Colorado Ballet Receives $500,000 Donation
Colorado Ballet received a $500,000 donation to go toward the company’s Relief and Recovery Fundraising Campaign.
Last month, I reported for OUT FRONT that Colorado Ballet has had to furlough its dancers and cut staff wages and salaries for the remainder of 2020. The layoffs were due to the adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Colorado Ballet has been unable to hold performances, which is how the dance company makes a significant portion of its annual revenue. In response, Colorado Ballet set up a Relief and Recovery Fundraising Campaign. Colorado Ballet launched the fundraising campaign after Colorado Ballet announced the cancellation of all fall 2020 productions, including The Nutcracker, to offset an estimated loss of approx. $4 million in revenue.
Related article: Colorado Ballet Forced to Furlough Dancers
This week, on October 6, 2020, Colorado Ballet released an announcement explaining the company received a $500,000 matching grant to go toward the company’s fundraising campaign. The Colorado Ballet describes the donors providing the assistance as “a generous couple, who have requested to remain anonymous.” The couple agreed to match all the donations Colorado Ballet receives in a ratio of 2:1, up to $250,000, which will triple the impact of each dollar donated. The donation matching will occur between October 1 and November 15.
The total amount raised for Colorado Ballet’s Relief and Recovery efforts will become $750,000 due to this matching donation.
“This incredibly generous gift makes an enormous impact on Colorado Ballet and on our efforts to not only survive during this pandemic but to come out on the other side of it and resume being the organization that we’ve become over the past 60 years,” explained Artistic Director Gil Boggs. “We are extremely grateful for these supporters’ generosity and dedication to Colorado Ballet. This matching gift has lifted the spirits of everyone at Colorado Ballet during these extraordinarily difficult times, and we will continue pushing forward with motivation in our mission to emerge from this crisis as a strong ballet company.”
At the time of this article’s publishing, Colorado Ballet’s Relief and Recovery Fund has managed to raise $481,068 out of its $3 million goals– approx. 16% of their fundraising goal. With the additional $750,000 from the matching grant, it would put Colorado Ballet’s fundraiser just under halfway at its purpose at just over $1.2 million raised– 41% of their fundraising goals. According to the company, this donation is perhaps the largest single gift received by the Colorado Ballet, and the anonymous donors are hoping their immense contribution will be enough to cause others to help fulfill the company’s fundraiser. The anonymous donors provide the donation hoping that Colorado Ballet will remain a thriving and integral addition to Denver’s performing arts community post-pandemic.
The anonymous donors explained, “We wanted to make a substantial gift to inspire and challenge others to give generously, to support this vital art form and to boost the morale of the company weathering an incredibly challenging time. The performing arts industry has been hit, especially hard by the pandemic. As a non-profit organization that relies on charitable giving, we want to ensure that Colorado Ballet will be able to resume as a strong company when they are able to perform again.”
