Culture Secretary announces action plan to boost philanthropy

The announcement was made on Wednesday (8th December) at the European Association of Philanthropy and Giving’s (EAPG) event held in partnership with the Cultural Leadership Programme.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Arts Council England is to invest £80m in a new series of ‘match fund’ schemes that aims to raise at least an equivalent amount from private donors for the culture sector.

Lord Myners, business secretary under the Labour government and trustee of the Royal Academy Trust, ARK, Glyndebourne and the Tate Foundation said though he did not wish to “appear ungrateful” the money appeared to be mostly “rebadged” Lottery funding, “with a little squeezed out of DCMS”.

“The key message was on match funding, yet the amounts seem yet to be agreed, the criteria for inclusion are not established and the kinds of funding are not clearly defined.”

The fund comprises £30m from DCMS’s spending review settlement over four years (11/12-14/15) and up to £50m of Lottery funding from Arts Council England over five years (11/12-15/16), with the first of a series of grants being made by April 2011.

It is part of a package of measures to help arts and heritage organisations create long-term financial sustainability and to encourage increased giving to culture.   

A ‘10 point plan’ also announced as part of the drive aims to catalyse and facilitate individual and corporate giving by ‘removing barriers, creating incentives and highlighting and sharing what works’.

It includes a ‘year of corporate giving’ strengthening recognition for donors, harnessing digital technologies and building fundraising skills across the sector.
 
Hunt said: “This country has a great tradition of philanthropy in the arts, and I pay tribute to all those who have donated to our artists and cultural institutions, whether to the tune of 10 pounds or 10 million pounds. They are role models, whose support and generosity shows just what can be achieved.

“Public funding of the arts will always continue – we have set out government funding for the life of this Parliament, and we have increased the amount of Lottery money going to the arts. But we must help our arts organisations develop more mixed funding models, to help give them long-term financial stability and certainty. This stability will allow them to plan ahead with confidence, leading to a more vibrant and resilient cultural sector.

“There is huge scope to strengthen private and corporate support for culture over the next few years, for the benefit of the culture sector and audiences across the country.  The measures I am announcing today will do a huge amount to bring about a long-term boost to giving.”

The match funding scheme will provide a range of support for smaller organisations, those outside London, and larger bodies, including those who want to develop endowments.

A new report Endowment in the Arts by Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, and Alan Davey, chief executive of Arts Council England, which delivers a strategy to increase endowments, commissioned by DCMS and launched at the event, concludes that endowments are an “underused tool in the English Arts sector” but it came with a “health warning” that “they are not and can never be the whole answer,” said Davey.

“It’s not a quick fix and it will take decades rather than years to feel the effect,” said Davey. He called for the 5% of cultural organisations that use endowments to share their capability across the sector with larger organisations helping smaller ones.”

The other action points in the plan include:

• More visible public recognition for philanthropy, thanking donors, demonstrating the value of philanthropy and encouraging others to give. This could include greater recognition through the honours system.
• A review of philanthropy that will report back in April 2011
• Developing fundraising skills and capacity across the culture sector – to increase and share skills and capacity, promote best practice, professionalise fundraising and develop a culture of ‘asking’ as well as ‘giving’.
• Promoting and increasing planned giving, including legacy giving - with an ambition for the UK to become the first country in the world in which it becomes the norm to leave 10 per cent or more of one’s legacy to charity.
• Harnessing digital technology to boost philanthropy, building on the innovative work already done by many bodies.
• Increasing giving from international donors
• Encouraging more investment by the business sector - which already invests £150m a year in the cultural sector. 
• Strengthening links between culture and other sectors which are supported through philanthropy, such as charities, community groups or social enterprises.

Colin Tweedy, chief executive of Arts & Business that works to spark relationships between cultural organisations and businesses and whose work was acknowledged by the minister, said: "We absolutely welcome these announcements. Arts & Business has urged successive governments to heed the growing contribution of the private sector as a supplement to public money. This is beginning to happen. We also welcome the announcement of the £80m match fund. Arts & Business knows the possibilities of match funding schemes and our active programmes in Wales and Scotland bring in over £5 for each £1 pound of public money.”

Arts & Business’ matched fund challenge - the #BigArtsGive  - which launched on Monday 6th December had raised £6m in three days by Wednesday (and stood at £9m as we went to press). “[It] proves there is the scope and demand to unlock innovative funding streams from new cultural supporters across the UK,” said Tweedy.