Sounds Good! Choir Seeks Operations Director

Company Profile

Sounds Good! Choir, NFP (formerly Encore Illinois) provides older adults with high-quality choral music-education and performance opportunities under the direction of professional artists. Sounds Good! Choir (SGC) creates a supportive environment in which novice to lifelong choral singers (generally age 55+) can stretch themselves musically, vocally, physically, socially, and emotionally. Our non-auditioned choirs are accompanied by professional pianists. SGC is the largest and fastest-growing choral program for older adults in the region; in spring 2019, we served more than 450 older adults with choral-music programming.

Our current programs are as follows:

• September to May:

o Sounds Good Choirs, currently in 7 locations in Chicagoland (2 city, 5 suburbs); adding an 8th Chicago-area choir in SW suburban Lemont in fall 2019
o The Good Memories Choir (“GM”) for people with early-stage memory loss and their care partners, singing together (currently 1 central location)

• Summer:

o A rock ‘n’ roll choir with live band, in 5 locations (“Summer Rocks”), including Good Memories Rocks
o Currently piloting a satellite choir in St. Joseph, Michigan in summer 2019
o Musicianship enrichment classes in sight-singing and vocal technique

The organization is overseen by a volunteer board of directors. Program staff includes a fulltime Artistic Director/CEO; a half-time Good Memories Program Director; and a quarter-time Good Memories Volunteer Coordinator. Administrative staff includes an 0.75 FTE Administrative Assistant (Kelsey Cox) and a quarter-time Operations Assistant (Megan Bradley, who mostly handles registration and website). The office is currently located in a private residence in Downers Grove, Illinois, near Good Samaritan Hospital and Midwestern University.

Operations Director

This position is initially 3/4 time; benefits include health insurance (75% of premium paid by SGC for Blue Cross PPO group plan) and a SIMPLE IRA company match of up to 3% of salary.
The Operations Director (OD) reports to the AD/CEO and co-founder (Jonathan Miller), with significant input from the Good Memories Program Manager and co-founder (Sandy Siegel Miller). The successful OD will work as part of the this three-person management team.

In addition to overseeing systems and timelines, workflow and data, the OD manages the two part-time staffers mentioned above, who keep the day-to-day organization running.

o Our Administrative Assistant (newly 0.75 FTE) wears many hats, from demo CD production and editing through concert videos, QuickBooks weekly data importing, e-mail blasts, scheduling venues, logistics and concert support, and more.
o Our Operations Assistant (formerly 0.33 FTE, cutting back to 6 hours/week as of June 2019) primarily handles singer registrations and donations and is currently our lead person working in Little Green Light (LGL, our back-office database), as well as updates to our website, both data and the overall look.

The OD will assist with compiling information (singer data from LGL, financial performance info from QuickBooks) that goes into the AD/CEO’s reports to the Board of Directors.

Growth Potential: It is likely that this position will grow to fulltime within 2-3 years.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Management

o Managing admin-staff workflows; assigning priorities/urgencies to their work
o Regular consultation with AD/CEO to assess needs, including optimal focus of operations staff to use/develop their strengths
o Maintaining master schedule for program and operations deadlines/timelines
o Maintaining integrity of database (we use Little Green Light)
o Regular review of singer and donor activity with AD/CEO
o Periodic review to ensure that systems are optimally designed/implemented
o Overseeing office systems (filing, organizing) for physical and cloud files
o Help to evaluate software to manage staff tasks (e.g. Trello)

• Program

o Musical materials: Overseeing ordering of sheet music/CDs/supplies (3x/year)

• Oversee creation of Good Memories music folders

o Printed programs: ensuring that information is compiled in a timely manner
o Primary contact person for rehearsal/performance venues for space rental
o Weekly contact with Chorus Masters to ensure that they have adequate supplies/info

• Finance

o Review of QuickBooks status with Admin. Asst.; regular P&L review with AD/CEO
o Implement YTD budgeting within QuickBooks to speed up reporting
o Ensuring that financial transactions are documented for audit

• Evaluation and Documentation

o Documenting complex/sequential office procedures as needed (e.g., annual appeal, creating Footlights program)
o Recommending how current programs can best be evaluated

• Fundraising/Resource Development

o Coordinating logistics for annual campaign, including timelines and ensuring accuracy of data
o Overseeing data entry for all donations
o Implementing Phase 1 planned-giving campaign

• Possible: Communication/Marketing (based on experience/expertise)

o Overseeing social media (Facebook/Instagram/Twitter) efforts; recommending content for website based on experience of programs

Qualifications

• Education – Bachelor’s degree in related field.

o Ability to perform quickly/adeptly in Microsoft Word and Excel is required.

o Facility with QuickBooks Online strongly preferred, including ability to run and interpret P&L

o Ability to use, or quickly become adept in, web-based donor software (we use the Little Green Light CRM for daily operations); experience with some web-based CRM preferred

o Experience with basic website design is a plus; WordPress experience preferred.

• Experience – A minimum two (2) years’ work experience in an office setting is required, preferably managing the work of at least one other person. Nonprofit experience is preferred, especially nonprofit arts experience.

• Personal qualities/traits – The successful candidate will be highly organized and able to jump between the weeds and the big picture, not only for him/herself but in order to manage the others on the ops team. Superb written and oral communication skills are required, as well as the ability to motivate and draw out the best in others. Personal integrity of the highest order is essential, as is the flexibility to thrive in an environment where everyone wears many hats.

For more information, contact Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director/CEO, at 630-441-5157 or jmiller@soundsgoodchoir.org.

Visit us at www.soundsgoodchoir.org and www.goodmemorieschoir.org.

Adapted from template by Wishnick & Associates © 2018