Image: TarraWarra Museum of Art. Photo: Tourism Australia
  • $ 398.4 M

    total value of private sector support for the Australian arts and cultural sector

  • $ 287 M

    total value of cash support

  • $ 65 M

    total value of volunteer and pro bono support

34% decline of the total value of private sector support

The pandemic has had a major impact on the total value of private sector support. The latest estimate represents a 34% decline compared to the pre-pandemic total of $608 million reported in Giving Attitude 1.

Image: Australian Dance Party, Soul Defenders. Photo: Lorna Sim

Reliance on government funding rose from 43% to 48% of all turnover

Since Giving Attitude 2, the reliance on government funding rose significantly (43% to 48% of all turnover) as the forced the closure of face-to-face operations due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions led to reductions in box office sales (from 34% to 25%).

Image: Australian Dance Party, Escape From Plastika. Photo: Lorna Sim

Arts and Cultural Profile

Results show the $287 million in cash support reported in Giving Attitude 2.5 accounted for 72% of private sector support and 15% of all turnover. Understand the arts and cultural landscape in Australia through the size, location, activities, primary focus and key characteristics of the industry.

$64 million reduction in the value of volunteer hours

The value of volunteer and pro bono support hours has dropped by two thirds since pre-pandemic reports, accounting for 16% of all private sector support in Giving Attitude 2.5, compared to 30% in Giving Attitude 1.

$64.1 million volunteer and pro bono dollar value in Giving Attitude 2.5

$124.3 million volunteer and pro bono dollar value in Giving Attitude 2

Organisations who completed Giving Attitude 2.5 rated the importance of private sector funding as 7.5 out of 10.

There was an increase in the perceived importance of private sector funding.

Organisations who completed Giving Attitude 2.5 scored the importance of private sector funding as 7.5 out of 10

Organisations who completed Giving Attitude 1 scored the importance of private sector funding as 6.6 out of 10

Image: Australian Dance Party, Water Tight. Photo: Lorna Sim

Income Analysis

The total value of the arts and cultural industry turnover was estimated to be $1.9 billion in the 2020 calendar year and 2020/21 financial year, with private sector support reaching $398.4 million. Deep dive to learn more about the trends found in cash contributions, income sources and private sector support attributions.

58% of organisations have never employed fundraising staff

Only 1 in 5 organisations reported that they employed dedicated fundraising staff.

78% don’t have a dedicated fundraiser on their staff

22% do have a dedicated fundraiser on their staff

P.12 Image: Australian Dance Party, LESS Photo: Lorna Sim

Spending on salaries for fundraising staff declined by $24.6 million during the pandemic

By having more skilled and experienced staff and volunteers, arts and cultural organisations believe they would have a greater capacity to undertake fundraising activities.

15% reported that board members discussed fundraising strategies monthly

The industry also reported low levels of board engagement in the current study. A high proportion of board members were not actively engaged in activities that raised private sector support.

3% of board members participate in fundraising monthly

30% of board members don’t participate in fundraising

Image: Tasmania Youth Ochestra Photo: Mike Morffew

Fostering Success in Fundraising

Insights show that securing the right skills and expertise in fundraising staff was the main challenge facing arts and cultural organisations when seeking private sector support. The most common fundraising activity was directly approaching individuals for donations (84%). Drawing on the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major impact on attitudes can be seen in this section.

About Giving Attitude

Learn more about Giving Attitude 2.5 research methodology and survey design.

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Take Giving Attitude offline

Read a detailed presentation and analysis of the survey results by downloading the Giving Attitude 2.5 PDF Report.

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