£50m Lottery funding to boost philanthropy announced in December yet to be secured

By: 

Cheryl Chapman

Managing Editor, Philanthropy UK

Arts Council England has yet to confirm its £50m Lottery money contribution to the £80m match funding scheme recently announced by culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Announcing the scheme at the beginning of December, Hunt said that “over £80m in public funding will come from the Lottery and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport”.

He added: “By leveraging an equivalent amount from private donors, our investment will unlock at least £160m for cultural organisations over the next four years – but with Gift Aid and smart targeting, it could raise even more.”

However, an arts council spokesman said this week: “We are looking at putting up to £50m of Lottery funding into this scheme over a number of years. However, this has yet to be agreed by Council and the level of Lottery funding we put into the scheme will be discussed and agreed when they meet early next year. We also want to talk to the sector to determine the right level, and the right kind of investment.”

She said Lottery budgets are due to be set later this month when the National Council meet.

Projected Lottery income for the current financial year (10/11) is £141.4m.

In response, a DCMS spokesperson said: “[Chief executive] Alan Davey and the arts council have been closely involved in the development of the match funding scheme and in the announcement by the secretary of state. The arts council’s trustees have formal responsibility for setting budgets and we are confident of their support.”

Louise de Winter, director of National Campaign for the Arts, added: “Any new scheme such as this match funding proposal needs to have the support of the sector and be constructed in a meaningful way.”

The remaining £30m of the £80m match fund will be provided by DCMS using its departmental budget over four years starting in 2011/12.