IAJE Files for Bankruptcy

[Gandalfe]

"In what is being described as a "perfect storm" of bad luck, unchecked growth, fundraising and management failures, the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) ? an important link to Seattle's successful school jazz-band scene ? has collapsed." This from an article entitled, American jazz gathering, planned for Seattle, is canceled, the Seattle Times yesterday.

The IAJE Web site sez:

Dear IAJE Family, it is with a great sense of loss that I inform you that despite drastic efforts to cut expenses and raise emergency funds, the IAJE Board has voted to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Federal Bankruptcy Law. I want to thank profusely those who responded with their generous donations and offers of assistance following my last communication. While over 250 individuals contributed just over $12,000, this, along with the many other efforts and contributions of IAJE staff, Board members, and association partners, was simply not enough to address the accumulated debt of the organization or its urgent need for cash relief.

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[Gandalfe]

I blogged about this and talked with some friends. There were a surprising number of people who 'wished' they could do something to help. And there was mention that there was a fund drive that really didn't go anywhere.

It makes me wonder about a thesis I raised a while back that successful organizations could pay someone some serious money ($80K/year) to do nothing but raise a million dollars a year in support of the 501C organization. Being that kind of cheerleader and visionary would take a special person and a lot of glad handling to bring in the big change. But I suspect they are out there.

 

[pete]

It depends.

I ran saxpics.com for over 10 years and asked often for donations, particularly when I didn't own the bandwidth/webserver/space. The average donation I got, per month, was well less than $10. This doesn't factor in the calendar projects I've done -- projects that literally hundreds of people begged to have -- and I sell around 100 per year. I'm still overwhelmingly happy that I've got and had free server space and free bandwidth for a long while.

If you happen to go to church, talk with the pastor. He'll tell you that less than 10% of the congregation donates and an even smaller percentage volunteer. (I worked for a couple churches -- as in "got paid" -- so I know the truth of this.)

With online/web stuff, I think a lot of folks tend to think either a) this is free or b) someone will do something simular for free. I think that's a bad habit, but it's pretty darn hard to argue with: for instance, if I really wanted to, I could cancel my Netflix account and watch all THE SAME videos on YouTube. Heck, they even have some videos I can't get on Netflix (yet). There is a difference in quality, but sometimes you can live with that.