$10 million donation to the Huntington Theatre
The Huntington Theatre Company is the happy recipient of a ten million donation from the Calderwood Foundation. Many people know the name Calderwood from the Huntington Theatre’s second stage, the Calderwood Pavilion (over at the Boston Center for the Arts). The Calderwood Foundation is a big supporter of the arts in Boston, and if you look at artistic program credits they’ve been busy all around town.
So what does ten million dollars do? First, it doubles the size of the Huntington’s endowment. In practical terms, that about doubles their endowment-related income, adding about $500,000 to the bottom line each year. As most theatre companies live a bit hand-to-the-mouth, this is an important bit of security. It’s not everything – the Huntington’s operating budget is projected at $13 million for 2012 – but it certainly does help, especially in avoiding potential cutbacks to the staff.
Also of note is how this fits in the Calderwood Foundation’s planned giving. The late Stanford Calderwood gave the foundation an uncommon mission: to spend down its endowment and come to a planned close. It’s a different sort of organization that’s not trying to exist forever, and gives them the freedom to transfer large amounts of capital to help other organizations become more sustainable.