Arts funding: Why now is the time for philanthropy

“I hate talking about money and anyway there are no rich people around here.”

Philanthropic support for the arts has been a key part of the funding mix for hundreds of years. It was perhaps only with the advent of public funding in the UK in the 20^th century that it took a back seat amid a shift in societal attitudes, as increased tax was expected to shoulder the burden of supporting our society.

For many years the UK arts sector has occupied a middle ground between continental European countries, with their more significant budgets for public funding, and the US, where arts and culture are funded primarily through philanthropy. As funding needs grow ever more pressing, philanthropy has an increasing role to play.

Today, the public purse is being squeezed, public services are becoming more expensive and public funding is struggling to keep pace with ever increasing competing demands. This is the cultural sector’s most fundamental challenge: to demonstrate its value to society (beyond the intrinsic arts for art’s sake arguments) and in so doing create and communicate a cause that will drive increased public and private investment and inspire the majority to want to spend money on it.

The economic value of the arts has been researched and championed for a long time now. What is less well articulated is the social value, although models for measuring that impact have emerged more recently. As a sector we could be so much better at identifying the common causes and benefits of the arts – and at communicating them.

Finding common cause: The place-based approach

Philanthropists give where they want to – it’s up to them. Our role is to find the best means of persuading them that our cause is the one they want to give to. Our work at Figurative Philanthropy for Arts & Culture (FPAC) has shown one very effective way to do that is to take a place-based approach.

At FPAC, we’ve been exploring what motivates philanthropists to donate to the arts for many years through a range of projects, partnership building and on-the-ground activity. We’ve found sector collaborations that focus on promoting a common cause to improve a geographic place – through developing attainment levels, social cohesion, health and well-being programmes and so on – can prove the most productive means of securing new philanthropy.

Focusing on a sense of place and investing in community – using the role of the arts in supporting that location and enabling a rising tide to lift all boats – has proved over and again that new philanthropy is achievable. A regional – and sometimes hyperlocal – focus is the right one.

Place-based philanthropy in action: Stoke Creates

One example is the Stoke Creates Cultural Compact, an inclusive engine for artistic, creative and cultural participation across Stoke and North Staffordshire, working towards our common goal of achieving place-based regeneration for future generations.

Through collaborative working that embraces many different groups and sectors, Stoke Creates is maximising the city’s chances to secure new funding from external sources and channel funding and expertise to address unmet needs in the city. It is supported in this by Made in Stoke, a diaspora network established to enable those for whom Stoke has played a defining role in their lives to give something back to the city.

We have partnered with Stoke Creates both to curate conversations in Stoke and to deliver a VIP event at the V&A in London to engage Made in Stoke members with arts and culture in the city. And as part of our pilot Arts for Impact campaign in 2024 delivered in partnership with the Big Give, Stoke Creates acted as champion of the programme with a contribution of £50,000 (funded by Arts Council England).

This supported several arts organisations to run their own match funding campaigns which led to £120,000 of new funding for arts and culture in Stoke. While it is by no means the only funding that Stoke Creates has generated, it’s a good example of the leverage that partnership and place-based working can provide.

Continues…

Sir Vernon Ellis hosts a discussion at FPAC’s first annual conference. Photo: Nicola Gotts Photography

Building momentum: Working together to increase philanthropic funding

There’s a real appetite for this kind of approach. Last week (05 March) we welcomed around 80 partners to our first annual conference in Birmingham, to discuss the potential of place-based partnerships.

Philanthropic fundraising can be seen as a competitive activity, creating and then protecting one organisation’s relationships with its donors, but in fact we are all more likely to succeed if we work together to share insights and establish best practice.

As Sir Vernon Ellis, FPAC’s founder and chairperson, noted at the event: “If you go into a collaboration thinking how can I help, not what will I get, it’s more likely to be beneficial.”

Attendees heard from a range of speakers, including British theatre director and producer Jude Kelly CBE, who emphasised the importance of keeping creative passion at the heart of philanthropy efforts: “Our conviction (as artists) is what will enable us to be persuasive when asking for money.”

Another string to the sector’s bow

There will always be calls for financial support from across society; the arts have no special rights. That’s why pursuing a range of funding sources and cross-sector approaches, with philanthropy an important ingredient in that mix, is the best course of action.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but by working closely with arts organisations and engaging people outside the traditional sector, we can energise the conversation and find new ways of centring creativity in wider social and economic impact efforts.

As a sector we should expand our approach to financing our important work: seek new collaborations, be commercially minded, find alternative funding solutions and capitalise on the passion our audiences have for our work.

In the case of philanthropy, we now understand that articulating a common cause that works to deliver societal change using the arts – often in a local setting – can be the most effective way of securing long-term support. We then need to talk about good donor-stewardship… but that’s for another article.