Business for the Arts is a national business association dedicated to increasing the
quantity and quality of partnerships between Business and the Arts through a cohesive set
of programs that foster and promote business leadership in the Arts, facilitate funding
relationships and connect business volunteers to the Arts.
Business for the Arts was founded in 1974 as the Council for Business and
the Arts in Canada by a group of leading business CEOs in Canada. Our founding Directors,
including Fredrik S. Eaton, R.M. Ivey, St. Clair Balfour, Edmund C. Bovey (Chair) and Smiley
Raborn, Jr., saw a need to encourage stronger relationships between the cultural community
and the private sector in order to strengthen the arts in Canada and improve the quality of
life for all. Forty top businesses in Canada were brought on board to launch the organization,
including Great West Life, CIBC, RBC, BMO, TD, GE and Bell Canada, who remain with the
organization today. The Council was led by Edmund C. Bovey and Arnold Edinborough, our
first Chairman and President respectively. Business for the Arts has continued the vision
of those founding members and, since 1974, has continuously pushed through important tax
incentives, conducted ground-breaking research and launched innovative programs that have
stimulated and facilitated increased private sector support of the arts and cultural sector
in Canada.
Creating Incentives for Increased Private Sector Giving:
Business for the Arts has made a significant impact in helping to boost
private sector support of the Arts. When Business for the Arts began,
Canadian businesses allocated only 3% of their donations budgets to the arts,
and did not provide any sponsorship dollars. Now, as a result of the kind of pioneer
research, education and advocacy work undertaken by Business for the Arts over the years,
arts organizations receive an average of about 10% of Canadian corporate community
investment budgets and, for every 40 cents in donations, there is $1 of sponsorship
provided. In addition to community investments and corporate sponsorships, there has
been an exponential increase in gifts of appreciated securities over the past 5 years -
again, as a result of the work Business for the Arts has done to encourage the creation
of tax incentives for giving.
Conducting Ground-breaking Research: Business for the Arts conducts the only Canadian
annual surveys into the financial state of performing arts organizations, art galleries,
museums, and, new this year, festivals and presenters. Initiated in 1976, they provide
for time and trend analysis, enabling us to measure the increase in private sector support
over the years. Business for the Arts conducted the first ever Canadian research into
Business Sponsorship of the Arts and published, "Business Support of the Arts", a ten
year study produced in partnership with The Conference Board of Canada, as well as the
first ever research into arts endowment funds and gifts of appreciated securities.
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