Inspiring Philanthropy

Dr Georgie McClean (adapted from speech at the Philanthropy Australia Conference 2024)

The story of arts philanthropy is a story of unrealised potential.

Philanthropy has always played a vital role in Australian arts and culture, elevating the opportunities and ambitions of Australian artists. Generous donors have been inspired by personal passion, often drawing on their own experiences of transformation through engagement with the arts.

However, only $204 million was donated to organisations advancing culture in 2021, against a total annual charitable giving by Australians of more than $13B. And whilst overall fundraising fell during COVID, recovered and then stalled due to cost-of-living pressure, there has been a significant difference in results between cause areas in recent years.

The problem is that these cause areas tend to be seen as in competition with one another.

At Creative Australia, however, we see arts and culture as an accelerator and catalyser of profound change across areas such as wellbeing, education and social cohesion.

Australians tend to agree. Our research in the National Arts Participation report, a survey of almost 10000 Australians, found that 84% of Australians see positive benefits of cultural participation, in wellbeing, education and connection – and more Australians are acting on this knowledge, attending arts events to improve  their wellbeing.

So, the paradox we now find is that the value  of arts and culture are now being recognised in new ways, but in a cost-of-living crisis, it is now harder than ever to generate that value.

As Maree Sidey, CEO Philanthropy Australia, said in her speech to open this conference:

“We face immense challenges, with widespread unmet social needs, environmental crisis… and a shrinking space for civil society.  On top of that we are at the crossroads of the biggest ever gap between the haves and have nots… and our sector sits right at the heart of this tension.

“Just as we have a strong and proud legacy of generosity… By its very nature philanthropy is also an outcome of wealth and privilege. If we don’t  name  that and we don’t own that… we have no language to  reckon  with it. Nor can we develop a clear and compelling vision for how we work together to  bridge  it.”

We need new models, and new ways of thinking, with a greater focus on impact.

We see opportunities for new approaches in which government funding can de-risk other investors and philanthropy can play a role in catalytic capital and innovation. This requires a real paradigm shift on the part of the sector and the ways we work together.

Our National Cultural Policy framework encourages taking these new approaches.

We need to amplify the traditional motivations for giving – passion, commitment, social and cultural capital – and extend these into social impact, community benefit and transformative change.

As Ms Sidey says:

“The true measure of our success should be in our collective efforts to grow giving,  with  the aim of  fostering a thriving civil society – one that is robust enough to tackle the challenges before us.”

Find out more about Partnerships & Philanthropy at Creative Australia.