Private Giving for the Public Good was launched on April 25 2008 and aims to encourage a culture of giving to the arts and heritage.

Leaders of some of Britain’s major museums and galleries have come together to launch a new manifesto, Private Giving for the Public Good, as part of a nationwide campaign to encourage a culture of giving to the arts and heritage.

The campaign, which is being led by the National Museum Directors’ Conference, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and Arts Council England, calls on the government to offer greater support to encourage a culture of giving and wider recognition of the contribution made by cultural philanthropists.

The report points out that many of the UK’s cultural institutions were founded through the contributions of private benefactors who wished to give something back to their communities. The aim of the campaign is to encourage the philanthropists of the future and remedy the current low volume of charitable contributions.

"We want to encourage more people to give to culture,” said Mark Jones, Chair, National Museum Directors’ Conference and Director of the V&A. “People who start by giving to cultural organisations tend to give to other things as well. We want the whole of society to benefit from this campaign."

The British Library acquired the Wardington Hours for £635,200 in June 2007 after a successful fundraising campaign. The new campaign wants to make it easier for individuals to make donations of artworks. © British Library

The main aims of the campaign are:

- To provide greater incentives for living donors to make gifts of objects to the cultural sector
- To give greater recognition to people who give to the cultural sector
- To ensure that all parts of the country benefit from cultural philanthropy
- To share knowledge and expertise in this field across the whole arts and heritage sector

There are a number of tax incentives currently in place to encourage giving to the cultural sector such as, 'Gift Aid' for cash gifts and 'Acceptance in Lieu' (AIL), which allows a gift of a work of art to the nation in order to satisfy an inheritance tax bill. Recent AIL acquisitions have seen £5.4m worth of national treasures transferred to UK public collections and in 2007 the MLA reported objects worth a total of £25.3 m acquired through the scheme.

However the campaigners behind the new manifesto point out there are currently no incentives in the UK to encourage gifts of art and artefacts to public collections in a donor's lifetime and that the UK lags behind many other European countries when it comes to encouraging a culture of philanthropy that will help develop our collections.

Roy Clare, Chief Executive, MLA, said: "Collections enable people to understand the significance of their cultural inheritance. Investing in these rich resources is a privilege open to everyone; a gift to culture is a gift that spans generations, with legacies for learning, creativity and pleasure. Private giving for the public good should be an instinct at the very heart of our nation."

The Blue Rigi - saved for the Tate Collection after a public fund raising campaign backed by The Art Fund. © Trustees of the Tate Collection

The report has already received the backing of the Conservative Party, with shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey reported in the Evening Standard as saying the Tories are looking at a "number of tax changes" to make it easier for living donors to gift works of art.

Several high profile arts and heritage organisations have also added their weight to the campaign; among them The Museums Association, Museums Galleries Scotland, The National Trust and The Art Fund. The latter is the UK's leading independent art charity and a major source of grants to help UK museums and galleries enrich their collections.

David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, said: "The Art Fund has long campaigned for an income tax incentive to encourage lifetime gifts. We fully support this manifesto and call on government to look again at how it can use the tax system better to promote philanthropy."