Museums and galleries across the UK are being asked to raise more of their income through private giving, corporate sponsorship and philanthropy.
But can museums in the regions be expected to raise similar amounts to the nationals and other London-based institution through philanthropy?
Donors, benefactors and corporate sponsors are often lured to give to London institutions because of the kudos, publicity and sheer numbers of domestic and international visitors passing through those organisations.
It is not surprising then that there was suspicion from museums and galleries when culture secretary Jeremy Hunt talked about the arts needing to attract more philanthropy.
Congratulations were due last month to the British Museum, which received a £25m donation from Lord Sainsbury towards its £125m World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre.
But the news also re-ignited the discussion about the inequity between London and the regions in attracting the big bucks.
Arts and Business research reveals that 69% of all private investment received by arts organisations is concentrated in London. That equates to £450m going into the capital in 2008-09. The Midlands, however, received only £19m of private investment in the same year.
Capacity in the regions is limited. Wolverhampton Art Gallery is local authority-run and lacks dedicated fundraising staff. Fundraising is often limited to grant applications to the Heritage Lottery Fund, for example. The finance manager supports this role, as well as having many other duties.
Networking and talking up the institution to potential donors and sponsors at a regional level can help. But local authority-run museums point out that many local companies are already paying high business rates and feel that they are already “donating”.
For John Roles, director of Leeds Museums and Galleries, the answer is a more proactive approach to fundraising. But he recognises it is a “slow burn” and is dependent on building trust and relationships with donors.
Perhaps the Big Arts Give will help. The Arts and Business’ initiative aims to reinvigorate individual cultural philanthropy and generate £1m of private pledges by Christmas.
There are already 125 organisations selected to participate, including many museums and galleries.
An Arts and Business spokesman said the pledges coming through showed there was a “healthy pattern” of giving developing for the regions.
But there is evidence that private investment overall is on the wane. Between 2007-08 and 2008-09, giving to culture dropped by 4.5%.
The figures in the regions speak for themselves. Museums Sheffield, a trust, received £77,782 between 2005 and 2010 in cash funds raised through corporate sponsorship and private donations of more than £1,000.
Over the same period, the National Railway Museum in York attracted £2.5m and the National Media Museum in Bradford £1.9m. Both are regional posts of the National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI), as is the Science Museum in London, which raised £12.6m.
Museums Sheffield has two fundraising staff and at NMSI there is a national director of fundraising who is based in York and works with a team across the three museums on a single fundraising plan.
This highlights the difference in capacity between institutions but there is also a difference between regions. Some have a tradition of corporate giving to specific causes, and in some the arts are unlikely to benefit before areas such as education and health.
If government fails to understand the discrepancy between metropolitan and regional giving, how should it be made aware or lobbied to address this?
One regional museum manager said this should have been a job for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. But with its demise, organisations such as Arts and Business are in the best position to use their data to argue the case.
- Philanthropy in the regions will be debated at one of Museums Journal’s Hold the Front Page session at the Museums Association conference in Manchester. Click here to find out more
Business investment
2007-08 £163m
2008-09 £157m
% change -3.7
Individual giving
2007-08 £382m
2008-09 £363m
% change -5.0
Trusts and foundations
2007-08 £141m
2008-09 £135m
% change -4.3
Total
2007-08 £686m
2008-09 £655m
% change -4.5
Source: Arts and Business
