Pittsburgh Concert Chorale, an all-volunteer, auditioned ensemble, has existed since 1985 to expand the reach of the musical arts in the greater Pittsburgh area. Their board president Ada Dierker was interested in taking a few summer classes at the Bayer Center when she stumbled upon the BoardsWork! program. Knowing that the PCC board was in need of some formal board education, she reached out to gather more information for her board and eventually signed them up to participate.
When asked about their BoardsWork! experience, she said…
I am in my second year of my presidency with the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale’s Board of Directors. We hit an important 35-year milestone within the organization recently. The founders of the Chorale have all begun to retire, however, and with the changes in arts/musical nonprofits, we knew that we needed help. When I found BoardsWork!, I was thrilled with the offerings, especially with the cost in relation to our organization’s working budget.
The Board of Directors of the PCC has made a great deal of strides to raise money, market the PCC, and foster growth of singers, audiences, and board members alike. The board, however, has not had formal training for many years (if ever), and our members were striving to learn more about how a board should function, and where we should be focusing our time and effort.
Our BoardsWork! retreat was AMAZING. Our facilitator met with me and with our head of finance to go over what activities and agenda items she thought would work best with what we hope to accomplish in the next year. She was able to pull our thoughts, ideas, and opinions together, which resulted in a greater understanding that we do, indeed, all have the same general goals for the PCC. What a relief! One of our board members told me, “Our facilitator did an excellent job of assessing where we were as a board and designing the workshop correctly for our organization. I came away with a clear vision of where we need to go to work.”
We are very excited at the prospect of gaining a new board member through the matching program, and I am hopeful that there are classes that we can attend in the next few months that will help to get each committee off on the right foot. The board has become more friendly, open-minded, and excited to try new things because of BoardsWork!
