Index-Specific Drivers Total Contributions
What Drives Total Contributions?
Arts & Culture Organization Characteristics
Positive Effect
- In a capital campaign
- Receives NEA/IMLS funds
- Higher unrestricted contributions
Negative Effect
- Organizational age
- Targets kids
Community Arts and Leisure Characteristics
Positive Effect
- Leisure complements
- Number of Arts Education Organizations, Art Museums
Negative Effect
- Public radio and TV station activity
- Number of other museums
Community Socio-demographic Characteristics
Positive Effect
- High percentage of kids, young adults
- High percentage of Asian Americans
- High percentage of African Americans
- Median Years
Negative Effect
- Individual philanthropy
Public Funding Characteristics
Positive Effect
- Revenue and number of Federal and State Arts grants
What Drives Total Contributed Revenue?
What organizational characteristics affect this performance?
We take into account each organization’s level of unrestricted contributed revenue as a starting place for examining the effects of various factors on total contributed revenue. Doing so focuses the effects of the driving forces on those elements that drive a difference between unrestricted versus total contributed revenue – i.e., temporarily and permanently restricted revenue.
•Total contributions increase for organizations in a capital campaign and those awarded NEA or IMLS grants.
•When organizations target kids, total contributed revenue tends to be lower. Total contributed revenue also tends to decrease with organizational age.
How do community arts and leisure characteristics affect performance?
•Total contributed revenue tends to be higher for organizations in communities with more leisure activities, which in this case act as complements.
•Having more arts education organizations and art museums in a community tends to raise the total contributed revenue tide for all organizations in these sectors in a market, while having more other museums tends to lower the total contributed revenue for all organizations in this sector.
• More public broadcast activity in a market tends to drive down arts and cultural organizations’ total contributed revenue.
How do socio-demographic characteristics of the community affect performance?
• Total contributed revenue is higher for organizations in communities where the percentage of the population that is under 25, Asian American or African American is higher. This is also the case where the population’s median age is higher.
• As the level of individual philanthropy in the market increases, total contributed revenue goes down. The fact that there is more giving in a market does not necessarily mean that it is being directed to arts and cultural organizations.
What impact does cultural policy have on performance?
• Overall state and federal grant activity in the larger local marketplace has a positive effect on an individual organization’s total contributed revenue.
What Drives Total Development Expenses?
Arts & Culture Organization Characteristics
Positive Effect
- Size, sector, age
- Number of board members
- Number of fundraising staff members
- Fixed assets
- Targets kids and young adults
- Targets Hispanics and Latinos
Negative Effect
- Organizational age
- Has a parent organization
- Targets African Americans
Community Arts and Leisure Characteristics
Positive Effect
- Market Arts & Culture dollar activity
- Leisure complements
- Number of dance companies
- Number of music and general performance organizations
- Number of orchestras and theatres
Negative Effect
- Public radio and TV station activity
- Number of artists and arts providers
- Number of arts education organizations
- Number of opera companies
Community Socio-demographic Characteristics
Positive Effect
- High percentage of young adults
- High percentage of Asian Americans
- Individual philanthropy
Negative Effect
- Total population
Public Funding Characteristics
Negative Effect
- Revenue and number of Federal and State Arts grants
What Drives Total Fundraising Expenses
What organizational characteristics affect this performance?
• Fundraising expenses increase with sector, organizational age, budget size, a larger board, a higher level of fixed assets and more paid fundraising staff members. Fundraising expenses also tend to be relatively higher for organizations that target people under 25 or Hispanics/Latinos.
• When organizations are older or they target African Americans, fundraising expense levels tend to be lower. The same is true for organizations that have a parent organization.
How do community arts and leisure characteristics affect performance?
• Fundraising expenses tend to be higher for organizations in communities with higher levels of total arts dollar activity and more leisure activities, which in this case act as complements. Having more dance companies, orchestras, theatre companies, music and general performing arts organizations in a community tends to raise the spend on fundraising for all organizations in these sectors in the market.
• The more arts education organizations and opera companies competing in market drives down the fundraising spend for all organizations in these sectors. In other words, more intense competition leads organizations in these sectors to spend less on fundraising.
• More public broadcast activity in a market tends to drive down arts and cultural organizations’ fundraising expense levels, as does the presence of more artists and arts providers in the community.
How do socio-demographic characteristics of the community affect performance?
• Fundraising expenses are higher for organizations in less densely populated communities, more philanthropic communities, and where the percentage of the population that is under 25 or Asian American is higher.
What impact does cultural policy have on performance?
• Where there is higher overall state and federal grant activity in the local marketplace, organizations tend to spend less on fundraising expenses.