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Campaign Priorities

The Gift of Music Campaign set the goal of raising $100 million for New England Conservatory in order to strengthen NEC’s ability to determine the future of music, both here in Boston and throughout the world.

NEC-trained musicians make enduring contributions in every area of musical endeavor. They perform in the world’s foremost symphony orchestras and opera houses, in jazz clubs and recording studios. They host radio shows and compose film scores; they serve as accompanists, producers, arrangers, arts administrators, and teachers across the globe.

For a school of such far-reaching influence, NEC was demonstrably undercapitalized in 2001. The Gift of Music Campaign will help to secure New England Conservatory’s place as a world leader in music education and ensure that it has the resources to expand its influence ever further. 

At the close of the campaign in June 2008, the goals and amounts raised include the following:

Student Scholarships

Over $15 million has been added to scholarship support through 88 funds that were either newly created or augmented.

Endowment, including faculty chairs

• $7 million pledged for endowment to maintain Jordan Hall, by descendants of Eben Jordan, who funded the original construction of the hall.
• $9.5 million received to endow four new faculty chairs: the Donna Hieken Flute Chair, the Wendy Shattuck Chair in Voice, the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies, and the Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Director of Orchestras.
• $3 million raised to create the Daniel Steiner Presidential Fund

Community Engagement

• $2.5 million raised to endow NEC’s Community Performances and Partnerships Program, created in 2003. This included a $2 million gift from a private foundation and a gift from the Billy Joel Endowment Fund that created the Performance Outreach Fellows Program.
• Preparatory School grants. A $150,000 three-year award from a private family foundation in Boston that is directed specifically toward scholarship assistance for Boston children in the K-8 age group. With it, NEC has been able to enroll 72 new Boston students in Preparatory School programs.

Annual Fund

The Annual Fund brought in a total of $14 million during the campaign, with a 44% increase in donor participation since 2001. The $2.6 million raised in 2007 nearly tripled the amount raised in 2001.

Facilities

In addition to the Jordan Family endowment for Jordan Hall, NEC raised $2.9 million in federal earmark funds for streetscape and infrastructure improvements; gifts totaling $350,000 to support the Institutional Planning Process for a campus master plan; and funds to build out administrative offices currently used by Institutional Advancement, and fund campaign staffing.

updated 3 June 2008