boards Survey is the rising racial diversity of trustees. In the five Governing Boards Surveys from 1998-2013, trustees were between 85-89% white. In 2024, the growth in the number of BIPOC trustees reduced the average to 71% across all budget groups. Also of interest: in the past, the boards of smaller theatres were more racially diverse. In the 2024, boards across all budget sizes are more reflective of U.S. demographics.
- Meeting practices: 93% of theatres always or sometimes use Robert’s Rules to conduct their board meetings, with 45% declaring their parliamentary practice very effective, and 42% calling them somewhat effective. A small number of theatres are experimenting with variations of consensus-based decision-making.
- Discussion priorities: Four topics are prioritized at boards meetings—fiduciary/budgeting, ticket sales/audience building, programmatic discussion, and fundraising/capital campaigns—with hiring/succession, legal compliance, and risk assessment the least frequently discussed.
- Trustee giving: The larger the budget size of the theatre, the greater median trustee gift, with trustees giving a median $20,032 annual gift for budget group six theatres (those with over $10 million annual budgets).
- Give/get policies: In 2024, 43% of theatres reported having a give/get policy of some kind, a significant decline from the 78% of theatres that did in 2013.
- Time spent with trustees: Theatre staff combined spent an average of 25 hours weekly working with trustees.
- Board-staff relationships: Theatre leaders rated their relationships with trustees highly—an average 4.48 out of 5.
- Decision-making authority: The board holds most decision-making power around hiring at executive level, annual budgeting, and strategic planning.
- Top challenges in board-staff relations: Theatre leaders named “Unrealistic expectations of staff capacity,” “Not following through on board commitments,” and “Rising demands on staff time”as the primary challenges impacting board-staff relationships.
For more information, visit TCG.
