Selling units: a case study

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A donation from a single person or source might not enable you to run your new project or campaign. By giving your community the opportunity to buy units or shares in the project you could develop closer relationships with them. In the case study below, units of sound were sold to commission new pieces of music.

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG)

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) seeks to perform the most inspiring and forward-looking music of our time to the widest possible audience, to offer a diverse range of quality learning opportunities and to stir up interest in classical music as a living art form. 

Sound Investment

At the core of BCMG's work is the performance of new music. The Group has premiered over 140 new works, most commissioned with the help of a large number of individuals through BCMG’s ground-breaking Sound Investment scheme.

The scheme was launched in 1991 with two aims: to raise money for the commissioning of new music and to share the thrill of bringing a new piece of music into the world with as many people as possible.

The commissions of new pieces are issued by BCMG’s Artistic Director. The commission fee is divided into Sound Units of £150 each; individuals are then invited to ‘invest’ in the new pieces by buying one (or more) Sound Units in the piece.

Facts and figures

• To date there have been 59 premieres of pieces commissioned through Sound Investment.
• There have been a total of 300 Sound Investors to date.
• Each commission attracts between 30-55 Sound Investors. 
• Since its inception the scheme has raised over £250,000 for commissioning.
• Overall, 40% of all Investors make one-off investments and 60% are ‘serial’ Investors (through ongoing Direct Debit or Bankers Order arrangements).
• A re-investment rate of over 85% per season (those who return to make another investment from season to season).
• Recent Sound Investment premieres include: Howard Skempton, Tansy Davies, John Woolrich, Brett Dean, Dave Douglas, Judith Weir, Luke Bedford, Gerald Barry, Michael Wolters, David Sawer, Richard Causton, Simon Holt, Helen Grime and Kevin Volans.

The Sound Investor community

People find out about Sound Investment through word of mouth, publicity (reviews, newspaper features), BCMG concerts and our website. Sound Units are popular gifts for birthdays, Christmas, weddings, birth and retirement.

Benefits for Sound Investors

• An invitation to rehearsals and a special reception at the premiere.
• The opportunity to meet the composer.
• The chance to receive a score signed by the composer.
• Being kept up to date with the progress of the piece before and after its premiere.
• Acknowledgment in score, concert programme and on BCMG website.

Who invests?

• Investors range from teachers, a biochemist and a Shropshire smallholder to members of a local community group who clubbed together to buy a Sound Unit.
• 50% of Investors come from the West Midlands region, the rest from all over the UK (15% from London, 8% South West, 7% East Anglia, 6% South East) and from abroad.
• For example, we have Sound Investors living in Aberdeenshire, Fife, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Wales, Devon, Somerset, Essex; overseas in Switzerland, France, Germany, US.

Why the scheme works well

Sound Investors become stakeholders in BCMG. There is a great depth of involvement of the individual supporters in the commission of new pieces, they take ownership of the pieces for the future. At rehearsals they meet and become friends with fellow Sound Investors allowing them to share their enthusiasm with like-minded people. They also meet and occasionally become friends with composers and with BCMG players and staff. Sound Investors become invaluable advocates for BCMG’s work and for the Sound Investment scheme!

Impact of Sound Investment on BCMG as an organisation

The Sound Investment scheme has brought many benefits including:

• the confidence to commission further ahead in the future
• the enthusiasm of Sound Investors supports musicians and staff
• the scheme creates a supportive environment for premieres
• Sound Investors give the commissioned a direct link between them and the audience and composers respond to this security and support
• building a relationship with a wider audience through our Sound Investors
• increased audience numbers.

From a fundraising point of view, Sound Investment has led to:

• donations for recordings
• donations for concerts and education work
• legacy provision in Investor’s wills
• BCMG Foundation (a giving scheme allowing individuals to support the core of BCMG’s work more generally, going beyond specifically supporting commissions).

The challenge was to grow the pool of Sound Investors without having the resources to advertise widely. (BCMG is a small organisation, without a big fundraising budget and with only one fundraising staff responsible for individuals, charitable trusts and foundations and statutory funds.) At the beginning of the scheme, it took a while for the snowball effect to happen. 

We still don’t have the resources for a lot of advertising. Now many individuals come through word of mouth and the scheme regularly gets mentioned in national newspaper reviews. For example with the launch of a new ‘catalogue’ of commissions in November 2008 we got some more press coverage specifically of the scheme (including an online feature on the Daily Telegraph Culture Minute and a two-page feature in the Birmingham Post).

What have we learnt form Sound Investment?

We learn every day how much our donors value the personal contact they gain – with composers, musicians, BCMG staff. And also, how much the scheme’s success depends on exactly this personal contact, which is of course time- and admin-intensive. Interestingly some people hear of Sound Investment first and discover BCMG’s work through it – rather than the other way round: the idea captures the imagination from people further afield than BCMG’s audiences. 

The original scheme is an inspiration at home and abroad. Sound Investment has been ‘copied’ by other ensembles from as far afield as New Zealand, The Netherlands and the United States, as well as the UK. Check out for example the websites of Bang on a Can (a new music ensemble based in New York), London Sinfonietta or Britten Sinfonia.

The future

With a new agreement over media rights with BCMG musicians now in sight, we shall make the most of digital platforms to engage with Sound Investors. This will allow us to connect with Investors who are unable to join us in person for rehearsals or can't travel to Birmingham for the premiers of pieces they've supported.

We'll continue to foster the feeling of the 'family of Sound Investors'. Also, in the past, organisations and schools have bought a Sound Unit and at the moment a community arts group holds two Sound Units in the scheme. That's something we'd like to develop where appropriate.

More about BCMG

BCMG, a registered charity based in Birmingham, was formed in 1987 by players from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, the Group’s Founding Patron. The Group has strong relationships with its Artists-in-Association Oliver Knussen, John Woolrich and Peter Wiegold, and also with Thomas Adès who gave touring performances in 2007 with BCMG at the Paris Présences Festival, London’s Barbican Centre and the Cologne Philharmonie, and in 2008 at Carnegie Hall, New York. BCMG constantly seeks new ways of engaging more people with the most exciting artists of our time – be it through national, international or regional touring, its learning programme, specially devised Family/Schools Concerts, free Meet-the-Composer events, or a new series of Insight Events.

Have your say

Do you know of any similar projects? Or have you come across other innovative ways of raising money?

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