“A 43% jump in fund-raising at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led to a record $18.9 million in contributions to the annual fund in 2013, all but guaranteeing a balanced budget for the first time since 2007,” writes Mark Stryker in Monday’s (10/7) Detroit Free Press. “The DSO will announce key fund-raising and ticket-sale metrics on Tuesday for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31. The results include $6.3 million in ticket sales—nearly $1 million more than in 2012. In addition, individual donors in 2013 topped 10,000 for the first time in a decade.… The results mark an important building block as the institution rebuilds after a six-month musicians strike in 2010-11.… ‘Saying you’re going to break even … in advance is relatively easy, but actually achieving it is something else,’ said executive vice president Paul Hogle.” Hogle credited “hard work and sacrifice throughout the institution [including] musicians who agreed to steep salary cuts.” “Former board chairmen Stanley Frankel and Jim Nicholson were responsible for more than half of the $4 million in additional money through a pledge to match all board contributions one-to-one…. DSO leaders say such a heavy reliance on individual donors is unsustainable in the long run. The orchestra’s 10-year plan approved last year requires raising anywhere from $125 million to $200 million in endowment funds over the next decade.”
Posted October 8, 2013
