In a time of tightening budgets and rising expectations, arts and culture leaders are being asked to do more with less. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) offer a compelling model that diversifies funding sources by using public investment in combination with typical private philanthropy and sponsorships, allowing a helpful mix of stability and flexibility.

While PPPs differ in their funding structures and their relationships with funders, many rely on development strategies like those commonly used in traditional not-for-profits. This post will highlight a number of successful PPPs from across the country that are leveraging their resources to create a meaningful impact on their communities through the arts.

What is a Public Private Partnership?
A public-private partnership (PPP) is a formal collaboration between government entities (federal, state, or municipal) and private organizations (corporations, foundations, or individual donors). Common government funding streams include federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), state-based art organizations that offer their own grants along with distributing NEA funding to local initiatives, as well as non-art-specific government entities such as city councils. Private partners for PPPs are the same as any typical not-for-profit and include corporate sponsors, foundations, and individual donors.

Examples of PPPs in the Arts Sector
The High Line
The High Line is a not-for-profit organization that developed, designed, maintains, and programs the High Line public park in Manhattan, New York. The mission of the organization is “to reimagine the role of public spaces in creating connected, healthy neighborhoods and cities”. The High Line was built on a historic elevated rail line that first ran trains in 1933 and was in operation through the 1980s. In 1983 the first roots of the idea to change the High Line for other purposes began to grow and by 2009 the first section of the park was opened to the public! The park now offers over expansive sustainable gardens with more than 150,000 plantings, rotating exhibitions of world-class contemporary art, and hundreds of free public programs every year, some of which are even hosted by a staff of New York City teenagers.

The High Line is a star example of a successful and impactful PPP as it has engaged with both its public and private funding sources in really unique ways. The park is owned by the City of New York and operates under a license agreement with New York City Parks while almost 100% of the park's annual budget comes through private sector donations. In its initial stages, its public contributions towards the capital campaign included the City of New York providing over $112 million in capital funding, the federal government giving $20 million and New York State donating almost half a million dollars. While many New York art organizations also receive city, state, and federal funding in support, the High Line is unique as the City maintains ownership of the park and even helped throughout the process including how it pushed for rezoning to make it possible to build.

To support the significant expenses of construction of the park, this PPP relied on major gifts, many of which were from foundations, combined with contributions from individual donors. To promote this grass roots involvement, the organization created a “Charter Members” donor group where individuals who donated $350 or more were celebrated at opening and recognition events.

 Additionally, corporations have provided both sponsorships and in-kind donations. For starters, the park wouldn’t have been possible without CSX who donated the entire railroad structure to the City. Another example is how The Coach Foundation’s donations to the capital campaign were recognized with the addition of the “The Coach Passage” which crosses through Coach’s global headquarters. The list of corporate partnerships is extensive and shows how a PPP can prioritize this sector of its funding pool

This blend of strategic early-stage capital investment, out-of-the-box public contributions, and creative private fundraising – including foundations, individuals, and grassroots campaigns – transformed a decaying public infrastructure into a community-drive arts and culture destination.

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a not-for-profit that has used both public and private backing to redevelop a 14-block district of downtown Pittsburgh into an active and thriving arts scene called the Cultural District. To create what is now one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization, there was early buy-in from city government, corporations, and foundations. Its current operational funding is supported by real-estate development, venue rentals, earned income, and fundraising from private donors.

The Cultural District now attracts over 2 million visitors every year, hosts over 1,500 events annually, and has generated an estimated economic impact of $303 million in all. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a great example that highlights the versatility of PPPs. This project used cross-sector investment and long-term collaboration and commitments to revitalize a blighted urban area, showcasing how arts-focused PPPs can drive economic growth, cultural tourism, and creative placemaking at scale.

Nebraska Cultural Endowment
The Nebraska Cultural Endowment is the first of its kind as a public-private cultural trust to support arts and cultural organizations throughout the state. Founded in 1998 and with a current corpus of $30 million, the organization has granted over $17 million to in-state organizations since its creation, with current annual distributions clocking in around $1 million. What makes this PPP differ from non-PPP not-for-profits is how the endowment was created by state legislation and is a partnership with the Nebraska Arts Council (a public entity) and Humanities Nebraska (a not-for-profit), both of which split and distribute the endowment’s annual earnings.

A particularly intriguing part of the endowments structure is that every private donation is matched dollar-for-dollar by the State of Nebraska. Matching donations with public funds not only encourage private donations as their impact is doubled, but it also legitimizes the organization and builds credibility for donors who may be on the fence. It is through innovative structures like matching state funds that PPPs can further incentivize donors and partners of all types to support the arts across an entire state.

Roanoke Cultural Endowment
As a local example with similarities to the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, the Roanoke Cultural Endowment is an independent nonprofit created in partnership with the City of Roanoke back in 2015 with the goal of building a $20 million endowment to provide economic stability for arts and culture organization throughout the city. With an expected 5% return being distributed in 3-year grant cycles, the Roanoke Cultural Endowment plans to supplement around 25% of the annual operating budgets of these local not-for-profits. The endowment is a mix of city investments and private donations (from both individuals and foundations) which means the long-term public benefit will be developed hand in hand with the city it will be supporting.  Through PPPs, local governments can foster long-term arts and culture sustainability for their constituents by investing in endowments that blend public and private dollars.

What can we learn from PPPs?
At the end of the day, PPPs are often fulfilling very similar missions to their non-PPP not-for-profit counterparts, they may just differ in the way their structures have embedded them into their community. By sharing accountability and risk with government entities, PPPs are able to offer a slightly different relationship to their communities that often focus more directly on providing economic benefits or culture-based revitalization. It is through PPPs that government entities may work with their communities to engage in creative placemaking via mechanisms like arts districts, job expansion, and resource sharing.

Written by Oliva Coutre, arts program director for Studio 72 Living Learning Community, art program coordinator for Student Engagement and Campus Life, and student in the graduate certificate in arts leadership program at Virginia Tech.