Across the nonprofit and arts sectors, a shared set of pressures is reshaping how organizations operate: constrained funding, heightened expectations for community impact, and growing calls for equity, accountability, and relevance. In this context, community engagement is no longer a “nice to have.” It is increasingly central to how nonprofit organizations in particular justify their existence.
New research I co-authored and published in The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society points to a locally rooted but nationally relevant example of what this shift can look like in practice. The study examines Out of Hand Theater’s practice with the Arts-Based Community Engagement (ABCE) Model, documenting how the Atlanta-based organization has built a financially sustainable, impact-driven practice by centering community engagement as core organizational strategy rather than supplemental programming.
Nonprofit funders, arts funders, and arts leaders may approach the field from different vantage points, but they are often asking overlapping questions: First, how do organizations align mission with measurable impact? Second, how can engagement be meaningful rather than performative? Finally, what models reduce financial fragility while deepening community trust?
The ABCE model offers a framework that addresses all three.
Out of Hand Theater’s work begins with a reframing: community engagement is not an audience-development tactic, instead it is core to the mission of organization. Programs are designed in partnership with civic groups, other nonprofits, schools, and public institutions to address real community issues through theatre, facilitated dialogue, and collective reflection.
As a result, Out of Hand derives less than 10 percent of its revenue from ticket sales in the traditional senses and instead sustains itself through partnerships, contracts, philanthropy, and cross-sector collaborations aligned with social outcomes. For funders, this approach mitigates risk by reducing dependency on a single revenue stream. For arts leaders, it offers an alternative to the increasingly precarious production-driven model.
What the Research Shows
The study documents several findings relevant across funding and leadership contexts:
Revenue diversification through relevance. By aligning artistic practice with civic and nonprofit priorities, ABCE allows arts organizations to access funding typically reserved for education, health, equity, or community development initiatives, without abandoning artistic integrity.
Deeper and more durable community relationships. ABCE emphasizes co-creation and facilitated exchange, producing long-term relationships rather than one-time attendance. Participants often become donors, partners, and advocates, expanding an organization’s base of support organically.
Impact that is intentional and legible. Rather than retrofitting evaluation metrics, ABCE programs are designed with outcomes in mind, such as increased civic understanding, cross-difference dialogue, or leadership development. This makes the impact of the organization easier to articulate to funders and stakeholders.
The article notes some examples of Out of Hand Theater’s programs that directly align with the ABCE model. The most notable include: Equitable Dinners, which combine theatre, shared meals, and facilitated dialogue to engage thousands of participants in conversations about equity and community. Shows in Homes, which bring professional theatre into living rooms and community spaces, expanding access and fostering intimate, issue-driven discussion. These programs demonstrate how engagement can be structured, repeatable, and scalable, rather than dependent on individual relationships or one-off grants.
For nonprofit and arts funders, ABCE offers a way to invest in organizations that function as connective infrastructure, bridging culture, civic life, and community wellbeing. Funding such models supports not only artistic production, but also leadership development, social cohesion, and organizational resilience.
Importantly, the research frames ABCE as replicable and teachable, not an anomaly. This opens opportunities for funders to support field-wide capacity building rather than isolated success stories of a single organization.
For arts leaders navigating sustainability challenges, ABCE provides a concrete alternative to the traditional season-based, ticket-reliant model. It demonstrates how artistic practice can remain rigorous while being responsive to community need and how engagement can generate both impact and revenue when treated as core work. It also more closely aligns the work of nonprofit arts with the community service-based programming that gives nonprofits their 501(c)3 status.
At a moment when nonprofits and arts organizations are being asked to do more with less, the ABCE model suggests a path forward grounded in alignment rather than expansion. The approach aligns art with community priorities, funder goals with lived experience, and organizational sustainability with public purpose.
Out of Hand Theater’s work, now documented through this research, offers not just a success story, but a framework and an empirical example. For funders and leaders alike, it raises a timely and productive question: What becomes possible when community engagement is treated not as outreach, but as infrastructure?
