Endowed Gifts

Annual giving alone cannot provide sufficient resources for the Metropolitan Opera to meet the formidable challenges facing our company.

The Metropolitan Opera’s endowment was created in connection with the company’s 1883–93 Centennial Celebration and significantly increased during the 1998–2002 Campaign for the Endowment Fund. Since then, income from the endowment has enabled the Met to strengthen the company artistically and to build audiences for opera.

Increased endowment income is essential if the Metropolitan Opera is to:

• Strengthen the artistry of the company and compete successfully for the world’s greatest singers, conductors, designers and directors.
• Invest in the finest young talent through the company’s young artist programs.
• Set the standard for public service through radio broadcasts, telecasts, free parks concerts, education programs—and media made possible by the new technology of the twenty-first century.
• Maintain the Metropolitan Opera House, one of the world’s greatest performing arts theaters.
• Establish achievable annual fundraising goals.
• Set ticket prices competitive with other performing arts organizations to encourage growth in the Metropolitan Opera’s audiences.
• Present the world’s greatest performing arts companies at the Metropolitan Opera House when the company is not in residence.
• Have the protection of a reliable source of income—a ”safety net”—so that the company can continue to flourish despite fluctuations in the economic climate and in the face of unforeseen but inevitable events.

If you are in position to do so, please consider making a current gift to the endowment in addition to your annual support.

Or, you can make a future gift to the Met endowment by including it in your financial and estate planning.

There are many endowment donor recognition and naming opportunities that we would be glad to discuss with you.