Symphony Receives Additional $400,000 Campaign To Hike Endowment Has Raised $2.36 Million So Far

The Spokane Symphony announced another $400,000 in combined donations to its major gifts campaign this week.

The contributions came from the Wasmer Foundation, the Washington Trust Foundation and Washington Water Power. These donations were listed together because one of the donors asked the symphony not to reveal the specific amount of its gift.

“These are people the community is hitting up every 10 minutes, and they’re giving every 10 minutes,” says Jonathan Martin, the symphony’s executive director. “To me, it’s very gratifying.”

The campaign, designed to support the symphony’s endowment fund, has raised a total of $2.36 million. Campaign leaders hope to raise between $3.5 million and $4.5 million over five years.

The symphony also announced the establishment of permanently endowed chairs. The Cowles Music Director Chair, the Johnston-Fix Principal Horn Chair and the Johnston-Fix Principal Trumpet Chair were named in honor of early gifts to this campaign.

The Florence Wasmer Concert Master Chair was named for one of this week’s donations.

Florence Wasmer was a violinist who performed with Leonardo Brill’s orchestra at the Davenport Hotel and on KHQ radio. She married Louis Wasmer, the wealthy entrepreneur who owned the radio station, in 1939. After his death in 1967, she made anonymous donations to causes supporting children and musicians. Florence Wasmer died in 1987, and since then the Wasmer Foundation has continued her philanthropy.

Donors giving at least $100,000 over a 5- to 10-year period may establish a named chair.

, DataTimes