Cleveland Orchestra receives $10 million grant from Cleveland Foundation

Posted March 28, 2013 in Articles

Author: Donald Rosenberg

The Cleveland Foundation has awarded the Cleveland Orchestra a grant of $10 million, the largest to an arts organization in the foundation's 99-year history.


The grant is part of a record $26.6 million in Cleveland Foundation funding in the first quarter of 2013. It includes nearly $10 million for core neighborhood and youth initiatives.

The previous record of $21.6 million in the third quarter of 2012 included a $10 million centennial grant to Case Western Reserve University.

"We think this is a pivotal time for the orchestra, and we want to be there for them," Ronald B. Richard, the foundation's president and chief executive officer, said in a meeting Wednesday at The Plain Dealer.

The grant to the orchestra -- which previously received a total of $19 million from the foundation -- will be used for day-to-day operations and programming planning and will serve as a leadership gift in its "Sound for the Centennial" campaign, which is in the quiet phase. The funds will provide momentum leading to the ensemble's centennial celebration in 2018, said Gary Hanson, the orchestra's executive director.

"The Cleveland Foundation is known for the rigor with which it reviews institutional progress, its attention to detail and its judgment of the community value of an institution," he said. "Having concluded that process with a gift of this magnitude is an extraordinary endorsement."

For several years, orchestra officials have said they need to raise the endowment -- the most recently released figure, as of June 30, was $130.6 million -- to $300 million.

The orchestra has had a splendid month in terms of major gifts. Weeks ago, it received a pledge of $3 million from the Gund Foundation -- that organization's largest to the orchestra -- for the "George Gund III Fund for Artistic Excellence."

The Cleveland Foundation's Richard said its $10 million grant reflects the orchestra's position "as a key component of Cleveland's brand" and its efforts to broaden its audience, present more genres in more settings and partner with large and small organizations.

Original Article: http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/index.ssf/2013/03/cleveland_orchestra_receives_1.html#incart_riv