HISTORY OF THE NEW MEXICO PHILHARMONIC FOUNDATION
Founded in 2017
The New Mexico Philharmonic Foundation was incorporated in 2017 to afford potential donors a vehicle to provide dedicated and long-term funding for the New Mexico Philharmonic that would exist for the sole purpose of ensuring the sustainable health and existence of a professional symphonic orchestra in Albuquerque and New Mexico.
The New Mexico Philharmonic Foundation’s charter and bylaws require that the proceeds of the corpus be exclusively distributed to the New Mexico Philharmonic or, if it ceases to exist, only to another subsequent professional symphony orchestra that serves New Mexico. This is different from the endowment established by the now defunct New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. That endowment contained a variance clause that permitted discretion in making distributions from the endowment once the NMSO ceased to exist. Annual distributions to multiple music organizations are now made through a grant process that is not limited to the support of professional symphony orchestras. The New Mexico Philharmonic currently receives the largest share of these annual distributions. Continuation of this, however, is not guaranteed and this gratefully received support comprises only a small fraction of the New Mexico Philharmonic’s needed income.
The purpose of the New Mexico Philharmonic Foundation includes supplementing the New Mexico Philharmonic’s funding on a permanent basis, while honoring the intents and directions of donors. For example, if a donor wants her/his gift to support education, the proceeds of that gift will go exclusively to the NMPhil’s education programs or, if it ceases to exist, the education programs of another or subsequent professional symphony orchestra that serves New Mexico.
TRANSPARENCY OF OPERATIONS
Purposes & Powers
The Foundation is managed very carefully and effectively around several key principles.
First, its overhead is kept close to zero. It has no staff, with board members handling pro bono most of the administrative duties of the Foundation. Those administrative duties which it cannot preform are provided at little to no cost by the staff of the NMPhil. Second, the funds of the Foundation are managed at a total cost of no more than 1%, with the board participating directly with fund managers to make investment decisions, far less than alternative fund managers. Finally, the distribution of the proceeds of the corpus of the Foundation observe the “total return” or “unitrust” approach, guaranteeing long term sustainability and health of the Foundation’s funds.
The founding board members of the Foundation are passionately committed to both keeping alive professional orchestral music AND honoring the intent of all donors. When you provide an immediate or legacy gift to the Foundation, you will know that your gift will permanently support Albuquerque and New Mexico’s premier symphony orchestra and it programs.
