The 2023/2024 financial year was one of growth and evolution for the Australian Cultural Fund (ACF). The 1st of July marked the ACF’s move from Creative Partnerships Australia to Creative Australia, and we continue to be excited to be part of a bigger, bolder champion and investor in arts and creativity.
The ACF continued to see incredible and diverse projects fundraise through the platform with a record number of donors getting behind the arts sector during another tough year of economic uncertainty. We’ve broken down the year to see what other trends we tracked and to give a taste of what this new financial year might have in store
Donations
The 2023/2024 financial year was marked by generosity, with donors contributing over $10.5 million through the ACF to artists and organisations. Perhaps the most promising, and indeed exciting, figure of the year was the significant increase in donors giving through the ACF, with 16,000 donors engaging with the platform – a 62% increase on the previous financial year. It is encouraging to see more donors engaging in this form of philanthropy and is a great sign for the sector at large.
Looking at donations on an individual level, it came as no surprise that $50 remained the most common donation amount. It’s important to keep this in mind as it can help with setting a realistic target (e.g. multiply the number of people in your network by $50 to get a starting target) or it can be something to focus on in donor communications “By giving just $50 you can cover the cost of publishing 5 zines.”
Completed Projects
800 fundraising projects were completed in the financial year, contributing to our beautiful and bold arts sector – you can see some examples in our monthly project spotlights here.
Breaking these down a little further, we saw majority of projects raising under $2k with the $5k-$10k bracket coming in a close second. With the ability to define an achievable target being an incredibly important element of a successful fundraising projects, these figures are great benchmarks if you are looking to fundraise and are unsure of what your target should be. For more guidance on setting a target, check out our great resource here.
When looking to the specific categories of projects that were completed, ‘Performing Arts’ took home the crown for being the most common category for the second year in a row. ‘Music’ came in a close second with ‘Community Arts & Cultural Development’ completing the podium.
*When looking at the graph below, please note that projects are able to select more than one category

ACF Boost
For the first time since 2019, ACF Boost returned in 2023/2024 FY. ACF Boost is a matched funding program for independent artists and small arts organisations using the ACF. Participants in the program leverage private sector support raised through their ACF campaign with a small, matched funding ‘boost’ from Creative Australia.
The 2024 ACF Boost program provided 86 opportunities for artists and small groups to participate, which was a high 56% success rate on total
applications. After completing their campaigns fundraising from April to June, the cohort raised a combined total of $511,857.11 in donations,
with $468,005 of this being matched by the ACF. Impressively, 85% of ACF Boost participants reached their target fundraising amount; many of
whom were new to the platform and philanthropic fundraising.
The show goes on!
It was another exciting year for the arts sector, and we are so grateful to have played our part in this. The ACF Team can’t wait to see what projects will grace our desk this year and we look forward to continue offering support to artists and organisations using the platform, and perhaps squeezing in some new programs as well.
If you’re interested in fundraising for your project, get started by creating a profile and check out our handy ‘First Timer’s Kit.‘