The Private Investment in Culture Survey confirms a lot of things that people working in museums around the UK probably know from their own experience and it is particularly encouraging to see that museums have grown their private income faster than any other arts sector apart from the visual arts.
What a survey can’t show is what it takes for small and medium size organisations to secure private investment from individuals, business and trusts.
Every month I meet people working and volunteering in museums where fundraising is only one of the many things for which they are responsible. Most of them are not professional fundraisers but they have developed these skills alongside the countless others that their roles require. Although fundraising can seem daunting for some, this portfolio approach has the powerful advantage of allowing the potential donor to connect directly with the staff and volunteers who are at the heart of the amazing work that the organisation does.
It is these people’s passionate communication of the contribution that their museums make to communities and individuals, in wideranging ways from learning and creativity to well-being, to place-making, which has secured £51 million of investment in museums during 2014/15. Their ability to turn the plain truth – that preserving and securing our heritage for future generations is important but intrinsically expensive – into a story that makes individuals, businesses, trusts and foundations, want to contribute, is vital to attracting private investment and underpinning the museum sector’s sustainability.
The Private Investment in Culture report shows that small and medium size museums face very real challenges. The research highlights lack of in-house staff capacity and time as the primary barrier to achieving more thorough fundraising. In an organisation with a small turnover this can be hard to overcome as taking on a dedicated fundraiser, even part-time, might add a very significant amount to the organisation’s core costs, which has to be covered by additional fundraising – the risks can seem too high.
Additionally fundraising for core costs is notoriously difficult; as the trend that funders prefer to see their funds make a direct impact against project activity, hasn’t changed. Nevertheless some small organisations, like Chiltern Open Air Museum, have made this transition, starting with a freelance or part-time post and building it up as fundraising success is achieved.
Even if the needed resources are in place, developing new prospective donors is challenging for organisations that do not have widespread name and brand recognition. Similarly, the prospects for business investment are limited in many parts of the country.
Much of the private investment goes to a small number of ‘big players’: as shown in the survey that the 50 largest organisations are receiving 60% of the overall investment, with the remaining 40% shared between the other 2824 organisations.
Nevertheless it is the small organisations (turnover less than £100k) that are achieving the biggest proportion of their income from private investment (29%, compared to 17% for organisations with a turnover over £1m).
Geography also makes a difference – the regional data shows that on average organisations of all sizes in London, the South East and East of England are raising a fifth of their income from private sources, whereas in other regions it is a tenth or less. Whilst the largest organisations receive their biggest proportion of investment from individual giving, for small organisations trusts and foundations are the most significant source and overall investment from this source has increased. Income from businesses has held fairly steady over the past three years, when the 50 largest organisations are excluded.
The survey shows some areas where there is potentially room for growth. For smaller organisations individual giving remains an opportunity – whilst very large donations from wealthy individuals may not be that likely, there is potential to grow the many ways in which large numbers of people can contribute smaller amounts, ideally regularly.
Many museums are good at using Friends and membership schemes and increasingly use these as stepping stones to developing legacy campaigns. There is also some evidence of growth in crowd-funding success, but still almost no take up of payroll giving to arts and cultural organisations.
It is encouraging to see that most organisations are optimistic that they will increase both their earned and fundraised income in the coming year. To develop more skills in fundraising in smaller museums, the continuation of fundraising learning programmes like Giving to Heritage, run by the Heritage Alliance, will be vital in supporting people for whom fundraising is one of their many responsibilities, to develop the skills and confidence to realise their ambitions for their organisations and maintain and grow much-needed public investment in arts and cultural sector.
