In Friday’s (6/21) Charlotte Business Journal (subscription required), Todd Cohen reports on a fundraising campaign at the Charlotte (N.C.) Symphony Orchestra in which the CSO’s 44 board members were each charged with raising $10,000 over and above their personal contributions. “From January through May, the organization raised $400,000 at 15 receptions, with most of those funds coming in the form of three-year gifts. Pledges from board members totaled an additional $340,000. The receptions were part of a new strategy to boost grassroots support as the symphony prepares to begin a long-term campaign to increase its endowment for $35 million to $40 million, up from $6 million. ‘We need to build community support,’ says Robert Stickler, president and executive director. ‘People who can ultimately give big gifts … want to see financial stability and that the community is pitching in.’ Stickler says the annual budget he expects to present to the board this month will be in balance or ‘close to it,’ compared with a deficit of roughly $450,000 in the fiscal year that ends June 30, down from $1.8 million two years ago.… This fiscal year, 1,445 donors have contributed to the symphony, up from 1,345 the previous year.”
Posted June 24, 2013
