One important factor about the new stadium issue that is food for thought has to do with my own experience in these matters.
Most of my classmates don't know this, by a series of circumstances too complicated to get into now, around 1975, I was named the fund drive coordinator for a $40 million dollar arts construction project that sought to raise this money for a new symphony hall and a major extension to the existing San Francisco Opera House. This expansion had been needed by the symphony, ballet and opera for years, but it wasn't much of a public concern because the need had never been made clear to various "publics" by those organizations it would benefit.
The city at that time was not flush with excess dollars, but the former mayor and arts lover Joseph Alioto had promised us $5 million from city funds. Even though a new symphony hall was vitally necessary for the expansion of the arts, the project had many detractors from many sides. For reasons, again very complicated, we were being attacked from all sides - friends of the library, politicians who thought the project "elitist" and a gay organization who wanted to be in the news. Every week we took another hit as the critics piled it on. Even the new mayor, George Monscone, was against this project, citing it as an elitist one.
Fortunately, we had Sam Stewart as the head of this project. He was a brilliant attorney turned banker who worked his way up to the senior vice president of the board of Bank of America, and he had just retired. His last job had been as chairman of the building fund for the Bank of America skyscraper. He knew about money and building huge projects. And he knew how the city government worked.
This man did not know the meaning of the word "defeat." But he realized that this project would be sunk unless we raised so much money - in advance of turning one spade of dirt - that all the warring factions against us would realize that this project would be inevitable. I realized that we couldn't get political approval unless some independent, trusted group from "outside" the arts community demonstrated the real need for the project and how much money this project would bring to the city of San Francisco. Stewart agreed with me, and we hired the Stanford Research Institute, whose very positive findings finally turned the local government to our side. For nine years, I worked on this project as an advisor in PR and fund-raising. It was no easy task, but I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the new hall in 1980, attended by supporters and detractors. Here is what I found out in the process of raising that $40 million - the equivalent of $200 million today.
1. It is virtually impossible to raise money in a highly polarized situation, especially when government agencies are involved. That is the case now.
2. People only want to back "winning" bricks and mortar projects. No potential large donors want to give great sums of money to a project that seems unfeasible. They see it, and rightly so, as pouring money, their good money down the drain. This certainly is the case now.
3. If the shareholders of this project - alumni, close friends of the school, etc. - don't raise at least two-thirds of the money in advance before the public part of the fund drive, it won't make it. I have advised many fund drive organizations since 1980 that a project should not go "public" unless 75 percent of the project's funds are in hand. The stadium project, from a fund-raising point of view, is the very worst-case scenario. Many alumni are against it, and very little - if any - money has been raised.
4. Back to the San Francisco project: In four years, we had raised about $12 million privately. Then, a stroke of good luck (and what project like this doesn't need good luck?) a major donor came through with $5 million to name the hall after herself: The Davies Symphony Hall. That major gift secured the $5 million from the city, and more money came in after that in a very steady flow. All the fence sitters and detractors now knew this was a done deal.
And it was. Some people felt that the $40 million we raised would kill arts philanthropy forever in San Francisco. I knew they were wrong, and I said so in the news: Success breeds success. Since the completion of Davies Hall in 1980, arts patrons have raised over $400 million for arts building projects in San Francisco, including an amazing $200 million for the de Young Museum.
Please note, I am not arguing against the new stadium. I am just saying that raising this amount of money in the current environment is next to impossible. I did not say impossible. But it's close!
Ed Schwartz is a Rutgers College alumnus from the class of 1955.
