Donor FAQ
When becoming a donor, you join a community of music lovers and help make your Ravinia experience as easy and fulfilling as possible. We thank you for your support! If your question is not answered here, please contact us at donors@ravinia.org or 847‑266‑5461 for assistance.
Becoming a Donor
Start by learning more about our giving levels and benefits, then read about the ways to give to Ravinia, including a matching gift from your employer or a gift of stock. You will need to create a Ravinia account, if you do not have one already, in order to receive most benefits.
Your donation will be valid until September 30 of the summer performance season year your gift supported.
The giving levels and corresponding benefits for donations from individuals are listed here. Executives of small or mid-size businesses may also consider supporting Ravinia as a Corporate Partner.
Charitable contributions to Ravinia are not refundable and do not guarantee any benefits or specific concert seating at any level.
Your gift is tax deductible to the extent that it exceeds the value of the benefits you receive in exchange, which is listed in the Giving Levels and Benefits chart. Some donors choose to make an additional gift to cover the cost of benefits (for instance, to maximize an employer’s matching gift). If you would like the amount of your gift to be fully tax deductible, you may decline benefits.
Thank you for sharing a gift of the Ravinia experience! Please call us at 847-266-5461 for assistance.
Donor Benefits
To access the ticket presale for summer performances, you must log in to your Ravinia account associated with your donation during the presale period for your level of support. If you made your donation during the presale period for your level of support, you may access the ticketing system immediately.
All donor benefits can be accessed digitally from your Ravinia account shortly before the summer performance season begins. If you made your donation after the summer performance season began, you may access donor benefits barcodes and other benefits immediately.
Please log in on your mobile device before arriving at the park to have your donor benefits and ticket barcodes ready for scanning.
Donors at the Encore ($200) level and higher can enter the park 30 minutes before the public at the South, East, and West Gates by scanning in their donor benefits barcode and performance tickets. A valid barcode must be scanned for early entry.
View Park Map
Donor benefits — including early entry, Season Parking Passes, Season Lawn Passes, and restaurant reservations — are intended for personal or household use only. If Ravinia has reason to believe that benefits are not being used according to those guidelines, we reserve the right to withdraw donor privileges.
For donors who submit a ticket request during their presale period, seats are assigned based on the level of support and then by the date the request is received. Special priority is given to donors who are part of the Silver Circle, having given to Ravinia for 25 or more consecutive years.
Donors at the Opus ($5,000) level through the Friend ($400) level choose seats directly during their presale period. Donors at the Encore ($200) level may choose Lawn Reserved Block locations or Lawn General Admission tickets during their presale period.
Similar to ticket requests, restaurant reservations are filled first and foremost based on giving level, then by the date the request is received. We do our best to honor all requests, but often have more demand than we are able to accommodate.
Parking
Donors at the Opus ($5,000) level and above exclusively have access to priority onsite parking in the North Parking Lot and South Parking Lot with their donor benefits barcode, except for Bennett Gordon Hall performances (when the South Parking Lot is the only open lot) and the Gala concert.
All guests may park onsite in the West Parking Lot on a first-come, first-served basis when it is open.
Complete Parking Details
Onsite parking is exclusively included in the benefits for donors at the Opus ($5,000) level and above. The opportunity to reserve parking begins at the Chairman’s Circle ($25,000) level.
The Parking Pass donor benefits barcode for accessing the Priority Parking Lots is shown separate from the Digital Pass for other benefits, such as early park entry. This code will be scanned for entry into the North and South Parking Lots; please do not approach these lots without a Parking Pass barcode, except for Bennett Gordon Hall performances (when the South Parking Lot is the only open lot).
For donors at the Opus ($5,000) level and above with disability parking placards or license plates, there are accessible parking spaces in the North and South Parking Lots.
Accessible parking spaces for any guests with disability parking placards or license plates are located in the right-of-way south of the Tyler Gate (West Gate) off of St. Johns Ave. and in the West Parking Lot.
All accessible parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
All parking lots open one hour before the park gates open to the public, or half an hour before that gate time for Kids Concerts unless otherwise noted. The gate time can be found on each performance’s webpage. Vehicles are not permitted to line up on public streets before the parking lots open.
The West Parking Lot can fill quickly at highly attended performances. For these events, it is recommended to arrive at the parking lot opening time or shortly thereafter.
Complete Parking Details
When the West Parking Lot reaches capacity, drivers will be directed to a free Park and Ride lot in downtown Highland Park with shuttle buses operating throughout the evening.
Tickets
All ticket sales are final. If you have reserved seats and it is more than 48 hours before the performance, you may exchange them for a different performance or for a Ticket Credit Voucher (valid for a ticket purchase during the current season only).
If it is less than 48 hours before the performance, if you have Lawn tickets, or at any time before the performance begins, you can return tickets to Ravinia as a tax-deductible donation. To donate your tickets for a specific performance back to Ravinia, please contact the box office at tickets@ravinia.org or 847‑266‑5100.
While the ticket reselling industry is legal in the state of Illinois, we are deeply concerned about the reselling of Ravinia tickets ahead of public sales. Even though they do not have any tickets in their possession, many sites sell on speculation in order to lure buyers. We actively work to identify the original buyers of resold tickets and cancel orders of brokers caught abusing Ravinia donor benefits. Ravinia strives to make the festival accessible to all in a fair and legal way.
Ravinia does not sell tickets to anyone in advance of donor presales. The safest and surest way to get tickets to performances at Ravinia is to become a donor in advance of the presale period in the spring.
Learn More About Giving Levels and Benefits
Accessibility
There are wheelchairs available for transportation from the gates into the park on a first-come, first-served basis. If none are immediately available, please alert our service staff that you need assistance. We are unable to reserve or rent wheelchairs to any guests.
For the safety of staff and patrons, wheelchair service does not extend into the parking areas. However, staff can also provide wheelchair assistance through the Grand Entrance underpass from the West Parking Lot.
Motorized mobility carts operate at all classical performances in the Pavilion and Martin Theatre to pick up and drop off patrons from designated locations inside the park. For the safety of all guests at often highly attended events, the carts are not in service at non-classical performances.
