Some have matching requirements by the end of 2011, others do not, said board chairman Richard B. Worley. But the entire challenge is being treated as if the deadline is the end of the year, he said.
If the effort succeeds, the $45 million will help underwrite the orchestra's operations for the next three years, Worley said.
Substantial hurdles stand between the current total and the $160 million goal. This is the orchestra's first major fund-raising effort in decades without the presence of Leonore Annenberg, who, with her husband Walter, donated about $100 million to the orchestra and Academy of Music. Their vote of confidence was often a catalyst for others to give. Both now are deceased, and their foundation is focused on California projects.
The drive is also unusual, if not unique, among cultural organizations in that it is seeking an unprecedented sum in the midst of a controversial bankruptcy and nettlesome negotiations with musicians. Moreover, stumping for the orchestra's annual fund will continue concurrently.
This initial round of philanthropy represents the largest and closest of the orchestra's traditional donor family, so the campaign's next stretch will largely rely on those whose connections to the orchestra are less emotional and whose largess thus may be more difficult to inspire.
