It's an age-old question: How do we get more funding to support our arts mission? There’s no question that arts organizations provide meaningful impact, yet when it comes to dishing out our portion of the philanthropic pie our field routinely gets one of the smallest pieces. What gives?

If you’re responsible for fundraising for your arts organization, this article is for you. I have some strategies that I think will help you, your staff, and your board, re-frame the purpose and intention of the programs you offer so that you open your organization up to new funding possibilities. 

The Bad News: The Numbers Don’t Look Good for Contributions to Arts Organizations

Arts organizations tend to hold a scarcity mindset when it comes to fundraising. I often hear arts administrators lament about that there’s a lack of funding available for arts organizations. I also hear the resentment in their voices when these same arts administrators talk about the abundance of funding that seems to be overflowing in other nonprofit sectors. 

To an extent, they’re not wrong. A lot more philanthropic dollars are given to other sectors like religion, education and human services. Alternatively, the arts and humanities are often one of the lowest funded sectors. Each year, approximately 30% of all philanthropic dollars are given to religious organizations - the largest piece of that philanthropic pie I mentioned earlier. Arts, culture and the humanities, on the other hand, collectively generate only about 5% of funding as part of that same philanthropic pie - one of the smallest pieces. The only sectors that receives a smaller amount of philanthropic contributions is the environmental and animal causes. 

The Good News: There’s funding to be had… if arts organizations are willing to think outside the box.

With numbers like that it's easy for arts organizations to feel resignation about the lack of available funding. But if we allow ourselves as arts administrators and fundraisers to throw up our hands in resignation, we are not going to survive. We can't let numbers on a pie chart define our future. However, we can use that data to help our sector evolve for the better. 

My goal is to help you see that your arts organization has a whole world of funding potential available - if you know where to find it. And, if you’re willing to think outside the box. Are you willing to stop thinking of your organization as just a provider of cultural experiences and more of an organization that provides essential human services for the people you serve? If so, let’s dive in.  

Share How Your Arts Programs Meet Society’s Basic Human Needs 

Why do people go to see a symphony performance? Yes, they like Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. But really, why would someone pay for a ticket, get dressed up, travel to a concert hall, and pay for parking and concessions just to see a symphonic performance that they could have easily watch on YouTube? The physical act of going to and attending a performance fulfills a patron’s emotional and physical need to be uplifted, to decompress and to be with a group of like-minded people. Each of these “needs” are elements of our basic human needs. The things that every single one of us needs to satisfy in order to survive and thrive.

Think about how your organization’s programs fulfill your patrons’ or participants’ basic human needs. What are these basic human needs? Do you member learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs back in high school? If you need a refresher, here’s a very high-level review. 

Our basic physiological human needs are food, shelter, warmth, rest, safety and security. The next level up in the pyramid includes our physiological needs with includes emotional and mental health, as sense of belonging and strong relationships.

The bulk of nonprofits organizations have missions that specifically work to help individuals meet these basic needs. This is also where the bulk of philanthropic giving is directed.

Get To Know Your Patrons on a Deeper Level

The easiest way to do this is by asking better questions of your patrons. Ask about how your programs improve their lives, their quality of life, their livelihood.  Don’t just ask them to fill out a survey where they rate the quality of the program on a scale of 1-10. You also don’t need to know how likely they are to recommend your program to someone else. That’s just not relevant data when you’re trying to explain the impact of your programs to a funder. What you need are authentic relationships with your patrons so that you can learn how your programs are impacting their lives on a mental, physical and emotional level. The third and fourth tier of the Basic Human Needs Hierarchy. That is where your true impact lies and those anecdotes are what you share in your grant applications and fundraising materials.  

Use the surveys to collect the qualitative demographic data about the people you serve. Use testimonials and anecdotes to tell the story of data.  

Know That Your Arts Organization Is Not Relevant Simply Because it Exists 

I said what I said. I don’t care if your organization has been around for 100 years. How people give to the arts has been evolving for quite some time. Just opening your doors and offering free tickets is no longer enough. Patrons, and funders, expect more. People want to support causes and change. People who donate want to help their family, friends and community members meet their basic human needs. Because they know that helping others meet these needs is the basis of a successful and thriving society. If these basic human needs are not met at a community level, the community does not thrive. 

Remember, the relevancy of your arts organization is not defined by the programs you provide. It is defined by the way in which those programs change behaviors and life situations of the people that are served. 

Reframe your arts organization as a human services provider. This simply means that you update your boilerplate content to include powerful stories about how your programs improve the health and wellbeing of the people you serve. You might also consider teaming up with other human or social service programs in your community. 

Research grant funders outside of the arts sector.

As I mentioned earlier, I anticipate that grantmaking in the arts will be significantly cut back in the next few years as funders reallocate their funding to support programs that meet basic human needs. If you present your offerings as human service or social service programs then it gives you the leverage to apply for grants outside of the arts sector. Research funders that support mental health programs, job training, financial security and see if your arts programs fit within any of their requirements. Yes, it’s going to mean that you’ll have to engage in some out-of-the-box thinking about your organization's programs. But as a creative organization, you’re used to doing that. Right? This will help you broaden your funding pool. It also gives you the opportunity to make the case that your programs are essential to the health of your community, not discretionary entertainment. 

Ok we’ve unpacked a lot here today and I could literally talk about this topic for days. Seriously, I have re-written this post about three times because I had to keep cutting the content down in to small bite-sized chunks. 

I hope this post has provided you with some new strategies to help shift the mindset within your organization so that you can begin to open your programs up to new funding sources. What becomes possible for your arts organization and the people you serve when you stop thinking of your organization as an arts organization and start thinking of your organization as a human service provider? Let me know what has worked for your organization.

If you have questions, feel free to DM me on Instagram. You can find me @ArtsAdminJourney.