San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

Symphony hurt by decline of ball




By Russell Gold

from the San Antonio Express News 1/3/98



As the San Antonio Symphony teetered on the edge of bankruptcy in 1998, an important piece of the financial picture was missing.

The nonprofit orchestra's high profile fund-raiser, the $150-a-plate Symphony Ball, had fallen on hard times, too.

In 1998, the 28-year-old gala made only $17,851, according to financial records obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.

"We would like the Symphony Ball to be netting at least $50,000," said the symphony's executive director at the time, David Schillhammer, who announced last fall that he was resigning at the end of the year.

The gala wasn't making much money, but it still takes hundreds of hours to plan and represents one of the symphony's major fund-raising opportunities.

Seventy-four cents of every dollar raised was spent on the cost of the event - a fancy dinner at the San Antonio Marriot Rivercenter hotel, where the children and grandchildren of symphony patrons are presented to the public.

Just two years earlier, the event made $36,292. Only 63 cents of every dollar then went toward overhead.

The gala's financial fizzle is a well-kept secret. It doesn't appear on any tax documents, which the symphony must make available for public inspection under federal law.

Nonprofit organizations must report how much money they make and how much they spend on their three largest fund-raising events each year.

But like the symphony, many don't.

The reason, Schillhammer said, is that the events are organized by the Symphony League, a support group. The league doesn't file any information and isn't accountable to the IRS.

When this unusual arrangement was questioned, Schillhammer said: "All I can say is that we have had the support of our auditors in treating it this way. But they have indicated in the future perhaps the income and expenditures should be reported."

In the past three years, the ball has lost about $30,000 in revenue, but has trimmed only $11,000 in expenses.

Part of the problem is that the event is falling out of fashion.

The Symphony Ball is for debutantes. Every year, several high school girls are selected to be belles of the ball. The pricey gala tickets are bought up by belle relatives and friends of the family.

Fifteen years ago, there were 41 belles. The numbers have dwindled ever since. At the Symphony Ball in February 1998 there were only 10.



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