Americans for the Arts is pleased to announce the release of the 2020 Statistical Report on Campaign Revenues of the Nation’s United Arts Funds during the Fiscal Years 2019 and 2020.

United Arts Funds (UAFs) are private organizations that raise money for their local arts and culture communities, invest and utilize resources equitably, work to broaden support for the arts, encourage arts attendance and participation, and ensure that arts organizations are financially stable. Americans for the Arts defines UAFs as local arts agencies (LAAs) whose function it is to raise money from local individuals, businesses, and foundations to regrant to local arts institutions and provide support to the cultural community. UAFs provide accountability, a transparent and systemic process, and deep knowledge of the local arts community that is not feasible for most donors to do individually. Thus, UAFs are trusted stewards to those that seek to make a meaningful contribution to the arts.

For this report, 105 LAAs who indicated on the 2019 Profile of Local Arts Agencies that they fundraise from the private sector for the purposes of regranting those funds were surveyed. A total of 57 responses were received; 27 of the 57 survey respondents indicated they continue to identify with the original definition of a United Arts Fund. Additionally, once the survey process was complete, nine additional UAFs provided only their campaign revenue totals for FY2019 and FY2020. As a result, a total of 36 UAFs are included in the united arts fundraising campaign revenue financial analyses.

During a singularly difficult year, UAFs rose to the challenge to secure needed funds for their communities. The participating UAFs reported that, collectively, they achieved 98.6 percent of their 2020 pre-COVID campaign revenue goals, reporting only a 0.1% decrease from between their pre- and post-COVID revenue goals.

Key highlights include:

• The 36 participating UAFs reported aggregate 2020 campaign revenue of $73.9 million.
• The participating UAFs raised an average of $2.43 per capita in their self-reported service areas during 2020.
• The participating UAFs raised an average of $2 million per organization for their communities.
• 51% of survey respondents launched a COVID-19 emergency relief fund.

Current UAF staff may access the full report by logging into their Americans for the Arts membership account. If you are not a UAF member and would like to learn more, please visit our United Arts Fund informational page with the Executive Summary and Key Findings from this report.