Annual Report 1960-1961

let a sum total of $397,000 was asked for in 1957-58 and the Council was
able to grant $32o,ooo, about 80% of the total. But in 1960-61 the sum of
$760,000 was requested, and the Council could give only $484,000, about
63% of the total. It is emphasized again that the Council considers these ap
plications quite fair and even modest, not padded for the sake of ‘trying it
on,’ and made in full recognition of the Council’s limited resources. As the
arts continue to flourish in this country, there is every reason to expect that
these demands will grow. In the meantime, apart from grants from govern-
ment or private sources, any increase in the Council’s annual income must
depend on an annual increase in the yield from the Endowment Fund,
which now is showing the relatively high retum on capital of 5.8%. Ob-
viously there is no way of insuring such an annual increase, and in any event
it could only be small in comparison with the need. It seems apparent,
then, that the income for the Endowment Fund programme will have to
be augmented on a larger scale than cari be expected in the present circum-
stances, or the Council will be compelled to do proportionally less and less
each year in relation to the total of the needs it ought to meet.
The Council has been asked why it has not yet undertaken to raise addi-
tional funds from the public. The answer is three-fold. (I) When an organ-
ization has been given a sum of money that is bound to appear as large in
the public mind as ~~oo,ooo,ooo does, it is impractical to go out and ask for
more money very soon; a decent interval must first elapse. (2) The Council
by administering a programme over a reasonable period has to establish a
measure of public confidence in its scheme of grants and, certainly for this
particular organization, in its investment practices and in the general man-
agement of its affairs. (3) The Council has to be in a position really to dem-
onstrate that it cari properly use more funds to meet legitimate and ade-
quately proved needs.
The Council believes that it has now moved into this period : the decent
interval has elapsed; in the opinion of the Council its work is known and
accepted, at lcast by the sector of the public most directly affected; and the
Council is convinced that it has been able to demonstrate existing needs
that it would be wholly proper for the Council to meet if it could be pro-
vided with additional revenue for the purpose.
The Council therefore proposes to issue a brochure that will contain use-
ful information about the Council’s status as a charitable organization, and
the individual and corporate right to make donations to it that will be free
of federal tax. The Council intends to give this brochure a large distribu-
tion among lawyers, lcgal firms, trust companies, and others, in the hope
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