DOI: 10.3886/icpsr35587
title: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support [1998-2001]
title: Archival Version

description: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support collected data on public and private support for professional nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in three ways: a national mail survey of a random sample of arts organizations on their sources of revenue, more detailed mail surveys of the identified universe of arts and cultural organizations in ten specific communities, and in-person and telephone interviews with local government officials regarding public agency support (both financial and in-kind) in these ten communities. The ten communities are as follows: Amery, Wisconsin; Cleveland, Ohio; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Montgomery County, Maryland; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Providence, Rhode Island; and San Jose, California. A collaborative effort of Americans for the Arts and the Arts Policy and Administration Program at The Ohio State University, the study was supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts and local arts agencies in ten communities across the country.


The National Survey collected data from professional nonprofit arts and cultural organizations on 22 revenue items for fiscal year 1998, across four categories--public contributed income, private contributed income, earned revenue, and interest and other investment income. Developed in close collaboration with the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), the survey was designed to facilitate comparisons with currently available data on the nonprofit arts, particularly data sets from arts service organizations and NCCS data sets based on IRS Form 990 data. The Local Government Support Survey involved semi-structured interviews with local officials in non-arts government agencies across 13 service areas in the ten communities profiled in this study. Among the agencies represented in these service areas were Administrative Services, Community Planning/Economic Development, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Police/Public Safety, and others. Two sets of interview forms were used, one to document the agency's mission and level of current and future arts involvement and a case form to document specific instances of arts support. Further, the Local Surveys, conducted in each of ten communities, collected data from professional nonprofit arts and cultural organizations on a battery of revenue items for fiscal year 1998, across four categories-public contributed income, private contributed income, earned revenue, and interest and other investment income. Developed in close collaboration with the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), the surveys were designed to facilitate comparisons with currently available data on the nonprofit arts, particularly data sets from arts service organizations and NCCS data sets based on IRS Form 990 data.


The number of respondents across data files ranges from 7 to 796.
description: The Profiles Project derived its findings through a variety of research methods and analytical lenses, including the use and augmentation of a national database, a national sample mail survey, a set of local inventories and mail surveys, local elite interviews, and local case contextualization.


The national survey of nonprofit arts organizations was conducted between February 27 and June 13, 2001 by the Center for Survey Research (CSR) at The Ohio State University. The universe of organizations was taken from a national database of IRS Form 990s, the Return Transaction File maintained by the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute. Out of a universe of 10,657 organizations, 3,830 were randomly selected and sent a mail survey. A total of 796 usable responses were received. Note: only organizations with budgets of $25,000 or more are obligated to file an IRS Form 990; therefore, organizations with smaller budgets are not represented in these data.


A total of 275 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of local government officials in ten communities between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2001. Most of the interviews were conducted in person, while some were conducted by phone.


The local surveys of nonprofit arts organizations were conducted in the fall of 1999 through the spring of 2000 by the Center for Survey Research (CSR) at The Ohio State University. The core universe of organizations in each community was taken from a national database of IRS Form 990s, the Return Transaction File maintained by the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute. In each community, this core universe was expanded to reflect local definitions of nonprofit arts organizations, resulting in some variation in each community's survey universe. Mail surveys were sent to all organizations in the local universe. In Amery, a total of 7 usable questionnaires were received. In Cleveland, a total of 84 usable questionnaires were received. In Los Angeles, a total of 193 usable questionnaires were received. In Miami, a total of 82 usable questionnaires were received. In Montgomery County, a total of 114 usable questionnaires were received. In Nashville, a total of 46 usable questionnaires were received. In New Orleans, a total of 63 usable questionnaires were received. In Philadelphia, a total of 138 usable questionnaires were received. In Providence, a total of 43 usable questionnaires were received. In San Jose, a total of 51 usable questionnaires were received.
description: The data do not contain weight variables.
description: Response Rates: 
The response rate provided for each local sample are as follows:



Amery: 100 percent


Los Angeles: 42 percent


Miami: 47 percent


Montgomery County: 50 percent


Nashville: 82 percent


New Orleans: 26 percent


Philadelphia: 22 percent


San Jose: 65 percent



Response rates were not provided for Cleveland and Providence.
description: For all samples of this survey, simple random sampling procedures were used. Please refer to the Study Design for site-specific details of the survey methodology.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 2001: National Survey
DS2: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 2001: Local Government
DS3: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Amery, WI
DS4: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Cleveland, OH
DS5: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Los Angeles, CA
DS6: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Miami, FL
DS7: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Montgomery County, MD
DS8: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Nashville, TN
DS9: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: New Orleans, LA
DS10: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Philadelphia, PA
DS11: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Providence, RI
DS12: National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: San Jose, CA
description: arts and cultural organizations.
description: face-to-face interview; mail questionnaire
A collaborative effort of Americans for the Arts and the Arts Policy and Administration Program at The Ohio State University, the study was supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts and local arts agencies in ten communities across the country. The data collectors for each of the ten communities are as follows:



Amery, Wisconsin: LaMoine MacLaughlin, Northern Lakes Center for the Arts


Cleveland, Ohio: Joan Meggitt, Independent Consultant


Los Angeles, California: David Pankratz, Arts, Inc.


Miami, Florida: Jillian Daniel, Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Council


Montgomery County, Maryland: Stefan Toepler, Institute for Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University and Theresa Cameron, Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County


Nashville, Tennessee: Laura Nobles, Metro Nashville Arts Commission


New Orleans, Louisiana: Philip Dobard, Arts Administration Program, University of New Orleans


Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Adrienne Jenkins, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Cecilia Fitzgibbon, Arts Administration Program, Drexel University


Providence, Rhode Island: Ann Galligan, Northeastern University


San Jose, California: Lynn Rogers, Office of Cultural Affairs

This data collection was previously distributed by the Cultural Policy and the Arts National Data Archive (CPANDA). The CPANDA Identification Number (study number) for the data collection is c00011. The CPANDA Identification Number for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 2001: National Survey is a00044, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 2001: Local Government is 00045, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Amery, WI is a00034, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Cleveland, OH is a00035, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Los Angeles, CA is a00036, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Miami, FL is a00037, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Montgomery County, MD is a00038, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Nashville, TN is a00039, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: New Orleans, LA is a00040, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Philadelphia, PA is 00041, for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: Providence, RI is a00042, and for the National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support 1998: San Jose, CA is a00043.Quick facts for this data collection, "From what sources do nonprofit arts and cultural organizations receive financial support?," are available from the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies (CACPS) at Princeton University.Due to the limit in the number of allowable columns of 256 in Excel 97-2003 (file ending, xls), the Excel files being distributed with this collection are in the later version of Excel (file ending of xlsx).