Art Council of Southwest Florida Inc
Connecting artists and arts in southwest Florida since 1963
Art Council of Southwest Florida Inc
EIN: 74-3108054
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reports Download other documentsWhat we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
College Internship Program
One of the primary roles of the college student will be to help staff the COCO Galleries and maintain the daily operations of the galleries. Operational duties include engaging with visitors, facilitating art sales, and routine facility maintenance. The intern may also be involved in maintaining inventory records, updating and producing content for social media, and installing exhibitions. Interns will be expected to staff the gallery for approximately 6-8 hours per week.
In addition, the student will be responsible for promoting events from the 19 different art associations that make up the council. This will require following up with each association regularly, then keeping the ACSWF website content up to date and creating/sharing content on the ACSWF and COCO Gallery Instagram and Facebook.
Marketing
-We expect to increase our gallery traffic by 20% and sales by 10% year over year. This will largely occur through our targeted social media and digital advertising campaign.
-We will begin asking whether a patron is from out of area and keep track of the information in our daily log. We will also ask them how they heard about the gallery if they are a first time visitor.
-We will expand our visitor log where we collect email addresses to include questions such what is your zip code to better know where our visitors are from.
-We will begin to report on our website traffic once the refresh project is complete.
-Facebook reporting will be used to track impressions, reach and followers.
Special Shows
Using a new digital platform called Cloudfolios, we plan to run several special art shows in both COCO Art galleries during the year (Naples/Estero). These juried art calls will be shared with all 6,000 plus artists under the ACSWF umbrella and will include prizes. Our hope is that through these shows, we will attract new customers for the galleries and new members for our associations and galleries.
Estero Gallery Facility Upgrades
We will be adding lighting, refurbishing the floor and painting much of the 5,700 square foot gallery during the year. After which we will have a gallery reception with customers, area visitors and partners to celebrate the upgrades to the space and for attendees to meet many of the exhibiting artists.
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Total number of competitions held
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Special Shows
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our first competition will be held in July of 2022
Number of press articles published
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Marketing
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Average daily attendance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Marketing
Type of Metric
Context - describing the issue we work on
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Art Council of Southwest Florida is dedicated to expanding
the range of art appreciation and creative art opportunities for the
residents of south Florida and the many thousands of people from
all over the world who visit here annually.
The Art Council of Southwest Florida is an "umbrella" visual arts
organization that works to support and further energize the efforts
of its member art organizations and studios, now numbering 20
across 5 counties (Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry & Glades).
These organizations have a combined membership of more than
6,000 artists and craftspeople.
To support its member art studios and organizations via the ACSWF website
(www.artcouncilswf.com), social media and other marketing efforts to
publicize their workshops, exhibits and a range of other creative activities.
• To provide networking opportunities for sharing ideas concerning art
appreciation, art education and art creation.
• To establish/manage co-operative art galleries -- branded as COCO Art
Gallery -- thus providing a quality exhibit and sales opportunity for the artists
and craftspeople who are members of the Council's affiliate organizations
(website www.cocoartgallery.com).
The Art Council organizes two biennial exhibits: the Spring Art
Show in even-numbered years and the Winners' Circle Show, in
odd-numbered years.
• The COCO Galleries host monthly exhibits for featured
Associations and monthly Artist Receptions for the public.
• The Art Council serves to support hundreds of this region's artists
and the organizations that they belong to as a way to energize the
appreciation and creation of visual artwork.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
-Operate 2 COCO Cooperative Art Galleries (over 10,000 total square feet) to allow
member artists to sell their work
-Affiliate members are listed on the ACSWF website, with links
immediately going to each website of those organizations (if available).
• General meetings of the Art Council provide an important networking
opportunity for the 20 organizations that are members of the Council.
• Each organization member is invited to "showcase" its facilities and
galleries for the other Art Council members by periodically hosting a
General Meeting of the Council.
• Each member organization of the Council has a vote in all decisions of
the Art Council at its General Meetings. Together with six elected officers,
the member delegates make up the Art Council's Board. The General
Meetings provide an opportunity to "talk art" and share organizational and
creative ideas with all of the other Council Delegates.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Visual Arts association members Gallery Artists
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Community meetings/Town halls,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
Enhanced our jury process of new member artists Created new gallery show opportunities Piloted new technology to assist in our receiving process Updated websites Promoting of member events through social media
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board,
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How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
Our gallery artists are feeling like they are being heard Our visual art association members are feeling like they are more involved and are getting a bigger benefit from joining our organization
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time,
Financials
Revenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Art Council of Southwest Florida Inc
Revenue & expensesFiscal Year: Jul 01 - Jun 30
SOURCE: IRS Form 990
Art Council of Southwest Florida Inc
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jul 01 - Jun 30
SOURCE: IRS Form 990
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
President
Garry Wheeler
Garry Scott Wheeler is a self-taught award winning international abstract acrylic artist, author and entrepreneur from the Gulf Coast of Florida. He has traveled to over 100 countries searching for inspiration for his work. In the last year, Garry exhibited in Milan, London, Laguna Beach, California and all over Florida. He currently exhibits in 6 Florida galleries and is the President of the Art Council of Southwest Florida (6,500 members).
For 40 years, he worked in high tech companies in senior management roles and led 4 startups of his own. He has a BA from DePaul University and a graduate business degree from Harvard University. He is also a Stanford University Certified Project Manager and has held his PMP certification for 15 years.
Art Council of Southwest Florida Inc
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
There are no highest paid employees recorded for this organization.
Art Council of Southwest Florida Inc
Board of directorsas of 06/04/2022
Board of directors data
Garry Wheeler
Richard Fuchs
Treasurer
Nancy Burke
First Vice President
Judith Fuchs
Vice President
Pam Conrad
Corresponding Secretary
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as: