Stop Me Before I Pitch Again!

Based on the amount of email and FB messages coming in, I know folks are very anxious to hear more about insider insights related to the Minnesota Orchestra Association (MOA) but there’s less than 48 hours before the Orchestra 990 Database Project’s Kickstarter campaign ends and we still need to reach that funding goal.

So help me help you get your orchestra business insider fix by becoming a backer and encouraging others to do the same thing. The sooner we reach the goal, the sooner I can push the “publish” button for the MOA article all set and ready to go.

And just in case you’re wandering into the whole Orchestra 990 Database Project thing, here’s the lowdown on what the project will accomplish and deliver:

• Converting a decade’s worth of IRS Form 990s into a searchable format along with assigning category filters.
• The database will begin with the 2003/04 season filings. The database will include all US based professional orchestras with total expenditures of $2 million and higher.
• A website that will retain a searchable database of professional orchestra IRS Form 990s.
• The user interface will provide multi taxonomy filtering to assist with narrowing results (think searching by state, zip, and other custom categories).
• Users will be able to download copies of documents returned in the search query.
• Searches and results will be free for all users, all the time. 
• The website will be built atop an open source publishing platform and feature a responsive design, allowing users to easily interface via desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone without the hassle of downloading and installing platform specific apps.
• An L3C will be formed as the entity under which all work and ongoing administration will be conducted (more on that below).

There’s even a super cool promotional video:

Not sure what a 990 is or why you should care? Then you’re in luck because there’s a great video explaining all of that and more courtesy of my interview with SoundNotion.tv.