'All hands on board' to raise $140,000 for Elgin Symphony season finale
It's "all hands on board" for the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and CEO Dave Bearden said Friday that he has no doubt the organization will raise $140,000 to put on its May season finale concerts, pay bills and break even for the season.
Board members Thursday agreed to "aggressively"raise funds and some of them pledged to contribute their own money, he said. "The board is committed to doing more than their share of calling and calling, whatever it takes to raise those moneys."
As for whether there will be a 2018-19 season, "We will form several committees that will go out and fundraise this summer," Bearden said. "It's going to be members of the board, staff and the public. We are going to aggressively fundraise. We've got to find some new sources of funds."
The symphony has an annual budget of $2.2 million, including $700,000 from ticket sales and $1.5 million from donations and grants. It had projected a surplus of about $6,000 this season but fundraising fell below expectations, Bearden said.
A "concerted effort" to raise money started about three weeks ago and Music Director Andrew Grams made a public plea for contributions during last weekend's concerts. The response has been "heartening," Bearden said.
The symphony ended the 2016-17 season with an operating surplus of about $6,400 after an operating deficit of about $147,700 the previous season, according to its financial statements.
Bearden said he misspoke in the fall when he told the Daily Herald the symphony was last in the red in 2013-14. A main reason for the 2015-16 deficit was that a small family foundation - which he declined to name - didn't renew a donation of $150,000, he said.
"You almost have a zero-budgeting approach. Every year you start with a goal to break even at a minimum ..." he said. "You always make assumptions about what people gave in the past, and then you fill the missing parts."
The symphony's budget includes $600,000 for salaries for eight full-time staff members plus a resident conductor, stage manager and librarian, and $957,000 in musicians' salaries - 68 are under contract - including Grams, Bearden said. He declined to disclose Grams' salary, but said he gets paid for each week of work in Elgin.
The symphony association's federal tax returns show Bearden's salary was $108,000 in 2017, up from $99,700 in 2016. Bearden, hired in 2012, wasn't paid a salary the first year and his current salary is lower than his predecessor's, senior director of marketing Diane Handler said. The tax returns also show some staff and board members lent money to the symphony over the years. The outstanding "friendly loan" amount is $149,000, Bearden said.
Bearded credited a $1 million donation pledge in 2014 from Otto Engineering of Carpentersville with sustaining the symphony the last three years. "They have just been fantastically supportive of this organization."
The city council in September forgave nearly $162,000 owed by the symphony in back rent for the Hemmens Cultural Center. ESO has been repaying on schedule the remaining $21,400 debt, but owes an estimated $51,335 for concerts and rehearsals since November, including the last ones that haven't been billed yet, city spokeswoman Molly Center said. Bearden said the $140,000 fundraising goal includes paying all that off.