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Click here to learn about the AGO National Convention in Seattle, and to register.

A lot has happened over the past two years that has radically impacted your board’s leadership capabilities. This conference will focus on revisiting your current board structure and identifying opportunities to help you work smarter — not harder!  Each night there will be multiple opportunities for peer-to-peer networking, that will address every facet of what it takes to help you support your chapter and engage your members

Please click here to submit your email address. You will then receive a unique link to register for the conference.  Once you have received the email link you must completely fill out the form or you will not be registered for the conference.

The American Guild of Organists is celebrating the Year of the Young Organist, launching an exciting three-year strategic plan, providing more educational opportunities than ever before through both online and in-person programming, and offering scholarship programs from high school through graduate studies. Celebrate the 125th anniversary of the AGO on December 17 by making a contribution to any fund of your choice. The goal is to secure $125,000 in gifts and pledges to help ensure the continued good fiscal health of the AGO. Contributions can be made in honor or in memory of a loved one, colleague, teacher, or friend.

ANNUAL FUND
Contributions are used for educational programs and administration.

ENDOWMENT FUND
Annual earnings support educational programs and subsidized dues for seniors and young organists.

NEW ORGANIST FUND
Annual earnings provide scholarships for students attending Pipe Organ Encounters. Contribute to any existing named scholarship or create one of your own with a single gift or combined gifts of $15,000 or more.

Named scholarships include: Charlene Brice Alexander, Lucie Ford Anderson, Anthony Baglivi, Philip E. Baker, Robert S. Baker, E. Power Biggs, Seth Bingham, Michael Cohen, Margaret Curtin, Clarence Dickinson, Richard and Clara Mae Enright, Virgil Fox, Eileen M. Guenther, Philip Hahn, Charles Huddleston Heaton, Charles Henderson, Wayne Hobbs, Joyce Johnson, The Leupold Foundation, Alfred E. Lunsford, Ruth Milliken, Jacquelyn King Perry Monroe, Bruce Prince-Joseph, Douglas Rafter, Gordon and Naomi Rowley, Ned Siebert, Morgan and Mary Simmons, Mary Kathryn Smith, Frederick Swann, and Martin M. Wick.

NITA AKIN FUND
Annual earnings underwrite the administration of the National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance (NYACOP).

S. LEWIS ELMER FUND
Annual earnings are used to give awards for outstanding achievement on Guild certification exams.

Give online using the contribution form below or click here for a printable form to return by mail. To contribute by phone, or to make a gift of securities, a planned gift, or a pledge, contact AGO Chief Development Officer F. Anthony Thurman at 212-870-2311, ext. 4308 or email.

The American Guild of Organists is an organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All gifts to the AGO are 100% tax deductible to the fullest extent provided by law. Federal EIN: 13-0431730

December 17, 2021, is the 125th anniversary of the American Guild of Organists!

Chartered as an educational organization on December 17, 1896, the American Guild of Organists has become the world’s largest organization dedicated to organ and choral music.

A Brief History of the AGO

The American Guild of Organists was founded in New York City as both an educational and service organization. We received our charter from the Board of Regents of the State University of New York on December 17, 1896, making us the second professional music association in the U.S. Our first activities included a series of professional examinations for organists and giving prizes in choral anthem composition competitions—programs that are still enjoyed today.

By the 1920s, the growth of the Guild was represented in other major cities where local chapters were formed, including Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Dallas. The AGO now serves approximately 12,000 members in 275 local chapters throughout the U.S. and abroad.

The Guild created MUSIC: The A.G.O. Magazine in 1967. A decade later, the name was changed to The American Organist. Today, the full-color monthly journal (available both in print and online) features news of the AGO and its members and chapters, scholarly and practical articles, news from the organbuilding profession, concert programs, and reviews of organ and choral music.

The Guild has made extraordinary strides over the last century and a quarter. Pipe Organ Encounters for youth and adults inspire new and renewed interest in the organ for hundreds of people every summer, while Regional and National Conventions, held in alternating years, showcase beautiful organs in local communities through performances of organ and choral music by world-class soloists and ensembles.

Our educational offerings now include a five-tier professional certification program, scholarships for college students, and distance learning programs for organists at all levels of ability. To encourage the next generation, we are providing free memberships for those under 30 during the 2021–2022 Year of the Young Organist.

AGO by the Numbers in Our 125th Anniversary Year

Voting Members (as of Nov. 1, 2021):
Regular: 4,568
Special: 6,132
Young Organist: 1,284
Independent Regular: 175
Independent Special: 189
Independent Young Organist: 95
Volunteer: 39
Lifetime Member: 76
RCCO: 48
Total: 12,606

Chapters: 276

Certification:
Total number of certificates issued by the Guild since the inception of the certification program:
Fellow: 572
Associate: 2,060
Choir Master: 475
Colleague: 1,349
Service Playing Certificate: 2,538

Total number of current, voting members holding upper-level certification (FAGO, AAGO, and ChM):
Fellow: 120
Associate: 285
Choir Master: 129

Performance Competitions: 3 (all biennial)

• National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance
• National Competition in Organ Improvisation
• AGO/Quimby Regional Competitions for Young Organists

New Music Composition Competitions: 3

• AGO Marilyn Mason Award in Organ Composition (biennial)
• AGO/ECS Publishing Award in Choral Composition (biennial)
• Ronald G. Pogorzelski and Lester D. Yankee Annual Competition (annual)

Total Competitions: 6

AGO Student Commissioning Project: Four (4) grants of $1,000 awarded each year to four composer and organist pairs

Scholarship Awards (6 annual)

• Ronald G. Pogorzelski and Lester D. Yankee Memorial Scholarships (4 annually)
• The Salisbury Scholarships for Master’s and Doctoral Studies in Sacred Music: Organ, Musicology, and Choral Conducting (2 annually)

Pipe Organ Encounter Scholarships (not competitive; based on financial need): 10-20 annually

Conventions (up to 8 every two years): 1 national in even numbers years; up to 7 regional in odd-numbered years

Pipe Organ Encounters Scheduled for 2022: 8

National Webinars Presented in 2021: 24

Total Number of Individual Funds Comprising the AGO Endowment: 12

Individual Scholarship Funds Established Within the New Organist Fund: 30

AGO Giving Day

To celebrate all that the AGO has done, is doing, and will be doing in the year ahead, the AGO is holding a giving day. Click here to learn more about AGO Giving Day.