3 leading Bay Area art groups secure $95,000,000-plus in donations in 1 week

This week champagne corks are popping on Nob Hill, as the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony and Stanford’s Music Program announced record setting gifts.

Stanford alums give $50 million to build concert hall
"Stanford University today announced a $50 million donation from alumnus Peter Bing and his wife Helen that will be used to construct a new concert hall."

Symphony gets $10 million grant
"San Francisco philanthropist Richard Goldman is giving the San Francisco Symphony a $10 million challenge grant aimed at increasing the company's current $180 million endowment … The Goldman Foundation, of which Richard Goldman is president, will add $500,000 to every $1 million contribution."

S.F. Opera patron donates $35 million
"Largest gift of its kind in the U.S. -- no strings attached $35 million from longtime patron and supporter Jeannik Méquet Littlefield, a donation believed to be the largest to an American opera company from a single benefactor."

Suddenly, big ticket philanthropy has become hip -- or you are lead to believe if you read the headlines -- so the recent launch the San Francisco based magazine, Benefits: The Lifestyle of Giving, comes as no surprise.

But anyone who works in this field knows that planned gifts like these don’t happen over night. Very few nonprofits have the stability, legacy and capacity to secure them. They take years of cultivation. You can be sure, beyond each of these newspaper headlines, there's a unsung story of a talented fundraiser.