Symphony San Jose

“Jennifer watkins, the general manager, is wife of the president, andrew bales.”

“The form 990 is scanned and e-mailed to each trustee on receipt. A hard copy is also delivered to the finance committee members, by hand or federal express, to ensure receipt. A review of the return is scheduled with finance committee members and key staff (president, general manager) before the tax return is filed; the review may be conducted by conference call. All board members are encouraged to join in and raise questions. Any issues brought up at that meeting and their resolution are reported to the full board during discussion of the return.”

“The symphony's conflict of interest policy is distributed to the board members once each year, or when they join the board if they have missed the annual distribution, and a signed copy is collected from each member, which is kept in the general manager's board files. Board members are required to report to the general manager any activity or relationship that might constitute or give rise to a conflict as defined by the policy. Any such activity or relationship is subsequently reported to and reviewed either by the audit committee (which currently serves as our personnel committee for any unresolved grievances), or by the full board.”

“The compensation of the president and general manager is determined by an ad hoc board committee made up of the board chair and other board members. The committee reviews executive compensation using guidestar, and 990s from comparable nonprofits, taking into account the comparable market rates in the local geographic area. The compensation for these two positions is voted on and approved at the board meeting in closed session; the process is recorded in the minutes, and a memo notating the results is included in the president's and general manager's personnel files. Most recently, the president's and general manager's compensations were reviewed in october, 2015.”

“The organization's governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are made available to the public upon request.”

“After 13-14's initial foray into presenting film with live orchestra, ssv's most ambitious undertaking for 2014-15 was a double presentation of the film trilogy lord of the rings, accompanied by symphony silicon valley plus adult and boys' choirs. This was the first and so far only presentation of the full trilogy in the united states accompanied by an american orchestra. Howard shore's score required 250 musicians, who followed multiple independent rehearsals with 14 orchestra and 9 choir rehearsals led by the film conductor. After a production and marketing marathon that occupied much of the early spring,12,000 people from 20 states attended the six performances.”