The Fundraising Horse Before the Cart

As many of you are probably aware, Carmel is building a new concert hall, recently named The Palladium. The cost for The Palladium is over 150 million dollars. As the article notes, Mayor Brainard remarked in 2005 and 2007 the hope was to draw in someone to donate 25 million in exchange for naming rights to the hall. After the 25 million was secured, the strategy would be to go after the smaller donations. In 2010, Mayor Brainard admitted that the 25 million donation search has not been successful. Early on he also remarked he was confident the hall would raise 50 million in private donations. Unfortunately, the fundraising arm for the hall, Carmel Performing Arts Foundation, has only been able to raise 4 million.

In light of the recession, foundation executive director has decided to take the foundation in a new direction. Instead of focusing on the 25 million donation, his plan is to go after smaller donations of $500 – 2 million. He is quoted as saying,

"Eventually, we will focus on the $25 million. The reason for that is there is a larger pool of donors who can contribute from the range up to $2 million and a limited pool for $25 million."

The new strategy is interesting. Typically, the immediate focus is on those donors who are able to give larger sums of money and then an organization will work to capture the larger pool of smaller donors. As the article indicates, there has been mixed support for The Palladium. Much of the worry has focused on the use of taxpayer money to fund the project. Perhaps this new strategy is a way to gain more public support for the project and have more community “buy-in”. Or perhaps it is the backup strategy you have to utilize when you have spent 5 years (2005-2010) searching for the larger donors to no avail.

Competition is good and bad in the arts arena, but the impact of The Palladium on the Indianapolis area arts community, in terms of fundraising, will be significant. Both the symphony and opera are struggling mightily. Other arts organizations have seen a significant drop in revenues and grant income (federal and otherwise). As the Carmel Performing Arts Foundation embarks to raise millions of dollars, other arts organizations might see the effects in their fundraising efforts.

Sikich, Chris. (2010, February 12). Carmel christens concert hall but is still hoping for big donor. Indianapolis Star. [Retrieved] 2010, March 11 from http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=20102120351