About us

FAQs. Credits:Celtic, Celtic Desborough mirror, 1st Century. British Museum, London. ArtFunded 1924.

MEMBERSHIP

BRANDING

JAMES TURRELL: DEER SHELTER

GRANTS/BOARD

FINANCE/IT

MEMBERSHIP

What percentage of membership subscription goes directly toward grant giving?
We keep our administrative costs as low as possible, while maintaining our membership servicing standards. We spend 4-5% on admin costs.

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Why have you increased your subscription rates?
The Art Fund exists to save art for everyone to enjoy. In order to be able to fulfill our mission to maximize our grant-giving, to campaign on behalf of museums and galleries and increase our membership base, we took the decision to introduce a flat rate membership. While this represents an increase in annual membership, this is offset against the excellent benefits The Art Fund continues to offer its members, and will help us to fulfill our charitable aims in an increasingly hostile economic climate.

Many museum and other large membership based organisations are now moving away from offering discounts on membership for concessionary groups - including OAPs.
The Royal Academy, Tate, National Portrait Gallery and The British Museum offer NO discounts to people aged over 60.

(English Heritage, National Trust and the V&A are the only exceptions to this rule having a 60+ concessionary rate).

We do believe that Art Fund membership still represents excellent value for money. We have compared our subscription prices with a number of similar organisations and we remain at the more affordable end.

2006 MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION RATE COMPARISONS

  Single Adult Joint Adult Direct Debit reduction >60 Concession
  Single Double Single Double
RA £70 £100 £60 £90 none none
V&A £45 £55 £40 £50 £35**** £45****
TATE £49 £68 to £89 £44 £64 to £84 none none
RHS £42*** £84*** none none none none
National Trust £40.50 £68 £30.38 £51 £28.50* £47.50*
Art Fund £40 £50 £37** £47** none none
English Heritage £38 £65 none none £26 £42

* must also have more than 5 years membership and be retired to qualify for concession

** 1st year of membership only

*** Includes £5 one-off enrolement fee. (Year 2 rates will be £37 for Single and £79 Family rate (no Joint Adult rate offered))

**** This rate only applies if payment is made by direct debit. Otherwise the rate will be £40 (Single) and £50 (Joint) Rates in italics are for 2005

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Will senior citizens still be entitled to a 50% discount on the concessionary ticket rate at selected major museums as they have been previously?
Yes - all the same benefits will still apply. As previously benefits for those 60+ will include 50% off the concessions rate for exhibitions at:

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BRANDING

Why have you rebranded? Why have you got a new logo?
The Board of Trustees voted to develop a new identity for The Art Fund with one principle aim: to heighten awareness of the organisation and grow our membership and other income streams. Membership subscriptions are our major source of income - the more income we generate, the more financial assistance we are able to offer the visual arts sector in the UK.

The new identity is much more than just a new logo. We will be creating new materials, a new website and marketing the organisation in a wider capacity, in order to boost income and ultimately enhance our grant giving capacity.

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Who designed it?
Johnson Banks have designed the new identity for The Art Fund.

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Are you still called the National Art Collections Fund?
Our legal name is still the National Art Collections Fund.
However, the trading name we will use from 1 May is The Art Fund.
Several years of research have consistently revealed that the longer, legal name is difficult for people to remember, and often confused with other organisations.

We will now trade with a shorter, more straightforward name, as do other cultural and membership organisations - for example:
The Victoria and Albert Museum - which now trades as V&A
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest and Beauty - which now trades as The National Trust

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Why did you choose a heart?
The heart is an immediately recognisable symbol. It says charity, and, when put together with a frame, it visually represents a charity that is about art and people who enjoy/love art.

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Why pink?
A number of colours were researched, and the dark pink colour was overwhelmingly the preferred choice. It is recognisable and memorable - which is what we are trying to achieve with our identity.

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Is The Art Fund changing?
The Art Fund has always had a wide remit - which can be summarised as being a leading independent body which supports museums and galleries and their public collections in the UK. This remit has never changed. The kinds of support we are asked for does vary - and our job is to respond to those changing needs.
Right now, the sector needs more funding than ever - which is why we are in the process of dramatically growing our membership and income.

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If you weren't spending lots of money on the rebrand, you would have more to spend on acquisitions - wouldn't you? Like every organisation who rebrands, we see this as an investment.
For The Art Fund, this investment will help us realise our mission to provide greater financial assistance to the visual arts sector in the UK.

If we don't invest in growing our membership, we will have less funds to spend on acquisitions.

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How much did the new identity cost?                                                              The design fee was less than £50,000.  Design and production fees are in addition to this and although we are spending more because of the rebrand, every year we do have the expenditure on promotional and marketing materials.

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JAMES TURRELL: DEER SHELTER

Is this a commission or a grant?
It is a commission. As the work is not already in existence we are funding the construction costs and the artist's fee for the commission.

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What is the largest single amount you have ever given?
The grant towards the Deer Shelter is our largest cash amount so far (£800,000). Prior to this our largest grant was £550,000 towards Botticelli's Virgin Adorning the Sleeping Christ Child for the National Gallery of Scotland in 1999. However in 1906 we purchased the 'Rokeby Venus' outright for £45,000, which is equivalent to at least £3.3 million today and in 1909 we purchased Holbein's Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan outright for £72,000, which is worth at least £5.2 million today (source: Office for National Statistics, 2004). Both paintings were presented to the National Gallery, London.

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Why are you allocating £800,000 to support the Turrell Skyspace when you are continually highlighting a) lack of resources for museum acquisitions and b) increasing inability within the UK to save expensive works?
The Art Fund's role is diverse but essentially we exist to make great art available for everyone to enjoy. YSP exists to make great sculpture available to the public and has approximately 350,000 visitors a year. YSP had a long-term desire to create a permanent work by James Turrell in their 18th century Deer Shelter but were unable to fund the project. As the Art Fund had already identified Turrell as a major international artist who is unrepresented in public collections in the UK, we were delighted to be able to turn YSP's dream into a reality. As we already had a sum of money earmarked for a special project we were able to meet the total cost of the Deer Shelter. YSP will be obliged to care for the work and provide permanent public access to it in exactly the same way as all other grant recipients.

In 2005 we offered £4.1 million in grants to museums and galleries throughout the Uk to enable them to aquire works of art of all kinds. As the YSP project is being funded by a separate stream of money it will not affect our ability to assist museums and galleries acquire and 'save' works in the future.

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GRANTS/BOARD

How did you choose the new Chairman?
The new Chairman was elected by the Board, following a search for candidates both within the existing Board and outside.

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Does the Board have a clearly defined policy in relation to the giving of grants? If so, what is it? If not, why not?
The Board has a clearly defined grant-giving policy, based upon agreed criteria.

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How are members of the Board chosen? Are there any special qualifications?
Members of the Board are chosen for their wide experience and expertise in relevant fields but there are no special qualifications. They are all volunteers and give generously of their time.

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Who appoints them?
The Board in the first instance, on the advice of the Nominations Committee. Any new Trustee appointed since the previous AGM then comes up for election at the AGM following their appointment.

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FINANCE/IT

Can my subscriptions and donations (including those from Patron members) be given under the Gift Aid scheme?
Yes. The Inland Revenue has allowed all ordinary members to give all of their subscriptions and donations under the Gift Aid scheme. All members are being asked to sign a Gift Aid declaration, if they have not already done so, when they renew their membership. This declaration can be backdated 6 years from signing. As a Patron member, the Inland Revenue have agreed that about 70% of your subscription may be given under the Gift Aid scheme - the remaining 30% notionally reflects the value of the benefits you may receive as a Patron member and is therefore excluded from the scheme.

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How does The Art Fund recognise the generosity of legators and donors?
The Art Fund is very grateful for the generosity of all legators and donors and we do our best to show our appreciation. However, most legators and bequest donors prefer to remain anonymous in their lifetime and so cannot be thanked publicly. We do however record their generosity in the Review and highlight their contributions in Art Quarterly, whenever we have sufficient information. We also try to involve those we know are potential major legators and donors of bequests of works of art in our Patrons' events, and they are invited to our annual Reception.

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How do The Art Fund's administrative costs compare with other grant-giving charities?
The percentage of administration costs to total expenditure (including grants) ranges from 1% to 11% and the Art Fund's percentage was 5% in 2004. See table

Goldsmiths Charitable Companies 11%
The Moore Foundation 7%
Cadbury Trust 6%
Paul Hamlyn Foundation 5%
ART FUND 5%
Leatherseller's Company Trust 3%
John Ellerman Foundation 3%
Esmé Farbairn Foundation 2%
Monument Trust 1%

Source: RCM/Allianz Global Investors Top 3000 charities 2005/06

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Which museums and galleries are offering members 50% discount on exhibitions?

* The 50% discount applies to full price tickets only.

~ Provide free entrance to exhibitions

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I recommended some friends for the free trial membership at the beginning of the year. How successful was this exercise?
8,500 friends of members were sent a free month's trial membership, and of these, 600 have joined as new memberships. This is a response rate of over 7% which is impressive.

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How much did you raise through the appeal to save the Macclesfield Psalter?
The 'Save the Psalter' appeal raised £180,000 through 2,000 donations, ranging from £1 to £15,000. Donations were from Art Fund members, supporters of the Fitzwilliam Museum and the general public in response to the appeal that we launched on the BBC's Culture Show.
The campaign was kicked off with a £500,000 grant from the Art Fund. Then £860,000 came from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, £150,000 from the Fitzwilliam Museum and its Friends and £180,000 from the public appeal, which enabled the £1.7 million asking price to be reached with just two weeks to go.
We would like to thank members for their generosity.

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