A campaign to encourage private giving across arts and culture in the UK, Private Giving for the Public Good, has been launched with the support of Philanthropy UK.

Through its efforts to encourage private giving, and to make it easier, the campaign aims to inspire individuals to continue “carrying on the work of those who brought the theatres, galleries and concert halls of Britain into being, and who created the collections and performing companies that give them life”.

The campaign has four main aims: 

• To provide greater incentives for living donors to make gifts of objects to the cultural sector 
• To give greater recognition to people who give to the cultural sector
• To ensure that all parts of the country benefit from cultural philanthropy
• To share knowledge and expertise in this field across the whole arts and heritage sector

The campaign is being led by The National Museums Directors’ Conference; The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council; and Arts Council England.

Statistics show that of the £9.5bn given by individuals to charity in 2006/7 only a small fraction went to the arts and culture, and 69% of all the money that is given to culture goes to organisations in London and the South-East.

Outlined in the proposal is the need for an organisation dedicated to promoting individual giving to the arts and culture that provides easy access to advice about how to give, and information about where to give. Also, it cites the need for a new generation of “venture philanthropists”, who will apply their business acumen to the world of culture and the arts.

Mark Jones, Chair, National Museum Directors’ Conference and Director, V&A, said: “We want to encourage more people to give to culture. People who start by giving to cultural organisations tend to give to other things as well. We want the whole of society to benefit from this campaign.”

To encourage this shift-change, the proposal recommends that:

• People to be encouraged to give in a planned way that is tax efficient 
• Gift Aid to be made more user-friendly
• Giving should be more visible, at all levels, from the small donation, where there should be more acknowledgements in programmes and publicity, to the major gift
• As well as being commercial sponsors, businesses should encourage companywide payroll giving to a chosen organisation by matching the contributions of the staff with funds from their social responsibility budgets
• Comparable tax benefits should be available to the living who wish to donate significant cultural objects in order to preserve them for the public.

It also calls upon arts and culture organisations to promote their charitable status.

Other supports of the campaign include The Art Fund, Arts & Business and The Beacon Fellowship.

More information about the report, Private Giving for the Public Good, can be downloaded from the following websites:

• National Museum Directors’ Conference   
• Museums, Libraries and Archives Council 
• Arts Council England  

Click on the link below to read the report in full.