The Boston Symphony is changing its policy towards its volunteer workforce at Tanglewood, its summer home. Volunteers will now be asked to “donate” at least $75 to the BSO’s annual fund, citing a rising deficit situation. This from an orchestra with an endowment of over a third of a billion dollars. Read the full story here. I was drawn to this story by the coverage of Soho the Dog (a.k.a. Matthew Guerrieri).
This is the latest in a string of unfortunate public relations moves from a number of orchestras. Are today’s orchestras so focused on the new and elusive 25 to 45 year old consumers that they are willing to sacrifice their loyal subscriber and volunteer base on the altar of novelty? I surely hope not.
A few years back, a series of poor management decisions left the Oregon Symphony with little or no contact with its neighborhood auxiliaries. These grassroots groups of die hard supporters were left with no direction, mandate or resources. During the tough financial times (such as the OSO faces these days), having that network to help spread the word can really help to bolster the organization through the personal contact and cheer leading that such groups provide. Fortunately, it seems that this was realized just in time, and the relationships have been renewed and strengthened. If you are in an auxiliary or know someone who is, let me know if I’m correct on this.
One reply on “volunteer this!”
I am a member of the FOS and of one of the auxiliaries.
I joined the auxiliaries when we were the Women’s Association. The number of members went down rather drastically at the time you mentioned. Since that time it has increased again and we have more then 200 members or so. The contact of the auxiliary with the parent organization (at least the one I belong to) is quite limited and I think we are now more of a social organization. As a matter of fact at our last meeting we considered disbanding.
In the age of mechanization the volunteer activities have decreased greatly, so we do not feel the closeness to the orchestra that we felt in the past. Actually the main volunteer
activities are in the fund raising projects and with the education department.
Even though there are fewer members we do raise more money which after all is the main purpose for our existence. And yes we do have to contribute money to belong. In order to belong to the FOS you have to join the Symphony Association and I believe the minimum for that is $60. This was not true of the Women’s Association. Personally I also feel that our contact with the symphony is much more remote then it used to be. Actually this is the second auxiliary I have joined because the first one suffered an untimely death.