A study recently released by the East Bay Community Foundation and The San Francisco Foundation on the arts community and arts donors chronicles how artists and small- to mid-size arts groups found creative ways to engage new donors in supporting new work and uncovers donors’ motivations to give.  Through the Fund For Artists Matching Commissions, individuals and local foundations supported 181 Bay Area artists in the creation of 116 new works.

The Fund For Artists Matching Commissions is a collaborative project between East Bay Community Foundation and The San Francisco Foundation that supports the development of new works by Bay Area artists and helps small- to mid-sized arts groups strengthen funding by attracting individual donors through a matching challenge grant.  The study tells the stories of six artists and small to mid-size arts groups who leveraged the matching funds to generate resources for their artistic projects.

The study surveyed 1,900 individual donors involved with the Matching Commissions program and 8,500 donors to 17 mid- and large-sized cultural organizations in the Bay Area. Based on in-depth interviews with more than 70 of these donors, results show that making one or more of the four connection points, highlighted in the study, with prospective donors can increase the likelihood of giving and offers practical tools and tips to individual artists and small arts groups for raising funds for new artistic work.  The study also identifies five underlying values and motivations associated with individual donor giving to artistic projects.

For More Information

To view the full report, click here. 

To view the field reports, click here.