Explore the 2023 Philanthropy Pulse report in its entirety.
Performing arts organizations made up the majority of survey respondents. Of 121 responding arts and culture organizations, 47% represent a performing arts organization and 23% represent museums.
Three out of every four (75%) respondents reported that their revenue increased or remained the same since the prior fiscal year. Just over half (52%) of respondents raised between $1 million and $10 million during the fiscal year, citing strong fundraising capabilities across event planning (53%), board relations (53%), and donor communications (33%).
29% of respondents anticipate increased revenue in deferred (planned) gift commitments, but 19% cited increasing these types of gifts as one of their organization’s top challenges in fundraising. Learn how one of CCS's arts and culture organization partners created an effective planned giving program.
Survey participants revealed areas of opportunity related to reporting and analytics capabilities, with 44% describing their organization’s sophistication in these areas at a novice or non-user level. Fundraising leaders could thus consider making data-driven arguments for budget allocation to support staff training. Similarly, 23% stated a lack of confidence in research or data on gift planning prospects as the greatest obstacle to receiving more noncash contributions, pointing to further professional development opportunities. Other fundraising challenges faced by respondents in this sector include: donor acquisition (60%), donor retention/stewardship (47%), and hiring and retaining fundraising staff members (43%).
Just over half of arts and culture organizations increased their fundraising staff or plan to do so this year.
55% of arts and culture respondents reported that their number of donors increased, which juxtaposes the overall “dollars up, donors down” trend we see across the nonprofit sector.
Arts and Culture organizations were among the most likely to discuss the concepts of diversity, equity and/or inclusion (DEI) in conversations with donors, with 92% reportedly doing so.
The data on this page was curated from a questionnaire taken by nearly 1,200 organizations during the fall of 2022 reporting on FY21 results.
