JPMP Development Consultant RFP
JPMP is seeking a highly experienced development consultant to create a fundraising strategy and assist us in meeting our fundraising goals for our growing organization. This effort will support JPMP’s programs with young people for the next 12 – 16 months and will establish a strategy and approach JPMP can use going forward. The consultant will conduct an initial feasibility study and help develop and implement a fundraising strategy which will allow JPMP to connect with foundations and donors beyond our current set of relationships.
About the Work
Jazz Passengers Music Projects, Inc. (JPMP) will be entering a new stage of growth in 2021. Despite the setbacks of the Covid-19 global pandemic, JPMP continues its commitment to interdisciplinary arts education programs which merge performance and community with the future 5PMPorch Music and Poetry Program. After the first 82 days of 5PM concerts in those early pandemic days (see NY Times Article), Roy Nathanson used the publicity and enthusiasm that the porch music concerts built up and created new partnerships with the other porch musicians to create an outdoor porch music school program under JPMP’s umbrella. The program provided 32 young students with socially distant, in-person solo and group music lessons at a time when no programs or activities of any kind were available.
If you peruse jpmpinc.org and subwaymoon.com, you will see that our organization has been creating student/professional collaborative performances all over the world for 12 years now. Our successes have been supported from parent contributions and school budgets, as well as a recurring annual $25K grant which we have enjoyed for the past few years. The success of last summer’s program and the dire circumstances of the pandemic have shown us that the type of teaching and student professional collaboration of our programs meet an important need of the community.
With an annual budget under $50,000 and almost all of our expenses going to support programs, the work has been performed primarily with volunteer board member work. Our Executive Director is our only paid employee and she receives a small honorarium salary. However, given the success and momentum from the 5PM Porch programs as the arts are reeling from the global pandemic, we feel the time is right to engage a professional fundraiser/developer who can help us identify more significant grants and ongoing funding opportunities.
Roy Nathanson’s work has focused on combining text and music in novel ways by concentrating on examining shared spaces like the subway or the idea of home. The natural community building aspect of this kind of approach led us to partner with the Flatbush Development Corporation, the main social service agency in our neighborhood. For 2021 and beyond, we are looking to build a permanent home for our unique approach to teaching and performance in this enormously diverse Brooklyn neighborhood.
Existing Funding: For each of the past three years we have received a $25K grant from one foundation and between $8,000 and $17,000 from the NYC Department of Education for program services. In early 2019 we also held a gala fundraiser that netted $21K in donations. We also have a small group of continuing individual donors.
Future Goals: We hope to significantly increase our grant funding, maintain our NYC DOE services funding after the pandemic passes, perhaps not until 2022. We also plan to increase recurring monthly donations and soliciting corporate event sponsorships.
Role of the Consultant
Our fundraising consultant will help us refine our goals and strategies and implement a fundraising plan to:
- Identify public agencies and private foundations offering grants of $5K – $100K to similar organizations.
- Develop additional fundraising strategies
- Write outlines and/or templates for funding applications
- Create a fundraising plan, list of potential new donors and sponsors, and an overall strategy and timeline.
- Support JPMP staff and key stakeholders in the implementation of the fundraising plan, including coaching staff; help in identifying and connecting with new donors, support for donor meetings and follow up, tracking progress; and development of materials, scripts & other related support materials.
Target Timeline
This initial phase project involves an approximate 16 week timeline
- Week 1 – Consultant begins feasibility study
- Week 3 – Completion of feasibility study
- Week 4 – Completion of initial fundraising plan
- Week 4 – Begin support of JPMP staff in plan implementation
- Week 5 to 15 – Support fund development
- Week 16 – End project
Future opportunities to continue development work may result.
Desired Qualifications
- Experience coordinating fundraising campaigns greater than $200,000.
- Demonstrated commitment to social, racial, gender, and economic justice.
- Broad knowledge of philanthropy including institutional philanthropy, major individual donors, family foundations, donor advised funds, and experience particularly with arts, music and education philanthropy and new high net worth donors.
- Ability to identify and strategize on connecting JPMP with potential new funding sources. Knowledge of the arts and music field a plus but not required.
Compensation
We are seeking proposals that do not exceed a total cost of $5,000.
How to Apply
Applicants should send proposal to JPMP including:
- Detailed description of qualifications including description of similar projects
- A preliminary outline of how you would approach this project
- A proposed fee structure
- Three client references
Please send proposals to dana@jpmpinc.org by October 1, 2019.
About JPMP
The mission of JPMP is to create transformative performance experiences. We bring diverse students, professional artists and educators together to collaborate and bridge communities through the power of music, word and image.
JPMP Inc. was conceived from the Jazz Passengers, a New York City downtown jazz band formed in 1987 by saxophonist Roy Nathanson and trombonist Curtis Fowlkes. Their travels through downtown jazz, punk and gender bending mythical theatre, poetry and spoken word, song cycles, radio plays, and film scores paved the legacy for the social justice oriented artistic, theatrical and educational projects of Jazz Passengers Music Projects, Inc. In JPMP programs, participating high school students from diverse locations create personal “story/song” texts born from their common experiences. With instruction and guidance from professional writers and composers, students transform their original poetry into musical compositions to be performed in professional concert venues with students from partner schools alongside world-class professional musicians. The experience allows students to use their own poetry and musical creativity to expand song structures and enhance the professional/student collaboration. It also fosters personal growth, confidence and significant cultural exchange.
Contact
Dana Ware, Executive Director
Mobile: 201-906-2189 | Email: dana@jpmpinc.org