Arts Council Catalyst Arts Programme

Arts Council Catalyst Arts Programme

The Arts Council has recently published evaluations report on the progress of the Catalyst Arts funding programme. 

Catalyst was a £70 million programme introduced in 2012 to support philanthropy for the arts and cultural sector.  Over 400 organisations were selected to establish an endowment (tier 1), build capacity to fundraise for new money, which Arts Council match (tier 2), and/or encourage organisations new to fundraising to work together to build capacity and skills (tier 3).
 
The Arts Council have published an Evaluation Report into Year 1 of the scheme – the first part of a longitudinal research project – that covers tier 2 and tier 3 activity only.  Evaluation of the endowment scheme will follow at a later date.
  • Philanthropy is a vital part of the mixed economy and The Arts Council is supporting arts and cultural organisations to become more resilient and sustainable as they explore new revenue streams in a tight economic environment
  • This first Catalyst evaluation report shows some significant success – both around organisations increasing their income from private giving and around developing their fundraising skills
  • Building on the learning from this programme, The Arts Council will invest more in fundraising and philanthropy and have earmarked £21.5million for a similar intervention from 2016. 
Clare Titley, Director, Philanthropy, Arts Council England, said: ‘We’re delighted the first Catalyst Evaluation Report shows the programme is starting to find success, despite the difficult climate for fundraising. Organisations are reporting significant success in building capacity, confidence and skills but we recognise there is still a major challenge in attracting private giving and we may not see the bigger impact for many years.'
 
‘The Arts Council is a pivotal player in supporting the sector to increase private giving and we want to build on our investments to date. That’s why we’ve set aside £21.5million for a similar intervention from 2016 and we’ll be considering the best way to do that after looking closely at the results of the research so far.’
 
 
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