ArtsPool: an introduction

Max Dana Updated by Max Dana

ArtsPool is an administrative cooperative made up of New York state arts nonprofits and the arts administrators who serve them. Owned and governed by both our nonprofit members and our workers, we currently provide the following services:

  • Financial Operations, including bill payments, receivable invoices, receipts/documentation, bank deposits, petty cash reports, contracts for processing (e.g. independent contractors), 1099s, W9s, bank reconciliation, transaction coding and anything related to day-to-day transactions. These services are provided by the ArtsPool Financial Operations Lead assigned to your organization.
  • Financial Maintenance, including organizational budget creation and changes, grant budgets and reports, grant award letters, support for funder prequalification requirements, financial reports, board reports, balance sheet information, audit, tax, investments, and anything related to the long-term maintenance of your company's financial life. These services are provided by the ArtsPool Financial Maintenance Lead assigned to your organization.
  • Workforce Administration, including new hires, salary changes or other changes in pay, terminations, promotions, reimbursement requests, support for workforce insurance (worker's comp, disability, paid family leave), W2s, and anything else related to hiring or paying employees at your organization These services are provided by the ArtsPool Workforce Administration Lead assigned to your organization.

Our default offering includes all three services areas, but members may select Financial Operations + Financial Maintenance only or Financial Operations + Workforce Administration only packages depending on their needs.

Your ArtsPool team

Each member has a team of ArtsPoolers assigned to work with them, depending on the specific combination of services selected. Below is a brief synopsis of the roles on these teams.

Financial Operations Lead

This role is here to help manage your day-to-day transactions. Bills that need to be paid, receivable invoices to be created or for which you expect payment, receipts/documentation, bank deposits, petty cash reports, contracts for processing (e.g. independent contractors), 1099s, bank reconciliation, and transaction coding, are just some of this things this role does.

The Financial Operations Lead is also the first point of contact for all requests sent into the ArtsPool app by email, and will route the request to the appropriate ArtsPool team member.

Financial Maintenance Lead

Think of this role as a counterpoint to the Financial Operations role. With an eye towards long-term maintenance of your company’s financial life, you can expect to work closely on things like: organizational budget creation and changes, grant reports, grant award letters, funder compliance requirements (Grants Gateway, DataArts, etc), financial reports, board reports, balance sheet information, audit, tax, and investments.

Workforce Administration Lead

Your Workforce Administration Lead will work with you on the technical components of your company’s personnel questions. You should work with your lead on new hires, salary changes or other changes in pay, terminations, promotions, reimbursement requests, workforce insurance (worker's comp, disability, paid family leave), W2s, employee benefits changes (enrollment and/or termination), and anything else related to hiring or paying workers at your organization.

Bonus feature: technology support

When ArtsPool technology hits a snag, your ArtsPool team may refer you to ArtsPool’s Technology Officer who assists us all with issues pertaining to:

  • The ArtsPool app
  • Our password manager
  • Google Drive and other online platforms
  • Payment processors such as Stripe, PayPal, and Square

How to request work

Members interact with ArtsPool via email, phone calls, in-person meetings, and, most importantly, the ArtsPool management portal, a.k.a, the ArtsPool app, which allows member staff to submit and approve bills, provide receipts and other documentation, request grant budgets, ask questions, and communicate with ArtsPool staff and each other. when in doubt, just send your request into the app and it will be routed it to the appropriate person.

The fastest way to request work from ArtsPool is to use the forms in the ArtsPool app, though you can also submit requests to the app via email by using a special email address specific to your company. More on this can be found in the article Requesting Work from ArtsPool.

For simple inquiries or meeting scheduling, feel free to reach out to your ArtsPool team members directly via email or phone.

Remember, questions about the app and interfacing with ArtsPool can often be answered by searching the ArtsPool Help Center.

How to be a member in good standing

ArtsPool's cooperative structure is based on systematized and standardized processes and deep collaboration between our employees and our members. To that end we, expect all members to adhere to a set of shared standards that will ensure that our collaboration remains healthy. Be sure to review the article How to be a member in good standing for details.

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