In an article about salaries and expenses at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mike Boehm writes in Friday’s (11/4) Los Angeles Times that under Deborah Borda’s leadership, the orchestra has gone “from thin ice to affluence. When she arrived in January 2000, the Phil was running chronic deficits and was borrowing from its endowment to meet operating expenses—a recipe for disaster if continued too long. Since then, ramped-up fundraising and improved earnings have pushed net assets from a paltry $7.3 million in Borda’s first full year on the job to $134.7 million at the end of fiscal 2009-10. In the three years before Borda took over, annual donations averaged $18.8 million, adjusted for inflation. In the 10 years after her arrival, they averaged $33.7 million. Concert revenues in 2009-10 reached a record $57.4 million—up 40.7% in inflation-adjusted dollars from eight years earlier. … The Phil’s 2009-10 tax return reflects a full recovery from the recession. Improved investment earnings and a rebound in annual donations lifted net assets to nearly $10 million beyond the pre-recession peak. Giving totaled $38.5 million for the year, after having slipped to $23.4 million during the downturn, the lowest since Borda’s first full year on the job.”
Posted November 4, 2011
