In Saturday’s (2/26) Wall Street Journal, Erica Orden writes, “Even as most arts organizations have struggled through a brutal few years for raising money, the New York Philharmonic not only has met its fund-raising-campaign goal of $50 million, but has nearly doubled that figure. By the time the campaign concludes in June, the company expects to have raised more than $90 million. … The orchestra established the effort after several years of working toward financial stability in the wake of seeing its endowment plummet by 16% in 2001, to $164.2 million from $194.8 million. The company worried that the facts of its balance sheet would translate to sticker shock at the box office. The orchestra said in a statement that it ‘recognized that increasing expenses could not be passed along to audiences members in the form of higher ticket prices without significantly limited the Philharmonic’s audience’ … Originally designed with an objective of raising $50 million over five years, the campaign quickly locked down a lead, $15 million gift from the Starr Foundation, and then pressed its trustees and other major donors to match that grant. Within two years, the orchestra bumped up the goal to $75 million, and as of now it has recorded a total of $88.4 million.”
Posted February 28, 2011
