Good news: OBT beats the bank — for now
While Art Scatter was spending Thursday in the Columbia Gorge visiting the Maryhill Museum (more on that trip as soon as I get it written) our partner in crime Barry Johnson was busy reporting on Portland Arts Watch that Oregon Ballet Theatre has smashed through the ceiling of its emergency fund drive, raising $853,271 by the end of the day Wednesday.
Considering that its goal was $750,000 by June 30, that’s remarkable. And it doesn’t need to stop here. Maybe OBT can smash $1 million by June 30, which would help considerably in balancing next year’s reduced budget. OBT says it needs to raise $1.5 million in donations to meet its slashed-back budget of $4.8 million, down from a projected $6.7 million before the economy collapsed.
To break it down: A little more than $500,000 came from 976 individual donations, or an average of about $512. And it didn’t come just from Portland: Money came from 26 states, which indicates how highly this company is thought of nationally. Eight donors gave $190,000 of that, in chunks of $25,000 or $20,000, which means there were a lot of $25, $50, $100, $150, $250 gifts from ordinary dance-lovers who dug deep, and their willingness to help made a big difference. In addition, last weekend’s big gala concert pulled in about $330,000.
Now it’s time for the heavy hitters to step up to the plate — the six-figure and seven-figure people. It’s essential to the long-term health of this company that it gain the confidence and regular support of the deep-pocket crowd. That $1.5 million for the coming year? It breaks down to about $29,000 a week — and that’s for a bare-bones budget. To build the company back to the $7 million level, and restore its full orchestra, is going to take a lot more than that.
The task has just begun. In the meantime, congratulations to everyone.
June 21st, 2009 at 11:06 am
I’ve worked in the arts for 15+ years, getting my start at OBT - first as a telemarketer and volunteer in the PR/Marketing dept, and later as OBT’s director of ticket services. I left OBT for graduate school on the east coast and spent the next decade living and working for arts groups in DC. My family and I returned to Oregon a few years ago. When a recent article in the Oregonian provided financial snapshots of some of the area’s largest arts groups (http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2009/02/arts_organizations_surviving.html), I was shocked to see that OBT still did not have an endowment. OBT would be well-served to establish an endowment. Instead of living hand-to-mouth and keeping fingers crossed against unpredictable weather and other variables beyond their immediate control, the company would have a predictable annual revenue stream. Of course, building an endowment is not easy, but OBT has a core group of supporters and donors who have been with the organization through thick and thin, and who have the means to make it happen. Also, the recent fundraising flurry shows that the general public, in Portland and regionally, is supportive of the organization and considers it integral to the cultural vitality of Oregon. I hope OBT managment is exploring the viability of an endowment campaign as a means to ensure future financial stablity. OBT deserves it.
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Rachel,
Thanks so much for bringing up the issue of an endowment. I’ve touched on it in earlier posts, but only briefly, and it deserves more play. OBT isn’t the only arts group in town, unfortunately, to have a small or nonexistent endowment, and I believe you’re right: an endowment is crucial to stability. I hope to do some more exploring of OBT’s financial and organizational challenges, and the lack of an endowment is one of the big questions.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I look forward to reading your analysis Bob. While the recent installment of this saga has a happy ending, like you say in your post, there is still a lot of work to be done.
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
In fact, OBT does have the beginnings of an endowment, started by longtime ballet teacher Jacqueline Schumacher quite recently. Schumacher danced under the name Jacqueline Martin with San Francisco Opera Ballet and was the first American ballerina to dance the role of Odette in the first American staging of Swan Lake, by Willam Christensen.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
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