Research Article | Sprache/Language: English

2015

The Income Standard for the Performing and Visual Arts in the Netherlands

A Simple Indicator of Financial Performance or a Transition to Another Mode of Supporting Non-profit Organizations?

Ellen Loots

Zeitschrift für Kulturmanagement 2015 (1), (1), 53–74.
doi http://dx.doi.org/10.14361/zkmm-2015-0105
Abstract

Probably the most prevalent indicator of the financial performance of non profit arts organizations is their ability to attract private funding. Therefore, the Dutch government introduced the so-called ‘income standard’. In this contribution, we explore the income standard as a mechanism to leverage private support for the arts and discuss some of its implications. Not only may the income standard – which is based on a matching principle – be a precursor of a different mode of financing non-profits in Europe; it may also raise conflicts with other organizational and policy goals, and as such jeopardize the non-profit form of organizing the arts.