San Francisco Girls Chorus

The San Francisco Girls Chorus, a Hewlett Foundation grantee since 1991, will engage a consultant for a 12 month period to work with the organization’s governance committee chair, executive director and incoming board president to carry forward a goal of the the company’s strategic plan to better align the capacity of the board with the current and upcoming needs of the organization. The SF Girls Chorus has experienced a great deal of transition in its recent past - a new artistic director, a capital campaign and five executive directors in five years. Amidst all this turmoil the organization has been growing the numbers of children in its after-school arts programs and achieving greater acclaim nationally and internationally as evidenced by a $600,000 audience development award from the Wallace Foundation and a performance at Senator Dianne Feinstein’s request at the Capitol on the occasion of President Barack Obama’s inauguration. The SF Girls Chorus has worked with a consultant during 2008 on a strategic plan and recognized that the ad-hoc assignment of responsibilities and the ‘grass-roots’ orientation of the board will not allow it to become the world-class performance ensemble it aspires to be. With Organizational Effectiveness support the SF Girls Chorus will re-engage a consultant already familiar with the organization, its staff and stakeholders to coach board members on how to structure and manage the Governance Committee, how to assess weaknesses on the current board and then recruit and better train new board members to address those needs, and to provide follow up to staff on working more effectively and efficiently with the board.