“The Elgin Symphony Orchestra is turning to online crowdfunding to raise money for its 2018-2019 season,” through the crowdfunding site CrowdRise, writes Mike Danahey in Monday’s (6/11) Elgin Courier-News (Illinois). Elgin Symphony “CEO Dave Bearden said the plan is to use CrowdRise for multiple campaigns over time. … ‘We expect to raise between $75,000-$100,000 on an ongoing annual basis,’ … Bearden said…. The 67-year-old ESO raises money for each season through corporate sponsorship, foundation grants … personal gifts [and] a Circle of Friends Campaign that allows donors to make monthly contributions that are automatically charged … This spring, the symphony found itself in a hole and needed $140,000 to cover costs to perform its final concerts of its 2017-2018 season on May 5 and 6. After a plea by ESO Music Director Andrew Grams at concerts in late March, the symphony received a surge in donations that allowed the concerts to happen…. Grams said … the ESO is in the midst of an aggressive fundraising campaign that aims to bring in $4 million over three years to fund an endowment and another $1.5 million per year to cover operational costs.”
Posted June 12, 2018
