STRATEGIC & BUSINESS PLANNING CONSULTANT

Who We Are

Since 2006, CJAM has supported nonprofit and cultural enterprises throughout the United States in initiatives ranging from $500,000 to $17 million. Our work includes planning and implementation for startups and expansions, as well as capital restorations, executive planning and financial capacity building projects. We are dedicated to endeavors where arts and culture are central to the public trust and radical justice is a core value. 

We focus intentionally on small and midsized institutions, particularly in communities of color, as they are essential to cultural and economic ecologies. As a small and agile team, we create tailored solutions supported by an ability to adjust to unexpected and urgent needs. We are keenly aware of our clients’ need for flexibility and nuanced methods; our nimble and decisive approach is always informed by critical issues and ever-changing circumstances. 

CJAM is a New York City and State Certified Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE).

How We Work

The CJAM team is a diverse crew of entrepreneurs, artists and business leaders. Our depth of experience and expertise includes the performing and visual arts, real estate, fundraising, technology and culinary arts. Each team member maintains an independent practice and brings a unique set of skills to CJAM that together evokes insight, ingenuity and the occasional oddity. Our role as consultants is all the more enlightened by lived experience, after we have experienced a work as an audience member, learned the dance class choreography, or participated in the “community sing”. 

Like many others, we work from our homes. In fact, the home-office has been our standard operating mode since our founding. Our client base span the country and is comprised largely of cultural institutions. It had been more important to travel to and engage directly with our partners, their communities and physical space, than gather in a conference room at a New York City base. In New York, our “office meetings” were often at a corner café or at one of our homes for lunch and cocktails. For now, however, the virtual meeting is our mode of engagement. We work collaboratively and each team member acts as a project lead or team support, according to the expertise required.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a dynamic, intuitive change-maker, even a tastemaker who is excited to partner with our clients on wide-ranging business development goals. Our new Strategic and Business Planning Consultant will help our clients understand their challenges and will design solutions that establish new objectives and carefully scale operations. The Consultant will conduct assessments, facilitate planning and knowledge-building, and guide the launch of new or expanded operating systems. They will assess the viability of complex business models and create strategies that amplify creativity and cultural representation, while supporting knowledge-building within the CJAM team. The Consultant may have expertise as an organization leader or senior consultant, but most importantly will have an impressive depth of experience in guiding organizations and executives through pivotal moments of change – from crisis to planned expansion. As a CJAM team member, the Consultant will design and implement projects through:

• Strategic and business plan development
• Financial systems analysis and budget modeling
• Organizational analyses
• Board development 
• Executive and staff transitions
• Equity, justice modeling and restorative engagement
• Human resources development

The Strategic and Business Planning Consultant will also participate in client cultivation and management through:

• Prospecting 
• Proposal design/RFP response
• Industry benchmarking research 
• Expanded scope of services design

Who You Are

•  Entrepreneurial and strategic, with the ability to identify issues, synthesize information and develop solutions
• A skilled writer and numbers cruncher alike, though we understand many candidates may have a greater facility with one arena over the other
• An insightful communicator who thinks expansively and is able to connect with a broad spectrum of people in meaningful ways
•  An inspiring and dedicated partner, able to develop a sense of common purpose, maintaining an environment where mutual respect, inclusion and diversity are valued
•  A “doer”, unafraid of risk or untried approaches, who is able to look for new ways to work with and inspire partners
•  An accessible and gracious team member who values transparency, has a good understanding of people and a good sense of humor
• A problem solver with a unique ability to think creatively and atypically
• A persuasive teacher, since convincing people to do what is necessary but difficult can be hard work