San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

Symphony still needs donors' help




By David Hendricks

from the San Antonio Express News 9/9/99



Unlike last year when the San Antonio Symphony couldn't start its season on time because it was on the brink of bankruptcy, Music Director Christopher Wilkins steps to the podium tonight for the season-opening downbeat on time and on schedule.

The season will start with the sumptuous melodies of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music."

But behind the orchestral shell of the ornate Majestic Theater and upstairs in symphony offices, financial alarm bells are ringing.

Again.

The symphony is still on schedule to eliminate long-term debt this fiscal year, thanks to donations arranged last year by banker Tom Frost and a list of large-company and foundation donors that came to be known as "stakeholders."

And the symphony ended its 1998-99 season in the black.

The alarm bells have been triggered, however, because of a recent meeting at which new executive director John Binkley heard something "frightening" from corporate donors and longtime individual subscriber-donors.

What scared Binkley was the message that some of the donors and their friends planned to scale back their annual-fund donations because of the perception that "everything is OK" because of the "stakeholders," the Kronkosky Foundation, City Hall and others.

Just a few weeks in office, Binkley already is plugging holes in the dike caused by false perceptions.

The financial plan that led to a three-year agreement with musicians a year ago was underpinned by a two-year schedule to eliminate the debt.

But season-by-season budgets continue. And the reality is this: the San Antonio Symphony, a middle-tier U.S. orchestra, requires $7 million annually to operate. About $3 million, or 42 percent of the budget, comes from ticket sales, almost exactly the 41.9 percent norm for U.S. orchestras in the $4 million to $10 million budget range.

The remaining 58 percent must come from other sources - corporate, foundation and individual annual-fund giving, the city's allocation and several other smaller-but-vital sources.

But before last season, the orchestra continually came up with a $600,000 to $700,000 shortfall for one simple reason: the lack of a decent endowment that most other orchestras enjoy.

The San Antonio Symphony possesses a $2 million endowment at the moment, up from about $600,000 a year ago.

And several more million dollars will go the orchestra over the next four years from the Kronkosky Foundation if the symphony finishes each season in the black.

Binkley said a $14 million endowment is necessary to eliminate the yearly $700,000 shortfall.

A $25 million endowment, if raised over the next five to six years, would secure the symphony's future perhaps as long as 50 years, he added.

To build an endowment for the city's only large professional arts organization, Binkley is pursuing three critical steps.

They are:

• The employment of accounting firm Arthur Andersen to maintain the symphony's books. In shambles not long ago, the books were cleaned up free of charge by a squad of Andersen accountants and are now maintained for a discounted monthly fee, Binkley said.

That kind of professional service is necessary to maintain donor confidence.

• The endowment has been placed in the hands of the San Antonio Area Foundation.

The symphony can receive only the income. It can't liquidate the principal, which happened earlier this decade when the earlier $6 million endowment was spent to pay accumulated long-term debts.

At the time, the action probably saved the symphony from closure.

But it also alienated endowment donors. With the new endowment out of the symphony board's control, it won't happen again, Binkley said.

• The best news of all is that Chicago Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Henry Fogel, the most-revered name in orchestral development anywhere, has agreed to provide consulting to the San Antonio Symphony.

"Fogel only works with one or two orchestras at a time. Now that he is finished helping the Houston Symphony, he has offered to help us," Binkley said. "Fogel cares deeply about this orchestra and the San Antonio community, and he has said so."

Banker Kenny Wilson, a symphony board member and Kronkosky trustee, and Binkley met with Fogel in June.

A second meeting is scheduled in October, Binkley said.

But all of this momentum would collapse like the proverbial house of cards if community giving from corporations and individuals falters.

Binkley fears that could happen soon because of false perceptions about the symphony's financial health.

"If we fall short in our annual operating budget, we're back in the ditch again," he said.

At the same time, Binkley stressed the symphony won't be a burden forever. "I do not want the misunderstanding that 'nothing is never enough.' It's the opposite," he said.

"We are committed to running the tightest ship possible and to have a world-class symphony in San Antonio."

The music is on tonight. The organization's credibility is on the rise. Now is not the time to let support slip away.



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