Understanding what motivates the museum goer to give 7 Nov 2012
NMDC has joined together with the Art Fund on a new research project aiming to understand why comparatively few museum goers donate when visiting museums, and to discover what will motivate them to give in future. The research by Britain Thinks will stimulate new ideas and approaches that we hope to pilot in a range of museums across the UK from spring 2013.
New research by Arts & Business confirms that individual donations to the arts are falling year on year, down from £120 million in 2008/09 to £73 million last year. Although museums have become increasingly successful at raising funds from a variety of streams – including commercial income, trusts and foundations and corporate supporters - donations from individuals are usually concentrated around a few high level donors. The NMDC/Art Fund project aims to help museums better understand their audiences, the barriers and motivations to giving, and help to improve fundraising strategies.