In 1979, Porter’s Five Forces Analysis tool was published by the Harvard Business Review. If you haven’t studied it, do so. But study it hard – it’s far more comprehensive and complex than “5 Tips to Get More Donors” or others in the current mini-list nonsense arena.

When arts charities view competitors (those that do what we do) and substitutes (those that do something that the customer will do instead of what we do) as one force, they lose mission focus, and once that happens, they begin the downward spiral.

To wit: if you run a theatre, your competition is “theatres.” If you make the mistake of thinking that “video games” is a competitor (rather than a substitute), the logical conclusion is that you need to provide “television” instead of “theatre.”

Be a theatre. That’s hard enough these days.