In Search of the Determinants of Private Donation in Chinese Nation-Owned Non-Profit Performing Arts Organizations

Abstract

Insufficiency of disposable income has long been one of the core problems faced by China’s nation-owned non-profit performing arts organizations. This paper employs random-effect model to examine the determinants that affect private donations to the organizations by using a 31-province level panel data from 1997 – 2008. The result manifests significant influences of government grants, the organizations’ ability of earning, and the level of market activeness. On the contrary, innovation activity, which is generally considered positive, has been substantiated to be negative to the funding of private donation. Besides, the regression shows insignificant impact of organizations’ scale and fund-raising expenditure. From the results of the empirical research, I argue that the government should continue increasing the subsidies, encourage the organizations’ self-earning behavior, construct an active and dynamic market for the development of China’s nation-owned non-profit performing arts organizations, and pay less attention to the arts innovation.