DaytonDailyNews.com

Even though campaign increases have been hard to eke out in recent years, Dayton's Culture Works ranked among the top 20 united arts funds in the country in the latest survey by Americans for the Arts.

The nation's No. 1 such campaign happens to be just down the road: It's Cincinnati's Fine Arts Fund, even though the city's metro population isn't the biggest or fastest-growing. Its president and chief executive, Mary McCullough-Hudson, said the Fine Arts Fund has a pair of advantages.

The first is tradition. Founded in 1927 and launching its annual campaign in 1949, it's the oldest in the country and helped invent the concept of one drive to serve many major arts organizations. Its campaign covers Hamilton, Clermont, Warren and Butler counties, plus three counties in northern Kentucky.

The second is corporate support.

There's one major difference besides size between the Fine Arts Fund and Culture Works: Budget deficits aren't tolerated in Cincinnati.

"Our prime directive is to balance the budget," McCullough-Hudson said. "Our donors and the corporations that welcome us into their workplaces expect us to make sure these organizations operate in a financially secure manner."

Those that don't get some "tough love," she said. They get smaller checks.

"Those who balance their budgets and add to their financial security get higher allocations. But there are levels to this. You don't want to create risk-averse organizations," McCullough-Hudson said.

Most groups are operating within their means, "but it's a very fragile system. Operating margins are small. A leaky roof or a snowed-out 'Nutcracker' weekend can be a crisis."

She said her fund could take at least one page from Culture Works. "Dayton has done very well in developing some significant organizations that reference a variety of cultures in the community. That's a gap in our portfolio right now."

Other funds

A selection of united arts funds, listed by 2006 campaign totals with metro population in parentheses.

Cincinnati $11.36 million. (2.1 million people)

Charlotte $11.33 million. (1.65 million people)

Milwaukee $10,256,900. (1.54 million people)

Atlanta $8.7 million. (5.2 million people)

Louisville $7.9 million. (1.23 million people)

Orlando $5.16 million. (2 million people)

Seattle $4.56 million. (3.3 million people)

Memphis $4.4 million. (1.28 million people)

Hartford $4.2 million. (1.18 million people)

Winston-Salem, N.C. $2.36 million. (698,497 people)

Chattanooga $2.3 million. (514,568 people)

Oklahoma City $2.27 million. (1.19 million people)

Fort Wayne, Ind. $2.16 million. (402,086 people)

Dayton $1.68 million. (835,537 people)

Canton, Ohio $1.35 million. (407,180 people)

Lexington, Ky. $1 million. (520,283 people)

Spartanburg, S.C. $799,323. (613,828 people)

Norfolk, Va. $766,224. (1.65 million people)

Portland, Ore. $446,982 (third year). (2.1 million people)

Raleigh $470,792. (1.04 million people)

Columbia, S.C. $307,160. (716,030 people)

La Crosse, Wis. $136,294. (130,926 people)