TOWARD A NEW MODEL: EVOLVING FUNDRAISING PRACTICES IN ENGLISH ART MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES

Public funding for art museums and galleries in England has been declining since the 1980s. Some institutions, namely large museums and those located in London, have adapted well by adopting fundraising practices. Other museums have lacked the resources to adapt to the landscape and have struggled to keep up with continuing public funding cuts. This thesis examines which fundraising practices English museums are using and compares them to the US museum fundraising model in order to understand to what extent US practices can be adopted in England. English museums are generally successful raising funds from corporations and foundations, but are less successful with individual donors. English art museums and galleries can establish a very stable mixed method funding stream if they can successfully engage more individual donors from their communities with practices based on the US model in combination with their successful corporate and foundation fundraising practices.