From 2015 to Now: A Collection of Annual Reports
2024 Annual Report
2024 was a year of traction and momentum — of results that crescendoed past all expectations for stabilizing the Society financially. Achieving that nearly 12 months ahead of schedule, we began arranging the BHS for 2025, focusing on the excitement of elevating our members and singing communities.
2023 Annual Report
Looking back on 2023, we have much to be thankful for. We have begun to rebuild relationships with key partners, we’ve begun to take steps to secure our future, and we’ve recommitted to our culture being at the center of our organization. We know without a doubt that gathering to sing is at the heart of who we are and what we do together and that is something worth building into our DNA. Inclusion and culture should always be a mainstay when discussing successful strategies in non profit organizations. As BHS strives to stay present and relevant in today’s world, we will maintain our constant vigilance on both of these topics.
This Annual Report highlights the many ways the Barbershop Harmony Society uplifts all people seeking their best barbershop lives. It sets the stage for a vibrant, growing barbershop future. The Barbershop Harmony Society concluded 2023 with important questions to support the growth of our art form.
2022 Impact Report
What a difference a year makes! Comparing the data in this 2022 Annual Report with the year before, we see an entirely different landscape.
In 2021 (and 2020), we linked arms and responded with resiliency in the face of a global pandemic.
In 2022, we saw the resurgence of the Barbershop Harmony Society. We have reconnected, renewed and rededicated ourselves to all the things that make barbershop great. There is our wonderful music, of course, but more deeply, our abiding friendships.
Maybe these things are all made a bit sweeter by our gratitude for one another, which held us together in the most challenging times. Just like the joyous sensation when we ring one of those beautiful barbershop chords.
2021 Impact Report
Endurance. Perseverance. Grit. These aren’t words we’d ever needed to use to describe barbershop harmony, until … well, you know. But the Barbershop Harmony Society community has proven to be resilient. In the pursuit of being together in harmony, chapters large and small, singers old and young, found new ways to connect and make music.
Throughout BHS, “forced innovation” has brought us surprising results:
- Necessity drove many groups to stage shows online and release ambitious virtual choir projects — and now there’s a new way for barbershop artists to bring their music to the world.
- Three years ago, who would have imagined a virtual convention world filled with BHS history, fellowship and avatars?
- We probably wouldn’t have guessed that one effect of holding Virtual Harmony University would be to expand the diversity of faculty — something we had already moved toward, but were able to amplify to great success.
2020 Annual Report
In 2020, RESILIENCE was the word of the year for the Barbershop Harmony Society. Through every challenge, Barbershoppers innovated new ways of connecting, sharing, and supporting one another. Look back at our successes through the year, and look into the ways the Society supports all its singing communities in hard times as well as good times.
2019 Annual Report
Barbershop is more than a style of music - it's a way of life.
In 2019, over 54,994 of us sang our hearts our in rehearsals, performed in our communities, purchased (and perfected) new music, honed our skills at education events, and mentored youth in a cappella camps and other programs.
- 3,047 people attended our largest Midwinter ever in Nashville, Tennessee
- 6,829 of us attended the International Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah
- 771 music educators, directors, chapter leaders, singers, and barbershop supporters attended our Harmony University event at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
We shared our passion across the globe, with 4,707,339 views across our top five YouTube videos!
Click on the button below to learn more about our impact in 2019.
Learn more
- NextGen Varsity contest kindles new leaders
- Understanding the financials in the Annual Report
- A Love Song for Dorothy
2018 Annual Report
In times of conflict and exclusion, barbershop inspires us to blend, to cooperate, to create beauty, and to love each other.
In 2018, Everyone in Harmony hit full stride as we opened our doors to all.
We worked hard to bring the barbershop experience to more communities than ever before, and to show that singing belongs to everyone.
Singing together changes lives and inspires communities:
- 12.5 million YouTube views
- Over 1,000,000 Barbershop experiences that you've shared with us
- 30,341 participants across BHS districts
- 7,135 convention attendees
Click on the button below to learn more about the impact barbershoppers have made in the year 2018!
2017 Annual Report
In 2017, we introduced our new vision for the future of the Society: Everyone in Harmony.
It’s GREAT to be a Barbershopper! We are excited more than ever with the progress we’ve made to spread the joy of singing to millions of people all around the world.
Our increased awareness efforts continue to take off. We are bringing together a community of Barbershoppers and barbershop fans we’ve never seen the ‘likes’ of before:
- Our Facebook page approached 30,000 ‘likes’ for the year.
- Our YouTube subscribers just exceeded 50,000 people, and 31.2 million minutes of content was streamed for the year.
- The reach of our most viral posts and videos extends well into the millions thanks to high-profile performers like Forefront quartet with Mike Rowe and Main Street quartet.
We are continually investing in educational and outreach activities to attract more singers. In this report, you’ll see how Barbershoppers across the U.S. and around the world are using the power of song to create healthy communities and to work together to bring Everyone in Harmony.
2016 Annual Report
A Better World. Singing.
On April 11, 1938, 26 men gathered on the roof of a Tulsa hotel to sing, and they unwittingly gave birth to a movement. Today, close to 80,000 male and female singers regularly sing barbershop harmony in more than a dozen nations.
The Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) is reaching a tipping point. This is the moment when we are ready to leverage our rich musical history, geographic reach, organizational infrastructure, and dedicated corps of passionate artists to make an impact that was previously no more than a dream. We are a group of intergenerational singers who demonstrate every day how singing together in harmony transcends anything that may divide us.
Most of the good we do as a Society takes place far away from our headquarters. Across North America every week, thousands of male Members and an increasing number of female associates not only enjoy singing for our own sakes, but also share the joy of singing in our communities. Together, we’re building A Better World. Singing.
2015 Annual Report
For the Joy.
With 22,000 members, the Barbershop Harmony Society is a major arts organization that has a $30 million annual impact across all business units.
We leave a far larger impact throughout North America, where nearly 800 chapters and thousands of quartets freely give to their communities, and are often cherished as valuable community assets.
We are far more than hobbyists. We are working with music educators and arts advocates to change lives through singing.