I know people are reading this who have experience with grant research and grant writing as well as other nonprofit fundraising activities, and we are counting on you to step up and help us with those. I am good with words, and even legalese, I thought I would be a natural for grants, I might just be, but I have an intense full time day job, and it is all I can do to write my sections of the paper and maintain the website after work.
Fortunately, everything we need help with can be done sitting at home. Andy and I simply can’t get to it all at the level it deserves. As the product of a nonprofit, The Syncopated Times now belongs to the jazz public, and counts on our readers to get involved. Grant writing is a specialty, but one accessible to a smart person willing to take it on, and I am more than willing to work with you on gathering the relevant information and formulating a strategy.
Other positions that would greatly help us would be someone to take over our mass emails, sending one a week with updates and links to a few stories. I’d be eager to show someone how I do it, and let them do it better.
Similarly, our social media output has been lacking. I would like Syncopated Media to begin creating original content for socials, but for now clever posts and engagement with other traditional jazz accounts on a daily basis would be an improvement. I don’t have time anymore, and one person can’t do it all well. For a person taking on one area, emails or a social media platform, you are looking at maybe a two or three hour weekly commitment to produce amazing results.
I would also be open to someone taking over The Final Chorus, or The Festival Roundup, and would be happy to guide the right person on that. Fresh eyes never hurt anything. The same goes for album and book reviewers. I intend to keep writing them, but new takes would be welcome. I will remain webmaster of Syncopatedtimes.com for the rest of my natural life, so ignore any rumors otherwise. But it is time for our two man team to expand into a sustainable organization..
If you have ideas for how we can build subscriptions or raise donations, you’re hired (as a volunteer). Talk to us about how you can implement your ideas, and keep us updated on your progress as we cheer you on. There is no one on standby waiting to be instructed, it’s just Andy and me, already overwhelmed just getting a paper out, and there is no money to hire pros.
If you have more money than you have time, please consider Syncopated Media for your tax-deductible donation. There is nowhere it will go further. Our annual expenditure of around $60,000 pays writers, maintains the website, and prints and mails 12 print issues a year. Our problem is that the incoming from subscriptions and ads falls far short of that.
Speaking of subscriptions, readers are the thing we need most of all. If you don’t already have one, give it a try. There is nothing like sitting out with a paper full of good news on a summer morning.
Joe Bebco is the Associate Editor of The Syncopated Times and Webmaster of SyncopatedTimes.com
