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Because Leadership Is No Joke

Using improv to strengthen girls’ leadership skills, our Funny Girls program bolsters and boosts girls’ power and potential to maximize their moxie!

The Harnisch Foundation has been investing in women’s leadership since 1998. Each woman’s path is different, however we couldn’t help but notice how many of them said they wish they’d had a chance to develop their leadership skills earlier in life. We decided to address that gap, and our research showed us the best time to start teaching adult women the basic skills of leadership is while they’re still girls. So we developed a girls’ leadership curriculum, with an added twist for modern times: improv.

We first sparked to improv as a teaching methodology in 2013. After conversations with many girl leadership experts and improv instructors, corroborated by research from Harvard, we knew the time was ripe for a formal leadership-taught-through-improv curriculum aimed to help tween girls develop as leaders. 

In 2015, we made a significant commitment to bring the idea of Funny Girls to life. In partnership with the Magnet Theater and Pilobolus, the Funny Girls curriculum that evolved is a series of improv exercises appropriate for the participants’ social and emotional development. These exercises correspond directly with specific leadership skills: self-awareness, learning agility, collaboration, empathy, creativity, and resiliency.

By 2016, we were ready to run pilot programs in partnership with three schools in the NYC metropolitan area. That was our opportunity to find out how well we’d done in creating the program based on the responses of the girls themselves. The Fall 2017 school semester saw our official, strategically significant launch with partner organizations that share our desire to supercharge girls’ leadership, especially in advancing social justice values. Primarily serving Black and Brown girls in under-resourced communities, our partners (collectively) welcome thousands of children in during the school day and in out-of-school time programs. The Harnisch Foundation underwrites extensive Funny Girls curriculum training for our partners, professional development coaching for their own Teaching Artists, and general support grants that are key to any organization. Beyond these initial multi-year grant engagements, our partnerships continue to underwrite curriculum training for our Funny Girls family.

During the 2020 pandemic, we pivoted quickly (one of our core Skills!) and created an online version of the Funny Girls curriculum for our partners. We are proud of our powerful SEL (social and emotional learning) curriculum. So far, thousands girls and gender expansive kids have had the opportunity to learn a variety of ways to be heard, to contribute, and to participate actively with confidence. These fun improv lessons that help to hone leadership skills support students in the 3rd-8th grade at a pivotal time in their emotional development.

Whether Funny Girls shows up IRL or virtually, we provide girls with a group activity to creatively practice essential, specific leadership skills that they will take with them in the next part of their life journey because leadership is no joke!

We’re hoping that these girls, and the peers they influence, will be confident and comfortable in identifying themselves as leaders and seeking out opportunities to lead in their schools and communities. We’re also hoping that other philanthropists who invest in women’s leadership will consider starting their support even earlier in a future leader’s life.

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2023-24 Partnerships

Buzz for Funny Girls

blankOur longtime friends at the Geena Davis Institute on Gender Media featured Funny Girls in its “See Jane Spotlight.” The article emphasizes the power of improv not to teach comedic chops, but to hone leadership skills. Plus, it includes a Q&A with Harnisch Foundation founder Ruth Ann Harnisch! 
blankThe iconic Kelly Clarkson celebrated Funny Girls on The Kelly Clarkson Show. (we were featured alongside OG Funny Girl Carol Burnett!) Click here to watch our Executive Director, Jenny Raymond, share the power of voice, confidence, and, of course, improv!
Our Executive Director, Jenny Raymond, talks to Romper about the transformative power of our curriculum: “At the end of the program, the girls put on a showcase for friends and family, and share what they’ve learned. ‘They say things like, ‘I didn’t know I had it in me! I didn’t know I had something to say like this.’ And that’s the underpinning of it all, this idea of having something to say.”
We’re big fans of the smart and insightful work being done over at the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools, so we were delighted when its On Educating Girls podcast invited Executive Director Jenny Raymond on to chat about the relationship between confidence and improv. Click here to listen!
“At TEDWomen2018, FunnyGirls… were selected to lead a (sold-out!) workshop for TEDsters willing to drop their inhibitions and throw themselves into the scary fun of doing weird things with strangers.” – TED Women
Our article for New Moon Girls’ young readers highlights the five core leadership skills of the Funny Girls curriculum. We also include a short game for readers to play with friends and family that lets their inner leader shine. We love helping girls to acknowledge and nurture their own natural leadership abilities!
Our Executive Director, Jenny Raymond, made a visit to SF for the first ever Udemy Women’s Summit to lead an inspiring Funny Girls improv and leadership activity for all participants!
“Programs fostering self-esteem and leadership skills in girls are not uncommon. What is unusual is the use of improv as the tool to achieve these ends.” – Tim Lehnert, Philanthropy Women
Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls created this spunky short video about Funny Girls– it’s gotten over 160K views so far!
“They’re loud, playful and funny. But what’s happening here is really serious.” – Rehema Ellis, NBC Nightly News
“‘Programs like Funny Girls can teach girls how to empower themselves, to make their voices heard, take on leadership roles and stand up for themselves instead of shying away from opportunities,’ Lisalee Ibanez of Global Kids said.” – Forbes
“By the end [of one of the exercises], the girls are beginning to understand how to pivot when something isn’t working to find a creative new strategy that just might. That’s an important skill for an improv comedian, but it’s also critical for CEOs, politicians, and just about every leadership position there is.” – Shay Maunz, Glamour

FAQ

We work with organizations that advance social justice values and share an interest in developing girls’ leadership. We are not accepting proposals at this time. If you know an elementary/middle school or girl-serving social justice organization that we should partner with in the future, we’d love to hear! Email us at [email protected]. Also, be the first to receive news and updates by signing up for our Funny Girls newsletter:

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We work with schools and social justice organizations to implement the Funny Girls curriculum—check out our current and past partners on this page. Funny Girls is also proud to offer online workshops throughout the school year taught by our in-house staff. Be the first to receive the news and updates by signing up for our Funny Girls newsletter, and by following us on Instagram and Twitter!

We currently train instructors from within our partner organizations. As we continue to grow, we will be looking to train more instructors outside of our partner organizations in the Funny Girls curriculum. If you love improv and girls’ leadership, and want to bring Funny Girls to your school or organization, send us a note of inquiry at [email protected]. Also, make sure you receive news and updates by signing up for our Funny Girls newsletter.

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In improv there is no right or wrong, every contribution is valued (Yes, AND…), and collaboration is key. With perfection and failure held at bay, a safe space is created, allowing the girls to tap into their inherent abilities as leaders and “try on” leadership skills.

Funny Girls isn’t actually teaching girls to be funny or grooming the next stand-up comedian star. We are boosting girls’ leadership skills using improv as the methodology, and yes, a little humor. Also, when learning is made fun with a bit of humor, students are more engaged and have a higher retention of learning concepts.

We chose to focus on girls grades 3-8 because this is a pivotal time in their social and emotional development. It’s also a critical time in a girl’s life to boost self-esteem and influence self-perception — an identity that she may carry with her into her later adolescence and adulthood. Funny Girls is reaching girls at a key moment with the hopes of bolstering their belief in themselves as leaders.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter to learn more about our partners, interact with our community, and hear directly from participants on how Funny Girls has influenced them.

Sign up for our Funny Girls newsletter to get the latest news and updates from us directly in your inbox!

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Funny Girls is a curriculum for any child in grades 3-8 who feels like being one of the Funny Girls.

This program came out of a desire to boost young girls’ confidence and leadership skills after research shows gender (and racial) bias stands in the way of leadership opportunity. These statistics are worse for children who identify as non-binary or whose gender expression differs from cultural expectations. If they see themselves as a participant in Funny Girls, they’re welcome!

We are currently in early development of programming for adults, partnering with organizations centered on women’s leadership. Stay tuned for more!

The Funny Girls Family

Who we’ve partnered with over the years.