ACE Praise Gift Aid & Giving Reform in Budget
Arts Council England (ACE) have responded to the 2011 Budget welcoming the Chancellor’s moves encourage philanthropy and private giving to the arts. George Osbourne announced in today’s Budget that the Government will move to simplify gift aid and increase incentives for people to leave money to charities in their wills.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and ACE have previously made moves to increase private giving to the arts, including an £80 million scheme to match funding from donors. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt speaking last December said the Government would remove barriers, create incentives and highlight what works to “catalyse and facilitate individual and corporate giving”.
Speaking after today’s budget statement ACE chief executive Alan Davey said: “The necessary change to the Gift Aid regime is something the Arts Council highlighted in our report on endowments in the arts, so I am delighted to see this reflected in the Budget. It will make a real difference to arts organisations, large and small. Anything that improves the ability of the arts to attract income from legacies is also welcome.”
Arts & Business, which seeks to build broader partnerships between between business and the arts, gave today’s budget a slightly more cautious welcome, saying in a statement: “Overall, the steps outlined in the Budget are undoubtedly steps in the right direction. We welcome the increase in the Gift Aid benefit limit to £2,500 but are particularly pleased to see the Government commit to better guidance on what constitutes a benefit. Confusion in this area has caused problems for both cultural charities and their donors.”
Next Wednesday, 30 March 2011, will see ACE announce which organisations will retain their funding under the new National Portfolio Organisations framework. Arts organisations at all levels of the industry have had to re-apply for funding, with the expectation that up to 100 out of a current portfolio of 850 regularly funded organisations (RFOs) may loose out completely by 2015.
ACE implemented the new framework in reaction to the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review which saw the DCMS reduce their annual grant from £449 million to £349 million by 2014.
