VOLUME 3 • APRIL 2019
Update from the Committee Chair
Dear Friends,
We did it! We met our goal for the third year in a row and I am pleased to share the annual
Brown Challenge Report with you.
2018 was an incredibly exciting year for the OrchKids program and the Brown
Challenge—a year full of extraordinary milestones, increased local and national media
attention, and generous contributions from donors like you to enable us to serve even
more of Baltimore’s youth!
Special musical highlights last year included an April performance by OrchKids at the
Library of Congress at the invitation of Dr. Carla Hayden, and a 10-year anniversary
concert in May at Baltimore’s War Memorial Plaza. Media highlights included a May
feature story in the New York Times; a June Op-Ed written by Congressman Elijah
Cummings in Baltimore’s AFRO newspaper; an October column in Oprah Winfrey’s O
Magazine; and a moving CBS News story that aired in December.
With your generous support, I am proud to report that as of year three, we raised
$307,640.01 in support of the OrchKids program. One special gift of note was a very
generous three-year, $75,000 grant, from the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation in New
York; representing the first significant commitment from a national foundation in
support of the Challenge. We are grateful to the Foundation, as well as its Director, Ms.
Beverly Cooper, of Baltimore, for all of their support!
Some additional highlights from Year Three:
• 9 new donors
• 18 renewal gifts (9 renewal gifts in Year Two) — a 100% increase!
Year Four statistics:
• $8,320 raised to date
• $84,039.99 remaining to be raised before 12/31/19
• Nearly two-thirds of the five-year, $500,000 challenge goal secured
And in other exciting news, this year OrchKids will see its first students graduate from
high school! Four OrchKids students, who have all been in the program for the last
ten years, are graduating in June and all four are on pathways to college! This amazing
achievement would not be possible without your support!
As we look ahead to this year and next, we are beginning to see the end of the challenge
in sight. Your continued support and advocacy during this critical time, has never been
more important. Please help us get across the finish line by renewing your gift today
or making a multi-year pledge in support of the challenge. Know someone who might
be interested in OrchKids? Share your story and invite them to attend an upcoming
performance or tour at one of our seven school sites to see first-hand the impact of this
transformative program.
On behalf of the committee and our more than 1,300 Pre-K-12th grade students
currently served by the program, thank you for your support of the challenge and
investment in Baltimore’s youth!
Sincerely,
Stuart Simms
Brown Challenge Committee Chair
Stuart Simms,
Brown Challenge Committee Chair
JOIN THE
BROWN
CHALLENGE!
In early 2016, the Eddie
C. and C. Sylvia Brown
Family Foundation
generously awarded
the BSO a five-year,
$500,000 challenge grant
in support of the BSO’s
OrchKids program.
The terms of the grant
require the BSO to
raise $100,000 annually
through December
2020 from the African-
American community;
with the goal to raise
$1,000,000 in total at the
end of the pledge period.
Join the challenge at
orchkids.org/support!
GOAL
$500,000
63.2 %
$315,960