Many of the UK's museums and galleries are becoming increasingly dependent on money from business to support their work. But there are huge regional variations in the success of attracting private money, which shows that not everyone finds it easy to access funds.
Jonathan Tuchner, a spokesman for Arts & Business (A&B), a charity that encourages arts and business relationships, says the overall figures for private investment in the arts are promising. A&B's Private Investment Benchmarking Survey found that private sector (businesses, individuals, trusts and foundations) support for the arts was £452m in 2004-05, up 3 per cent on 2003-04. And museums and galleries are among those arts institutions that are increasingly good at raising funds from private sources.
'The people who are doing well are doing very well,' Tuchner says, pointing to a recent A&B survey that showed almost 75 per cent of those who applied for corporate funding were successful. 'Those who aren't applying are missing out.'
Although corporate funding will never replace public funding, Tuchner says getting money from business is becoming more important to many museums and galleries. 'Raising more money will simply allow museums to do wonderful, dynamic, vibrant things with that money,' says Tuchner.
Bill Ferris is the chairman of the Association of Independent Museums and the chief executive of Chatham Historic Dockyard. He is sceptical about how far private money can fill the gaps in public funding. 'Corporate funding won't plug the gap, because it is ever harder to find,' he says. He believes large companies have to look to their shareholders and that corporate funding is full of risks from fluctuations in the economy. 'Companies can also take a different view of their brand position, and consider that looking to the past is not what they're about,' Ferris adds.
But according to research by A&B, museums do relatively well when it comes to fundraising compared with other arts and heritage organisations. Of the £452m of private investment in the arts in 2004-05, museums took more than a 12 per cent share at nearly £43m. This was only bettered by the visual arts and gallery sector, which took 14 per cent.
Museums may be doing well overall in attracting corporate cash, but the regional picture is patchy, with the lion's share going to national museums in London (see box). Of the 53 arts organisations that received more than £1m of private investment in 2004-05, 33 were in London. They accounted for 72 per cent of total private investment in the arts during the same period. Museums followed this pattern, with those in London often the big winners and large organisations being particularly successful.
'There is a distinct division in the museum sector between the major organisations and all the rest,' says Tuchner. 'Just ten museums received more than 70 per cent of the corporate money going to all UK museums.'
So how easy is it for museums to tap corporate sources for fundraising? 'The corporate sector is extremely hard to crack,' says Judy Niner, the managing director of Development Partners, which specialises in museums fundraising, and works with small and large museums throughout the UK. 'Many museums set themselves up for disappointment by seeing the corporate sector as the potential godsend to a funding gap. They then send off a few (or a few hundred) letters and wonder why the pounds don't come flooding in.'
Despite this, Tuchner believes there is still an untapped market for museums with the energy and resources to pursue it. But they need to be clear about their own brand and the benefits they are offering.
'A lot of good work continues to be carried out, but there is more that can be done,' Tuchner says. 'If the independent sector is going to challenge the hold that the major national museums have on business investment, they must offer services that corporations find attractive.'
Offering corporations the opportunity to entertain clients, suppliers and key opinion formers while strengthening their corporate image and reaching a wide audience is
important. And while small museums receive relatively little business investment, that funding can make up a significant part of their total income.
Bill Ferris says independent museums have to diversify their sources of income. Chatham itself has various interests, including an 80-acre site with 100 business tenants renting on a commercial basis, and a residential estate, as well as some Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) funding. 'With a mixed economy, the risks are spread,' says Ferris. 'If the DCMS turned off its money, it would be very hard for us but we have other resources too.'
Individual fundraising successes can be spectacular. Earlier this summer, the British Engineerium at Hove, East Sussex, was saved from closure at the last minute by a property developer who put together a £3m-plus package. Yet successes such as the Engineerium, says Ferris, are one-offs and down to 'pure philanthropy by an individual'.
Ferris says Chatham finds it hard to attract corporate funding because it's difficult to get sponsors to come out of London even though it is only 35 miles away. Companies also prefer to fund high-profile campaigns, or spread their budget across community groups.
However, the picture for corporate funding is changing, say fundraisers. While fundraising has typically been made up of sponsorship, membership and donation, big donations are now rare, says Amanda Cropper, the head of corporate development at the Tate, since companies would rather give to programmes than capital projects.
In the past five to ten years, she says, particularly in the arts, there has been a shift from philanthropy towards commercial viability and visibility. Corporate fundraising, including sponsorship and donations, now makes up about 33 per cent of the Tate's income.
'There is a need to meet corporate objectives and brand objectives,' Cropper says. 'Tate is very much attuned to understanding what those objectives are.' Philanthropy is now being replaced by a marketing approach, she adds, or help in kind.
Corporate fundraising may be harder to come by outside London 'but that just means you have to work harder,' says Nancy Chambers, the development director of ss Great Britain in Bristol, which recently scooped the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries (just part of the £3.5m the museum has netted over the past five years).
The museum has hosted a series of champagne receptions for potential sponsors at prestigious London venues. 'Most small museums don't have many staff, but there are trustees and supporters, and we took them all on the bus to London,' says Chambers.
This shows that fundraising outside London is hard, but not impossible. At Tate Liverpool the corporate membership programme reflects the fact that the gallery is supported more by regional and local companies. An example is the £250,000 four-year sponsorship of Tate Liverpool's modern art exhibitions by international law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, which has offices in Liverpool and Manchester.
Apart from the regional problems, museums and galleries do face difficulties compared with other sectors in terms of their programming, says Cropper. 'An exhibition could be three to ten years in the making, whereas performing arts can be more flexible.'
The lack of flexibility in programming means that museums can't respond to changing corporate needs quite as easily as, say, opera or ballet. But that doesn't mean to say they can't have success in this area of fundraising. Listening to what corporate funding bodies want, and building long-term relationships, goes a long way.
Carol Davis is a freelance journalist
Jonathan Tuchner, a spokesman for Arts & Business (A&B), a charity that encourages arts and business relationships, says the overall figures for private investment in the arts are promising. A&B's Private Investment Benchmarking Survey found that private sector (businesses, individuals, trusts and foundations) support for the arts was £452m in 2004-05, up 3 per cent on 2003-04. And museums and galleries are among those arts institutions that are increasingly good at raising funds from private sources.
'The people who are doing well are doing very well,' Tuchner says, pointing to a recent A&B survey that showed almost 75 per cent of those who applied for corporate funding were successful. 'Those who aren't applying are missing out.'
Although corporate funding will never replace public funding, Tuchner says getting money from business is becoming more important to many museums and galleries. 'Raising more money will simply allow museums to do wonderful, dynamic, vibrant things with that money,' says Tuchner.
Bill Ferris is the chairman of the Association of Independent Museums and the chief executive of Chatham Historic Dockyard. He is sceptical about how far private money can fill the gaps in public funding. 'Corporate funding won't plug the gap, because it is ever harder to find,' he says. He believes large companies have to look to their shareholders and that corporate funding is full of risks from fluctuations in the economy. 'Companies can also take a different view of their brand position, and consider that looking to the past is not what they're about,' Ferris adds.
But according to research by A&B, museums do relatively well when it comes to fundraising compared with other arts and heritage organisations. Of the £452m of private investment in the arts in 2004-05, museums took more than a 12 per cent share at nearly £43m. This was only bettered by the visual arts and gallery sector, which took 14 per cent.
Museums may be doing well overall in attracting corporate cash, but the regional picture is patchy, with the lion's share going to national museums in London (see box). Of the 53 arts organisations that received more than £1m of private investment in 2004-05, 33 were in London. They accounted for 72 per cent of total private investment in the arts during the same period. Museums followed this pattern, with those in London often the big winners and large organisations being particularly successful.
'There is a distinct division in the museum sector between the major organisations and all the rest,' says Tuchner. 'Just ten museums received more than 70 per cent of the corporate money going to all UK museums.'
So how easy is it for museums to tap corporate sources for fundraising? 'The corporate sector is extremely hard to crack,' says Judy Niner, the managing director of Development Partners, which specialises in museums fundraising, and works with small and large museums throughout the UK. 'Many museums set themselves up for disappointment by seeing the corporate sector as the potential godsend to a funding gap. They then send off a few (or a few hundred) letters and wonder why the pounds don't come flooding in.'
Despite this, Tuchner believes there is still an untapped market for museums with the energy and resources to pursue it. But they need to be clear about their own brand and the benefits they are offering.
'A lot of good work continues to be carried out, but there is more that can be done,' Tuchner says. 'If the independent sector is going to challenge the hold that the major national museums have on business investment, they must offer services that corporations find attractive.'
Offering corporations the opportunity to entertain clients, suppliers and key opinion formers while strengthening their corporate image and reaching a wide audience is
important. And while small museums receive relatively little business investment, that funding can make up a significant part of their total income.
Bill Ferris says independent museums have to diversify their sources of income. Chatham itself has various interests, including an 80-acre site with 100 business tenants renting on a commercial basis, and a residential estate, as well as some Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) funding. 'With a mixed economy, the risks are spread,' says Ferris. 'If the DCMS turned off its money, it would be very hard for us but we have other resources too.'
Individual fundraising successes can be spectacular. Earlier this summer, the British Engineerium at Hove, East Sussex, was saved from closure at the last minute by a property developer who put together a £3m-plus package. Yet successes such as the Engineerium, says Ferris, are one-offs and down to 'pure philanthropy by an individual'.
Ferris says Chatham finds it hard to attract corporate funding because it's difficult to get sponsors to come out of London even though it is only 35 miles away. Companies also prefer to fund high-profile campaigns, or spread their budget across community groups.
However, the picture for corporate funding is changing, say fundraisers. While fundraising has typically been made up of sponsorship, membership and donation, big donations are now rare, says Amanda Cropper, the head of corporate development at the Tate, since companies would rather give to programmes than capital projects.
In the past five to ten years, she says, particularly in the arts, there has been a shift from philanthropy towards commercial viability and visibility. Corporate fundraising, including sponsorship and donations, now makes up about 33 per cent of the Tate's income.
'There is a need to meet corporate objectives and brand objectives,' Cropper says. 'Tate is very much attuned to understanding what those objectives are.' Philanthropy is now being replaced by a marketing approach, she adds, or help in kind.
Corporate fundraising may be harder to come by outside London 'but that just means you have to work harder,' says Nancy Chambers, the development director of ss Great Britain in Bristol, which recently scooped the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize for museums and galleries (just part of the £3.5m the museum has netted over the past five years).
The museum has hosted a series of champagne receptions for potential sponsors at prestigious London venues. 'Most small museums don't have many staff, but there are trustees and supporters, and we took them all on the bus to London,' says Chambers.
This shows that fundraising outside London is hard, but not impossible. At Tate Liverpool the corporate membership programme reflects the fact that the gallery is supported more by regional and local companies. An example is the £250,000 four-year sponsorship of Tate Liverpool's modern art exhibitions by international law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, which has offices in Liverpool and Manchester.
Apart from the regional problems, museums and galleries do face difficulties compared with other sectors in terms of their programming, says Cropper. 'An exhibition could be three to ten years in the making, whereas performing arts can be more flexible.'
The lack of flexibility in programming means that museums can't respond to changing corporate needs quite as easily as, say, opera or ballet. But that doesn't mean to say they can't have success in this area of fundraising. Listening to what corporate funding bodies want, and building long-term relationships, goes a long way.
Carol Davis is a freelance journalist
