The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is undertaking research on the levels of income derived by cultural organisations in New Zealand, from gifts, grants and other charitable and sponsorship sources. The Ministry is interested in knowing more about the current funding situation facing the cultural sector, determining trends and assisting in ways to identify opportunities and overcome barriers to obtaining funds.

The survey is being conducted via an online questionnaire. It looks at various sources of funding support that cultural organisations receive (including funding from central or local government, lottery, gaming or philanthropic trusts, or from businesses or individuals), and at the form this support takes (such as grants, cash or in-kind sponsorship, membership or friends' schemes, donations, bequests). It also looks at the number of paid and unpaid staff, and how much of their time is dedicated to fundraising and sponsorship activities.

The Levels of Giving and Sponsorship to Cultural Organisations research project will form the basis for mapping future trends in giving and sponsorship in the cultural sector in New Zealand. It will enable the Ministry to inform government and cultural organisations on fundraising strategies and trends, and for organisations to benchmark their fundraising activities with similar organisations in terms of size, location, type of cultural activity, and the type and source of charitable giving and sponsorship.

Survey questionnaire
The Ministry has worked closely with Creative New Zealand and the Charities Commission to identify over 2000 cultural organisations to invite to take part in the survey. These organisations include registered charities and others who might receive funding from various sources (including central or local government, lottery, gaming or philanthropic trusts, or from businesses or individuals).

See the letter to cultural organisations
See a list of Frequently Asked Questions
The Ministry welcomes the participation of all cultural organisations in this survey. If you have not yet been contacted by the Ministry but would like to take part, please see the online questionnaire. Your response should be submitted by 4pm on Thursday 9 April 2009.

Further information
The Levels of Giving and Sponsorship to Cultural Organisations research project aims to complement, and build upon, the Ministry’s 2007 sponsorship survey which is conducted biennially.

The research project aligns, where appropriate, to similar projects regularly undertaken in the United Kingdom by, for example, Arts & Business.

The Levels of Giving and Sponsorship to Cultural Organisations research project also aims to complement work undertaken by Creative New Zealand in developing a donations toolkit. This is a resource to help arts organisations understand recent changes to New Zealand’s tax rules on donations.

Please let us know if you have any problems accessing these files.

Enquiries
If you have any enquiries about the Levels of Giving and Sponsorship to Cultural Organisations research project, please email [email protected], telephone 04 499 4229 or write to:

Levels of Charitable Giving and Sponsorship to Cultural Organisations
Policy Group
Ministry for Culture and Heritage
PO Box 5364
WELLINGTON

http://www.mch.govt.nz/projects/culture/giving-sponsorship.html