“The Houston Symphony has raised a record Annual Fund total of over $8 million, qualified for the first of two $1 million challenge grants from Houston Endowment and expects to report a balanced budget for fiscal year 2011,” writes Everett Evans in Tuesday’s (6/7) Houston Chronicle. “The outstanding success of the Houston Symphony in balancing its budget and surpassing all previous fundraising for its Annual Fund, along with qualifying for a $1 million challenge grant, attests to the excellent leadership of the orchestra’s management and the superior stewardship of its board,” said Jesse Rosen, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, in the article.” Evans writes that the orchestra’s five-year plan, announced in April 2010, “inspired Houston Endowments $3 million investment in May 2010, followed by the two million-dollar challenge grants, each tied to the orchestra’s meeting of benchmarks in expanding its donor base and Annual Fund. The orchestra recently met the criteria for the first $1 million challenge grant by surpassing its FY11 Annual Fund goal of $8 million, by expanding its donor base beyond 4,000 and by meeting the first-year budget goals of its five-year plan. The second $1 million challenge grant will be awarded next year if the symphony meets 2012 goals of expanding its donor base to 5,000 and its Annual Fund to at least $9 million by May 31, 2012.”
Photo of Houston Symphony and Hans Graf at Carnegie Hall by Chris Lee
Posted June 7, 2011
