A positioning paper from the Cultural Philanthropy Foundation  |  2026

Published alongside the Prize announcement, ‘The Art of Giving’ draws on existing academic research and grey literature to argue that the barriers to cultural giving are structural, communicative and cultural – and that they can be addressed. The paper responds directly to the philanthropy recommendations of Baroness Hodge’s Independent Review of Arts Council England (sections 3.6–3.12), and sets out three calls to action:

Three Calls to Action

• Communicate the context of funding for culture: The Foundation calls for a coordinated sector-wide campaign to ensure that cultural organisations routinely and clearly communicate their charitable status, proportion of state funding and the value of donations of all sizes, and to call for public bodies to support messaging that positions cultural giving as a normal, accessible act and not the preserve of the wealthy.

• Fix the Gift Aid knowledge gap: The 2026 UK Giving Report from the Charities Aid Foundation shows that 46% of higher and additional rate taxpayers do not know they can claim back tax on their charitable donations as well as the organisation claiming tax relief and of those who do, only a quarter actually do so. CPF calls for a targeted public awareness campaign, with HMRC and sector bodies, to improve take-up of this generous and significantly under-used fiscal lever for cultural philanthropy.

• Count the full value that corporates contribute to culture: CPF calls on cultural organisations, accountancy standards bodies and the government to develop a toolkit to support the recognition of the value of in-kind contributions – so that businesses are properly acknowledged for what they give and have a stronger incentive to give more.