Charleston Symphony Orchestra to Suspend its Operations, "This is not a ticket problem, this is a fundraising problem."

The Post and Courier reported that the Charleston Symphony Orchestra will suspend its operations immediately due to a drop in fundraising dollars.

Here is the full article http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/29/cso-suspends-its-operations/#comments.

Some interesting points in the article:

- The drastic move was caused by a decline in major gift giving of 60 percent compared to last year."

- More than half of the symphony's budget -- $2.3 million for the 2009-10 season, reduced from about $2.8 million the year before -- depends on fundraising, not ticket sales.

-The goal of the restructuring is to stabilize the orchestra and come up with a better model.

- A telling quote by Legasey, "We're going to have to make a business case to key people that investing in this is worthwhile."

- Legasey and Scott said it was critical that the symphony design a business model that the community can support "on a sustainable basis."

- The organization has not operated within its budget for nine of the past 10 years.

- According to board president Ted Legasey, the budget has included funds for a development director, but qualified candidates have been in short supply.

The CSO has a huge opportunity to turn it around. It will be interesting to see what sort of "better model" they come up with. Hopefully it will be one that other organizations may benefit from.