Dear Glee Club Alumnus:


In December 1949, five alumni of the Harvard Glee Club joined conductor G. Wallace Woodworth and conductor emeritus Archibald T. Davison to form the Harvard Glee Club Foundation, a corporation with the stated purpose of “assist[ing] the HARVARD GLEE CLUB in all ways which are deemed proper.”

Much has changed in the almost sixty years since that time, not the least of which is that the Glee Club, once one of the “only shows in town” is now one of over two dozen singing groups on campus. Yet one thing has remained constant: the unceasing loyalty of the Glee Club’s alumni to the Glee Club and to music at Harvard more generally. The occasion of the Glee Club’s Sesquicentennial in 2008 provided the Foundation’s Executive Committee an opportunity not only to look back at the celebrated past of our common musical heritage but also, and more importantly, to look ahead and consider how the Foundation could most effectively support the Glee Club in its future endeavors. To that end, a Governance Task Force reviewed the Foundation’s leadership structure and developed a series of recommendations as to how the Foundation’s governance structure should be modified with the particular goal of broadening the ranks of leadership based on graduating class and geographic scope. In late April 2009, the Executive Committee voted unanimously to modify the by–laws of the Foundation to implement the Task Force’s recommendations. The full text of the new by-laws can be viewed by clicking the following link: By-Laws. There are two particularly noteworthy features of the new by–laws:  

  • The formation of a 24-member Board of Directors, 12 of whom will be elected by the Glee Club’s alumni at large with the balance to be elected by the Board to complement the skill set and geographic and class representation of the elected directors. The Board is  charged with setting general policy goals and approving budgets and major expenditures. For more information, please click on the following link: Board Of Directors.

 

  • The creation of five standing committees—Governance, Development, Alumni Engagement, Finance, and Student Relations—that will provide the backbone of the new Foundation. These committees will enable dozens of alumni to become more centrally involved in the activities of the Foundation and its increased engagement with the Glee Club. For more information and to fill our an interest form, please click on the following link: Committees.

We are all very excited about the opportunities now available to our “new” Foundation. In this section of our website you will find the opportunity to express your interest in becoming active in one of our standing committees.

 Thank you!