The Power of Endowment: Feldman Chamber Music Society

In 1991 the Feldman Chamber Music Society board took a visionary leap of faith by starting a Dover Quartet performed in 2016. $70,000 endowment at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

Pete Morford, the Feldman’s board president, applauds that action by saying: “We would not be able to operate today without the endowment. We can count on it being there when we need it. Without the far-sighted people and the endowment they created, the Feldman would not exist.”

Since its establishment, the Feldman board has drawn nearly $150,000 from its charitable endowment to bring high-quality chamber groups like the Dover Quartet to perform in southeastern Virginia. Through investment growth and additional gifts, the Feldman endowment today is valued at more than $415,000.

The Feldman, which dates to 1946 when it formed as the Feldman Quartet under the direction of violinist Israel Feldman, was the first nonprofit to start an organizational endowment at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. Today it manages more than 45 similar endowments. Each fund is designed to grow over time while benefitting the specific nonprofit that created it with the option to take an annual distribution.

If you want to explore how an endowment can help your organization, contact Kay Stine at kstine@hamptonroadscf.org.