Czech Republic/ 6. Financing of culture  

6.3 Trends and indicators for private cultural financing

The Satellite Account for culture – see also chapter 6.2 – breaks down private expenditure on culture into household expenditure on culture and other private sources of funding for culture (from for-profit organisations, i.e. businesses, and non-profit organisations).

Expenditure of households on culture is presented in chapter 8.2.1.

Other private sources of funding for culture are observed in the form of expenditure from businesses on culture, which in 2009 amounted to 25.6% of total sources of financing for culture. Most were used in the sphere of cultural media (almost 85%), then in the arts (12.3%), and the least in cultural heritage (2.9%). In 2009 contributions from non-profit institutions to funding for culture amounted to almost 8.7 billion CZK, which represents 7.4% of the sources of funding for culture.

The current tax system in the CR is not especially supportive of philanthropy or patronage. The system advantages sponsors over donors; see chapter 5.1.5. The costs of promotion and advertising are tax deductible costs and sponsors can apply the full sum to their tax base. The deductible "gifts" item, however, is limited as a percentage of the tax base. In practice this means that sponsorships are realised in the form of contracts on advertising, co-operation, the lease of space, rather than as direct donations. 

The Donors Forum civic association (http://www.donorsforum.cz) works to support the development of philanthropy in the CR and it provides advisory and consultation services in the field of corporate philanthropy; its members are prominent foundations, endowment funds, and corporate donors. According to its data, since 2008 the Forum has reasserted the involvement of employees in the activities of public benefit organisations or corporate volunteerism. In the field of culture this form of philanthropy is used by just 1% (mainly the environment, ecology, and animal welfare – 44 %). In the spring of 2010 the Business for Society platform was established, its aim being to promote corporate responsibility and their role in society among businesses. It is inspired by the Business in the Community model that exists in the United Kingdom. In 2010 Business for Society had a total of 17 members, while by 2012 it already had 30. It aims to mobilise and motivate businesses and other key institutions around social issues, responsible business, and the advancement of quality of life in society. Nevertheless, the concept of corporate responsibility with some exceptions does not include culture in Czech practice. Generally corporate philanthropy is practised by many businesses in the Czech Republic, especially multinational ones. According to a survey conducted by ProCulture in the CR, donations are oriented towards social and charitable areas or environmental areas. Only then does culture get its turn. The biggest success with sponsoring in culture has traditionally been for international film, music, and theatre festivals. In the CR there is an extensive network of so-called "stone" theatres, the established theatres with their own companies and own buildings, which have stately premises in which to organise social gatherings. Almost three-quarters of respondents indicated they also support the visual arts and create corporate collections, although there are no studies in this area targeting culture. However, cultural institutions generally complain that there has been a decline in corporate sponsorship due to the economic crisis. They focus more on established art works and not on contemporary young artists. Summary data are not tracked, nor was any study elaborated specially for the culture sector.

One of the provisions in the State Cultural Policy for 2009–2014 is to implement in co-operation with the regions and municipalities the pilot projects for Public Private Partnership (PPP). However, there is a generally sceptical attitude towards developing PPP projects in the field of culture. The only well-known PPP project in the field of culture to date is the project for the construction of the National Technical Library. The project was backed by the financial Sekyra Group, which secured not just the necessary investments but also the construction, engineering work, documentation and technical oversight. Construction of the building was finance as a long-term mortgage payable to 2014. The library is a unique structure with an original architectural design and modern services for library visitors. It opened in the autumn of 2009. 

According to the Lottery Act operators of lotteries and similar games are required to use a portion of their revenue for public benefit purposes, which includes cultural activities. In 2007 67 768 000 CZK were thus contributed to cultural activities, in 2008 the sum was 130 607 000 CZK, and in 2009 it was 228 532 000 CZK. In 2010 there was a decline again to 206 896 000 CZK.

Table 16:        Share of support from lotteries and gambling for public benefit purposes from lotteries and similar games (%), 2007-2010

Source:     Ministry of Finance – State Supervision of Gambling and Lotteries Department, 2011.

Graph 2:   Support from lotteries and gambling 2010

Source:     Ministry of Finance – State Supervision of Gambling and Lotteries Department, 2011.

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