Toronto, Ontario — The Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CMC–Canada) is pleased to announce the successful completion of a pro bono advisory engagement for Echo Women’s Choir. Based in Toronto, Women’s Echo Choir is a community choir committed to inclusive membership, musical excellence, and the celebration of diversity through music. The Choir welcomes women from all walks of life and performs through concerts and community events across Toronto.
Under the CMC Pro Bono Program, Shahzad Shah of Lean Excellence Canada volunteered their expertise to provide strategic operational and organizational consulting services to Women’s Echo Choir. The engagement supported the Choir’s organizational growth, governance, and long-term sustainability.
The consulting support included facilitating strategic planning discussions related to the organization’s rebranding, updates to its mission statement, governance structure, membership growth strategies, succession planning, and community outreach initiatives. Additional recommendations were provided on social media strategy development, organizational structure, volunteer and membership engagement, board governance enhancements, and future workforce planning opportunities, including potential student placements and process development.
The engagement also included operational guidance related to communications, administrative planning, grant positioning strategies, and organizational development discussions to assist the Choir in strengthening its internal operations and future planning.
“We appreciated the insights offered by Shahzad,” said Jennie Ucar, client agency contact for Women’s Echo Choir. “It helped us organize and focus our thinking, follow-up discussions, and decision-making. Practical tools were offered, such as advice and information on the process for a legal name change. Support was also offered in identifying student volunteer possibilities to support our social media and other outreach.”
About Women’s Echo Choir
The Women’s Echo Choir, also known as Echo Women’s Choir or simply Echo Choir, is a Toronto-based community choir that celebrates diversity in its members and music. Echo is committed to inclusive membership, a rich repertoire, musical excellence, reflecting social justice values in its music and activities, and passionate expression. The choir presents concerts and performs at community and grassroots events in collaboration with other Toronto organizations.
Echo is an adult treble-voice, non-auditioned choir that welcomes women, trans, and non-binary folks in a strong, inclusive, mutually supportive community in the heart of Toronto. Since its founding as a women’s choir in 1991, Echo has focused on social justice, musical excellence, and an eclectic repertoire enriched through collaboration with local musicians and diverse musical traditions.
For more information, please visit https://www.echochoir.ca/.
About Lean Excellence Canada Inc.
Lean Excellence Canada Inc. provides operational excellence, organizational development, training, health and safety, human resources, and business improvement support to organizations seeking to strengthen performance, improve internal processes, and build sustainable capacity. Through its support of the Women’s Echo Choir, Lean Excellence Canada Inc. contributed practical consulting guidance to help the organization advance governance, outreach, communications, and future planning priorities.
About CMC-Canada Pro Bono Program
The CMC-Canada Pro Bono Consulting Program connects skilled volunteer consultants with non-profit organizations to provide strategic planning and operational support at no cost. For more information about the program or to apply for assistance, please visit https://www.cmc-canada.ca/Pro-Bono-Consulting-Program, or contact: pro-bono@cmc-canada.ca.
About CMC-Canada
The Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CMC-Canada) fosters excellence and integrity in the management consulting profession. CMC-Canada administers, and its provincial Institutes confer, the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation in Canada. The Association and its 2500+ members advocate for the CMC designation and are dedicated to advancing the profession and delivering the benefits of these efforts to the client community.
CMC-Canada is a founding member of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI), now CMC-Global, a global network of management consultants of 49 member countries.
CMC is dedicated to strengthening Canadian communities by providing pro bono consulting services to non-profit organizations that serve diverse populations and address critical social needs. For more information about CMC Canada, contact: membership@cmc-canada.ca.
