Fundraising successes and challenges, statistically speaking, in the arts and culture
My analysis of a variety of sources on cultural donors and fundraising
Last week, in examining statistics on donors and donations to all types of charities, I noted that there has been a steady decline in the number of charitable donors, meaning that donations are coming from a smaller and smaller pool of donors. The value of charitable donations has recently decreased but shows an increase over a 25-year timeframe.
I wish that equivalent data (allowing a trend analysis!) were available for the arts and culture in Canada. Unfortunately, and typically, that is not the case.
There are relatively few datasets with specific information about donors and donations to arts and culture organizations. Here is what I’ve been able to find:
An estimate of donors to arts and culture organizations as a percentage of all donors, from which I derive an estimate of the number of arts and culture donors.
The proportion of arts and culture organizations that have met (or not) their fundraising targets.
Fundraising challenges reported by arts, culture, heritage, and recreation organizations. (In this dataset, cultural organizations are combined with sports and recreation organizations.)
Statistics Canada recently concluded interviews for a new iteration of the Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating, which I have analyzed in the past. The data from that survey, which will hopefully include culture-specific information, will likely be available in about a year.