Details unveiled of philanthropy arts fund

Further details have been unveiled this week about the Catalyst Arts philanthropy fund by Arts Council England (ACE).
It is hoped that the £40 million package will boost private giving to arts organisations, from small music programmes and art galleries to larger operations like the Royal Opera House.
The funding is to be allocated in three different ways to provide long-term support for the UK’s arts organisations who might be at different stages of funding.
First, £30 million will be invested in a match-funding scheme for organisations and individuals who have some experience of fundraising from the private sector but do not have the resources to find further support.
It will allow organisations to “develop their ideas and capability in the first year, and then explore innovative ways of using match-funding to generate and secure new private giving”, ACE said, claiming that the fund will enable organisations to generate £25 million of new private money by 2015.
Secondly, £7 million will be invested in one-off grants for smaller organisations with less fundraising experience, while the third and final part will see £3 million invested in giving practical advice on securing new sources of funding.
Commenting on the newly-announced details, Alan Davey, chief executive of ACE, said: “In the same way that the Arts Council wants organisations to have the support and space to take artistic risks and be creative, we believe this fund will allow them to do the same with private giving; enabling them to build their skills and test new fundraising ideas, then share that knowledge with the wider sector.”
In April, Tom Service wrote an article in the Guardian suggesting that music organisations should broaden their horizons from the generosity of super-rich philanthropists and focus on the thousands of other audience members who may be willing to donate.
Spurred on by a crowd-funding initiative in East Anglia, which saw the Britten Sinfonia appeal for donations to commission a new piece, he suggested that ‘crowd-sourcing’ could be a valuable option, particularly for small music groups or projects.
“The beauty of these schemes, and others like them, is that you feel part of the process as someone who has contributed,” he wrote.