In today's economy, with its plunging endowments and reduced corporate giving, nonprofit arts organizations are looking to private donations as vital instruments of survival.

In Sacramento, where asking individuals for funds is not a deeply entrenched tradition, many of those donors will have to be first-time givers.

Lial Jones, executive director of the Crocker Art Museum, said it has not been common practice for Sacramento arts nonprofits to ask patrons to become donors.

"When I came to Sacramento 10 years ago, people said they never gave to the Crocker because no one ever asked them," Jones said.

Before coming to Sacramento to head the Crocker, Jones was the deputy director of the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington. Jones said a tradition of asking patrons for donations was well-established in Wilmington. People knew it was incumbent upon them to support their local museum.

Jones said she brought this expectation to bear on the museum's $100 million capital campaign to fund the Crocker's new addition, which is to open in 2010. To date, the museum has raised $90 million.

"The reality is that, for us, individual donors are (now) the biggest donor group," Jones said. "So, as we get reductions in public funds and our own endowments, we've had to redouble our efforts with individuals."

Like most nonprofit arts groups, the Crocker has taken a hit on its endowment. In the past year, its endowment fund, which had stood at $5 million, has lost 30 percent of its value.

At the Crocker, more than 50 percent of its $6 million annual operating budget comes from philanthropic giving, and of that amount, 80 percent comes from individual donors.

"I've heard, anecdotally, that when patrons of arts organizations are asked why they have not donated they respond 'Well, I've never been asked,' " said Ruth Blank, executive director of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. That organization has been around for 25 years and oversees charitable funds established by individuals, families, businesses and organizations in the region; those funds are used for grants to local nonprofit organizations.

Also, during tough economic times, individuals tend to increase donations to social service nonprofits and not to arts groups.

These two pieces make for a challenging fundraising picture in Sacramento.

"We know that people are very driven during these times to do what they can to support safety-net organizations like food banks and shelters, and we think that is very important," said Blank.

The risk, Blank believes, is that giving solely to safety-net organizations in tough times may lead to the community losing arts infrastructure.

"No one wants to see that happen, especially in hindsight 10 years from now," she said.

To make sure the arts scene remains strong, the foundation recently established the Advancing Sacramento Arts Initiative. That effort seeks to create an endowment at the foundation that will go toward granting funds to small and medium-size arts organizations.

"There have been lots of demonstrations during this economic slowdown that people understand that now is not the time to hold back from giving," said Blank. "And I think that some donors have responded."

That point was driven home eloquently, not at an arts presenting organization, but by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission.

Recently, SMAC received an unexpected $57,000 bequest from the estate of longtime local arts patron Richard Schneeberger.

For SMAC, which faces a sizable reduction in funds from the city and the county of Sacramento, that unexpected gift could not have come at a more crucial time.

"As a public agency, we have and are experiencing steep reductions in our budget due to the budget woes at the city and county," said SMAC executive director Rhyena Halpern.

And with each year, the cuts have grown steeply.

For the fiscal year of 2008, funding from the city and county was cut by 5 percent. This fiscal year saw a 25 percent cut in funds from the city and county, and next fiscal year SMAC expects to see another 25 percent cut in county and city funds, Halpern said.

Those reduction are invariably passed on to the many nonprofit arts organizations that receive funds from SMAC.

"One of our very highest priorities is to increase arts funding in a significant way through public and private resources," said Halpern. "Mr. Schneeberger's belief in SMAC, and our ability to use his gift for the benefit of the arts, is a great step as we move forward into these uncertain and transformative times."

The realization that the fundraising environment has changed has forced many arts nonprofits to change development strategies.

One of those is the Sacramento Philharmonic, where private donations account for only one-third of what it receives as fundraising income.

"We would like to see more in the way of private donations," said Marc Feldman, executive director of the Philharmonic. "And it is individual donations that will help arts groups get through this downturn."

When Feldman came to head the orchestra three years ago, he also encountered a fundraising environment in which asking private individuals for donations was not a priority.

"I've had prospective donors tell me that they've never been asked to make an important gift," he said.

To reach those donors, the Philharmonic is putting together a fundraising committee that will come up with strategies on how best to increase private giving. Feldman said the committee will also seek ways to best approach donors who have already given to the Philharmonic and ask for an increased donation.

"Because there is this truism in fundraising that if you do not ask, you will not get," Feldman said.

Call Bee arts critic Edward Ortiz, (916) 321-1071.