Arts Groups Raised $1.5-Billion From Corporations Last Year
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
November 29, 2001 | Read Time: 2 minutes
American companies donated a total of $1.56-billion to arts organizations last year, according to a new survey, a one-third increase over the total of gifts in 1997 before adjusting for inflation.
But the growth in contributions may be slowing this year, according to the survey, which was conducted by Shugoll Research, in Bethesda, Md., and Guideline Consulting, in New York, for the Business Committee for the Arts, a nonprofit group in Long Island City, N.Y., that helps companies form relationships with arts organizations. It was based on interviews with 1,006 companies across the country and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The survey, which the committee conducts every three years, found that companies donated, on average, 14 percent of all contributions to arts organizations in 2000. The median amount donated to such groups over the year was $4,000, meaning half the companies gave more and half gave less. Nearly all of the money went to local arts groups, with the largest share, 22 percent, contributed to museums. Symphony orchestras and arts-education programs received 19 percent and 17 percent of the gifts, respectively.
Conducted in July and August, the survey also found that businesses expected to increase their support of the arts by about 3 percent this year and by about the same percentage next year.
But a separate survey of 100 companies considered major supporters of the arts that was conducted in October for the Business Committee for the Arts showed that contributions to arts groups may stay flat next year. Sixty-four of the companies reported that they would donate about the same in 2002 as they did this year. Only five companies expect to increase gifts.
A summary of the larger survey is available for $8 and copies of the full report are available for $95 each. To order, send a check, payable to Business Committee for the Arts, 29-27 Queens Plaza North, Fourth Floor, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101; (718) 482-9900.
