Colorado Public Radio Holds a Pledge Drive — for Another Group

November 19, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute

Colorado Public Radio plans to hold a three-day fund-raising drive the week after Thanksgiving — but the beneficiary will be the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

“Colorado Public Radio recognizes the CSO’s unique role as one of Colorado’s key cultural assets and petitioned the Federal Communications Commission for permission to conduct a one-time-only, on-air fund-raising drive to support its major classical music provider, the Colorado Symphony,” Max Wycisk, president of Colorado Public Radio, said in a statement.

The orchestra has been hit hard by the economic crisis, which forced the organization to reduce its current operating budget by $2.5-million. This fall, musicians agreed to salary and benefit concessions, which included a 12.5 percent pay cut, up to four weeks of unpaid furlough, and a suspension of employer contributions to the musicians’ retirement fund.

The special fund-raising appeal will culminate with a live broadcast December 2 of the orchestra’s sold-out performance with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

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About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.