Duet for Conservatory and Consultant:
Cleveland Institute of music
When Cleveland Institute of Music needed new facilities to support its world-class music education, it pooled its creative resources with Campbell & Company to complete an ambitious $40 million campaign.
By the year 2000, Cleveland Institute of Music’s record of success had created what viola professor Jeffrey Irvine calls “a good problem—lots of talented students want to come here. In trying to accommodate them, we were bursting at the seams!” CIM leadership envisioned a new learning and performance environment befitting the school’s world-class music education. This ambitious vision would require a campaign goal of $40 million, much larger than anything CIM had attempted in the past.
After a promising start, the campaign hit a plateau, and CIM called on Campbell & Company for fresh ideas. Working together, CIM and Campbell & Company developed a series of intermediate goals and challenges to keep donors energized and the campaign moving forward. These efforts culminated in a friendly fundraising “competition” between teams of CIM Trustees. With the Trustees’ renewed enthusiasm and the support of the public, CIM was able to fulfill a $1.25 million Kresge Foundation challenge grant and achieve the campaign goal on time.