The funding mix for arts organisations

Financial sustainability and resilience are benefits of having a mix of different sources of funding for your organisation.

To assess your organisation’s current funding mix look back at the previous year’s accounts or management accounts and the business plan (if you use them) and answer the following questions; you may find a spreadsheet helpful.

• How many separate types of income did the organisation have?
• What proportion of its total income did each account for?
• Within each type of income how many sources of that income were there, e.g. trusts and foundations — five different trusts in last financial year, etc.?
• Does the majority of the organisation’s income come from just a few sources or is there a broad portfolio?
• Is there any income (multi-year grant, investment income) that is certain going forward?
• How much control do the team have over bringing this income in, e.g. trusts and foundations project funding — low control; income from regular giving — high control?
• Is there a development plan for finding new income to meet existing and future financial needs?
• Has it planned how it will grow its income or increase the diversity of income streams (if applicable)?
• If the organisation wants to grow, could this be funded by a new source of finance such as loans or investment?

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The funding mix for arts organisations