Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is personally encouraging FTSE 100 chief executives to increase corporate giving to the arts, in a bid to fill the funding black hole left by his budget cuts.

At present, only 40 of the FTSE 100 make any donation to the arts and Hunt is hoping a handwritten letter will prompt a change of heart.

Having slashed arts funding since stepping into the Culture role last May – the arts have suffered the biggest budget cuts for 30 years as part of the governments £81 million austerity drive – Hunt is pinning his hopes on what he calls a year of "corporate giving" by encouraging the private sector to resuscitate the arts sector.

He plans to tell CEOs that arts funding helps to build stronger relationships in communities, and is said to be optimistic that half of all FTSE 100 companies can be encouraged to give before the end of this parliament.

Such a shift would call for a major rethink of corporate citizenship. His plea goes out to FTSE 100 companies that already plough money into CSR programmes, although most of these focus on health, environmental, or community concerns.

As well as seeking one-to-one meetings with FTSE 100 CEOs, Hunt plans to boost private giving to the arts in an £80 million scheme that sees the culture department match every £1 of private funding raised by arts bodies.