Orchestras Rely More on Contributed Than Earned Income, Study Finds

Over the past decade, U.S. orchestras have relied more on philanthropic support than on ticket sales for their income, a report from the League of American Orchestras finds.

[Fourty] percent of the total income in 2014 of the sixty-five member orchestras in the study, or some $520 million, was classified as earned income, with three-quarters of that from performance and related activities; 43 percent, or $569 million, from contributed income; and 17 percent, or $229 million, from investment income. ... The study also found that the league’s member orchestras managed to contain growth in expenses during the recession, and that the share reporting deficits in unrestricted net assets fell from 40 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2014.