Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The programme for Government included the following commitment in the area of philanthropy and the arts:

We will work with stakeholders in the Arts community to develop new proposals aimed at building private support of the Arts in Ireland exploring philanthropic, sponsorship or endowment fund opportunities.

Since taking office two years ago, I have introduced a number of initiatives to address this commitment. In May 2012, I announced the introduction of a new philanthropic initiative on a pilot basis for arts and culture organisations. The initiative, called the Philanthropic Leverage Initiative, was designed to encourage philanthropic sponsorship and endowment of the arts from private sources. It has provided an incentive to arts organisations to seek proactively new funding relationships with sponsors that deliver private sector financial support, thereby increasing overall funding available to the arts. It was anticipated that a multiple of 3.5 on the pilot initiative funds of €230,000 would result in philanthropic funding of approximately €800,000 being raised for the arts. The initiative proved very successful with a multiplier of 4.26 in philanthropic donations being leveraged for the arts. The arts got a boost of more than €1 million last year, of which less than one fifth came from the public purse. A full list of awards under this scheme can be viewed on the Department's website and I have a list of them to hand. This year, €210,000 is available to arts organisations under the initiative, which is being targeted at arts and education and for arts organisations that are carrying out projects in schools. In 2013, priority will be given to arts and culture organisations seeking support for projects that include an education component. This is to support the Arts in Education Charter which I launched in conjunction with the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn.

Last October, I hosted and chaired a forum on philanthropy and the arts in Smock Alley Theatre. It featured speakers from key philanthropic organisations and the arts in Ireland. The conference was well attended and generated positive feedback and a full report on it may be found on my Department's website. Parallel to these initiatives, the Arts Council is undertaking an initiative which dovetails with the work in my Department. The initiative is called RAISE: Building Fundraising Capacity and consists of a programme that is providing one-to-one professional support to eight selected arts organisations for two years. The initiative is designed to assist in planning and implementing a tailored fund-raising programme for each organisation. Eight leading Irish arts organisations aim to raise €10 million in private funding over the next five years as part of this Arts Council initiative.

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