Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
The Orchestra 990 Database Project is done and although there was passionate support from a diverse group of backers, the project failed to meet its funding goal. But thanks to the way the campaign was designed, that’s not a bad thing; in fact, it’s a great thing. Let me share what you can accomplish by embracing failure. Ever since the earliest stages of designing the campaign, the entire process has been …
A handful of traditional media outlets are reporting that the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO) has apparently raised enough bridge funding to make it to the end of the current season but there is no word on what is planned for 2014/15. Likewise, there is no word on what sorts of adjustments may be made to the remaining season’s programs. Although the MSO has yet to publish a public statement detailing the …
During my recent move, I noticed something different about the USPS mail forwarding policy compared to the my previous move eight years prior in that bulk mail (periodicals, newsletters, magazines, advertisements, circulars, etc.) is no longer automatically forwarded along with other types of mail classes. That option must be manually selected in one of the USPS’ subsequent confirmation messages and is listed separately from magazine and periodical deliveries. Moreover, even if …
Although it is no surprise that arts orgs are gearing up for the end of the year contribution push, one trend catching my attention in 2013 is the increase in groups focusing more efforts to streamline the online donation process. Of particular interest is providing the ability for potential donors to get in and out of the online donation process in only a few minutes and on a single online page; …
Is the New York City Opera (NYCO) muddying the waters for nonprofit performing arts groups with their current Kickstarter campaign? Ever since the NYCO announced its Kickstarter campaign to raise $1 million to “produce a 2013–2014 season” a number of colleagues have contacted me expressing concerns that the broad all or nothing fundraising campaign violates Kickstarter’s fundraising guidelines. According to Kickstarter’s funding platform for creative projects, a project is defined as …