LOCAL

Symphony announces five-year, $50-million fundraising campaign

Charlie Patton
Robert Massey, president and CEO of the Jacksonville Symphony, announced Friday that the Symphony Association is embarked on a campaign called Vision 2020 intended to raise $50 million over five years. (Bruce Lipsky/Florida Times-Union)

During the Jacksonville Symphony’s gala Friday night, President and CEO Robert Massey announced an ambitous fundraising campaign intended to generate $50 million in donations over the next five years.

It’s an ambitious plan, arguably the biggest campaign any non-profit cultural organization in the city has ever undertaken. Carl Cannon, who is co-chair of the campaign, said the Jacksonville Zoo raised $50 million but that was over a longer period of time and the city helped.

“It’s a very bold campaign by a bold cultural institution in a bold city,” Massey said.

One goal of the campaign, called Vision 2020, is to more than double the symphony’s endowment to about $40 million, which would double the annual income from the endowment from $1 million to $2 million. A second goal is to increase annual giving to the symphony from about $4 million to $5 million.

If those two goals are achieved, “We’ll be able to operate in the black and build reserves,” Massey said in an interview Friday.

Some of the money raised will also be used to upgrade facilities in The Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts and to underwrite recording projects and touring performances under the leadership of Music Director Courtney Lewis.

“The building is celebrating its 20th anniversary,” Massey said. “We want to make cosmetic changes from putting down new carpeting to making sure the bathrooms are updated. We want to do things inside the hall that enhance the experience.”

Cannon led the drive in the mid-1990s that raised more than $20 million to build the Jacoby Symphony Hall and increase the endowment.

“We knew when we built the hall in 1997 we were only giving the symphony a home,” he said. “We knew it would need an infrastructure and sizable endowment to succeed. With this campaign, we’re finishing the job. … If we are successful, it will insure the future of the symphony, which is what I think we’re going to do.”

The campaign announcement came about three weeks after the Symphony Association and its musicians union agreed to a new five-year contract that includes raises over the course of the pact that will increase the base salary for musicians, currently $38,057, by 37 percent to $52,026.

The new contract, signed Wednesday night, also provides for a larger core orchestra — 60 musicians, up from the current 53 — and a longer season — 40 weeks up from the current 35. That came after eight veteran musicians were given retirement packages in December that will make this season their last season as members of the core orchestra, Massey said.

Anyone wishing to make a donation to Vision 2020 can send gifts to the Jacksonville Symphony Association, 300 Water St., Jacksonville, Fla., 32202 or call (904) 354-2767.

Charlie Patton: (904) 359-4413