Society Dashboard
Built from the working record since the partnership kicked off — the June 16, 2026 executive session, the bi-weekly Game Plan, and the three-lane engagement. Anything marked ✅ is straight from the record; anything marked sample flows in live the moment the website connector is turned on.
🎯 Right now, the Board is focused on
🧑🤝🧑 Board Recruitment
Nominate James Williams as Board Member (on today's agenda). Fill Accountant, Attorney & Grant Writer roles. Grow Jr. Ambassadors.
📍 New Season & Venues
Sundays move to Tesoro (2–5 PM, from Aug 23) as Brother John's closes — with gratitude to John Aldecoa. Now recruiting 4 "Four Corners" Tuesday venues across the region.
🎯 Goals & Grants
Scholarship criteria + High School Awards. Grants in motion: Kroger Corporation, Lopez Family Foundation. Formalize WCF.
🌐 Systems & Digital
Website data connection, email, newsletter, Media Admin, blog, Jr. Ambassadors — Coach Lucy's old-business lane.
🎷 The partnership in one line
An in-kind coaching-ambassador engagement across three lanes — Operational efficiency, Revenue growth, and Content creation — intentionally held below the $5,000 tier so Coach Lucy supports from behind, not front-and-center. Now on a set rhythm: Board meeting the 2nd Tuesday; Executive Coaching the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays. Full session log in Calendar.
The three lanes — where we are
⚙️ Operational Efficiency
Email live, MFA set, YouTube admin granted, homepage video up. Domain recovery still open.
📈 Revenue Growth
WCF sponsor interview in hand; membership & sponsorship dashboards pending the data connection.
✍️ Content Creation
3 interviews filmed, newsletter + two-blog rhythm designed. First monthly blog in progress.
🎯 Quick wins already banked (from the June 16 session)
- Homepage video is live and showing on the site.
- New email working — carl@thetucsonjazzsociety.com, with support@ & president@ aliases.
- Multi-factor authentication set up on Carl's Microsoft / GoDaddy account.
- YouTube admin access granted — Lucy added as Manager; first video already uploaded.
- Three sponsor/board interviews reviewed — Matt Lyon, Ron Burton, Carl Bedford (~1 hr edit left).
- Everything now rolls into this interactive Command Center (replaces the loose one-pager).
📊 Membership at a glance headline numbers live from BD
Headline figures are real, from your Brilliant Directories admin (Site #11117). The monthly trend below is still illustrative until the connector streams history (see Website & Data).
📈 24-Month Report real — pulled from the site
Member overview, financials, and activity by month, straight from your Brilliant Directories data (last 24 months). Toggle the three views.
✅ April 2026 was the biggest signup month by far — 57 new members (International Jazz Day + Derby season). A clear signal: events drive membership.
✅ 35 invoices, $3,725 over the period. Revenue peaked Feb 2025 at $1,000, well above any other month.
⚠️ Only 52 of 110 members have login data, so activity is partial — a reason the website connection & the VIP reporting add-on matter.
🔎 What the 24 months tell us
- Events are the growth engine — the April 2026 spike (57) dwarfs every other month.
- Revenue is lumpy — one $1,000 month (Feb 2025) carried the period; recurring dues are the opportunity.
- Engagement data is thin — most members never log in; the site & newsletter are how we change that.
- Headline all-time: 1,778 members & $5,375 total revenue in the admin — this 24-month view is the trend underneath it.
🔔 Two decisions parked for the Board
The old thetucsonjazzsociety.com Outlook/domain has been locked ~3 months and GoDaddy has been unresponsive. A broker quoted ~$100 to negotiate the name back. To consider: authorize the small spend to recover the name, or formally adopt the new mailbox as the system of record. Either way, ownership moves to the organization, not a person.
The Society doesn't hold a building — which is a strength here, not a gap (see Operations · money & venues). What's still needed is a reliable place to gather each session (it doesn't have to be the same room every time). Things to consider: a partner venue that already hosts Sunday programming could double as the standing meeting home.
My Profile
Your seat, your access, and what the Command Center is showing you. Signing in is what unlocks the private tabs — the roster is the access list.
Carl Bedford
| Role | President, The Tucson Jazz Society |
| carl@thetucsonjazzsociety.com | |
| Access tier | Full — all sections visible |
| Coaching partner | Coach Lucy Howell (FFH, in-kind ambassador) |
Who can see this Command Center
Access is granted by email allowlist — the Board roster itself. No shared password. When someone joins or rotates off the Board, edit the list and the access follows automatically.
- Executive Board — full view (all 24 sections)
- Board Members — governance, projects, fundraising, partners
- Ambassadors & Volunteers — a focused 6-section starter view
- Members — the public site & community coin board
Set who sees what in Admin.
Onboarding — the path in
The cheapest recruiting tool a jazz society has is its own Sunday concert. Every step below turns an interested face in the audience into a seated volunteer or board member. Steps auto-tick as someone moves up the roster.
The 8-step path
- 1 · Come to a concert — experience the community first-hand.
- 2 · Join as a member — on the website, any tier.
- 3 · Meet a board member or ambassador — a warm hand-off.
- 4 · Volunteer at one event — try it on with no commitment.
- 5 · Letter of interest — to serve as an Ambassador or Director.
- 6 · Meet with the Executive Board — mutual fit.
- 7 · Seated — role & portfolio assigned.
- 8 · Orientation Badge — the 6-module starter course below.
🎓 Orientation Badge — 6 modules
- Our mission, history & International Jazz Day role
- How the Board works — bylaws, quorum, committees
- Conflict of interest & the gift/in-kind rules
- The website, email & social — what we own and how
- The scholarship fund & the youth fine-arts program
- Coins & the community leaderboard — how we say thank-you
Ambassadors and Volunteers see a 6-tab starter view, not all 24 — nobody is dropped into the deep end. Presets live in Admin.
Resources & Records
One shelf for the documents a board keeps losing when they live in someone's personal Drive. This is the antidote to the single-point-of-failure problem.
| Document | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Bylaws | Governing rules — officers, quorum, committees, terms | to load |
| 501(c)(3) determination letter | IRS tax-exempt status — needed for every grant & sponsorship | to load |
| Board roster | Executive Board, Directors, Ambassadors — roles & terms | in Roster tab ✅ |
| Meeting minutes | Board & committee sessions, filed as searchable PDFs | discipline recommended |
| Coaching proposal & in-kind letter | $4,500 donated services · converts to $500/mo after 90 days | on file ✅ |
| Sponsor / interview gallery | Lyon, Burton, Bedford — the 3 filmed interviews | filmed ✅ · editing |
| Brand assets | Logos, colors, photo library (Tawana's galleries) | see Brand tab |
📌 The one habit that prevents 90% of lost history
Minutes are filed as searchable PDFs, in one shared folder, within two weeks of each meeting. That single rule costs nothing and means no future board ever loses a decision because it left with the person who made it.
🤝 Transparency — Project Scope & In-Kind Offer
Shared openly so the whole board sees exactly what's on the table. The two documents are delivered alongside this Command Center.
📋 Project Scope
- Role: in-kind Coaching Ambassador & strategic partner (not a tech pitch).
- Lane 1 · Operations — website, socials, email, domain, systems.
- Lane 2 · Revenue — memberships, sponsorships, events, grants.
- Lane 3 · Content — monthly newsletter + biweekly blog series.
- Term: 100-day trial from June 16, 2026; biweekly cadence.
- Reporting: digital growth, newsletter/blog performance, revenue — tracked here.
🎁 In-Kind Offer
- $4,500 in donated professional services — intentionally below the $5,000 tier.
- Converts to $500/mo (66% off the standard $1,500) after 90 days — only if mutually agreed.
- Documented time: 9 sessions since March (≈15 hrs) + production & systems work — see the engagement log.
- Gift handling: conflict disclosed, donor abstains; the Society's receipt describes the gift but states no dollar value (donor sets FMV — IRS rule).
Roster & Roles
Not "commissioners" — your structure. Five tiers, each with its own view. Members flow up from the directory over time: audience → member → volunteer → ambassador → director.
| Name | Tier / Role | Focus | Notes from the record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carl R. Bedford | President · Executive Board | Overall leadership | Leads International Jazz Day; new email & YouTube set up ✅ |
| Valeene Bedford | Treasurer · Executive Board | Finances & bank statements | Hosts board Zoom sessions; Treasurer's report each meeting |
| Gail Clanton | Secretary · Executive Board | Minutes & records | Keeper of the record — minutes discipline |
| Ron Burton, Sr. | Director · Board | Music & programming | 70+ yrs in music, former Chicago drummer; interview filmed ✅ |
| John Aldecoa | Director · Board | Programming & ops | Active in board Zoom sessions |
| James Williams | Ambassador → Board nominee | — | nomination on today's agenda |
| Jan Frank | Ambassador | Sponsorship | Brought the WCF Insurance sponsor relationship |
| Zeke Gebrekindane | Ambassador | Community | Community advocate (Zeke's Pizza & Coffee) |
| Lucy Howell | Ambassador (FFH, in-kind coach) | Ops · Revenue · Content | In-kind partner; below-$5k tier, supporting from behind |
🧑🤝🧑 Board recruitment — open roles the record names
Today's agenda calls out three professional roles the Society is actively seeking: an Accountant, an Attorney, and a Grant Writer. Plus a growing Jr. Ambassadors tier for youth. These are tracked in Projects and Partners CRM.
🌱 The growth engine
The Command Center replaces a flat member list with a pipeline: every Sunday concert-goer is a potential volunteer, every volunteer a potential ambassador. The Onboarding path is how they move up, and the coin board is how you notice and thank them along the way. Track live candidates in Recruiting & Candidates.
Recruiting & Candidates
The open-seats board — but for a growing nonprofit. Recruiting is a big, standing focus across four tracks at once: Board Members · Ambassadors · Volunteers · Venues. Drag a candidate along as they move from a warm name to a seated yes.
🎩 Board Members
Fill Director seats + the Accountant, Attorney & Grant Writer bench.
📣 Ambassadors
Community champions who open doors — sponsors, schools, venues.
🙌 Volunteers
Event & program helpers, photography, in-schools service.
📍 Venues
Regular Sunday programming homes + a standing session room.
🗂️ Candidate pipeline
🌟 Youth Ambassadors in Training Lucy's lead-ambassador focus
As lead Ambassador, one of Coach Lucy's core focuses is growing a team of Youth Ambassadors in training — students who both help run and engage with the "Where As, Jazz Is" program. They earn coins, lead the challenge at their schools, and become the Society's next generation of volunteers and directors. Recruited through the Youth Outreach program and the In-Schools Service & Training committee.
🏆 Feature Goal — Reality Health Games inter-city challenge
A feature partnership goal with The Force for Health: run the "Where As, Jazz Is" challenge as a Reality Health Games competition between school districts in four cities.
| Key partner | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Nicole Marsalis | Marsalis-family connection; season concert prize & blessing | invitation in progress |
| Jenn Tigelacker | Currently serving in NYC Schools, supporting music teachers | key NYC partner |
| The Force for Health | Reality Health Games engine + curriculum | in-kind partner ✅ |
The 4th city (San Francisco or Utah) is intentionally open — the choice will follow the positioning & feedback from key partners. That's a decision to make with Nicole Marsalis and Jenn Tigelacker, not ahead of them.
Governance & Compliance
A private 501(c)(3) board isn't bound by the public-meeting "sunshine" laws a government commission is — which gives you more flexibility, not less. What you still owe your members, donors, and the IRS is a clean record. Here's the short list that keeps the Society safe.
Unlike the public commissions this platform was first built for, a private jazz society's board can meet privately, decide by email, and restructure committees freely. What you still owe: an accurate set of minutes, an honest annual accounting to members, and a Form 990 to the IRS each year. Freedom on process; discipline on the record.
The most common board mistake is guessing quorum. Once the bylaws are loaded here, we'll quote the exact article & section so no vote is ever in doubt. To do: load the current bylaws into Resources and confirm the quorum number.
Coach Lucy's $4,500 of donated services is a gift. Two rules keep it clean: (1) the conflict is disclosed before any vote and she abstains; (2) the Society's acknowledgment letter describes the gift but does not state a dollar value — the donor determines fair-market value under IRS rules for non-cash contributions. Getting that backwards is the single most common nonprofit paperwork error.
The old domain, Outlook, and Facebook page were each tied to one individual — which is exactly how organizations lose them. The new email, YouTube, and website are being set up with organization ownership and at least two people holding credentials. That's a systems fix, not a people problem.
Committees & Working Groups
A small board's scarcest resource is attention. The counsel here is the same one that works for every volunteer body: consolidate under a few clear portfolios rather than sprawl into many committees.
🎼 Programming & Venues
Sunday concerts, band bookings, International Jazz Day, the standing-venue search. Owner: Ron Burton + President.
💳 Development & Membership
Sponsorships, the scholarship fund, membership growth & renewals. Owner: Jan Frank + President.
📣 Content & Communications
Newsletter, blog, website, social, the interview gallery. Owner: Coach Lucy (in-kind) + President.
🎓 Youth & Education
Middle-school fine-arts program (via Pima County Supt. Dustin Williams), scholarship placements. Owner: President + partners.
🏫 In-Schools Service & Training new
Delivers the in-school jazz service and teacher/volunteer training — running the "Where As, Jazz Is" curriculum, placing musicians in classrooms, and training Jr. Ambassadors. Owner: to be seated. See Youth Outreach.
Things to consider
Four named portfolios cover everything on the table today. Rather than create a new committee each time a project appears, assign it to a portfolio. A director with idle capacity is the cheapest capacity the Society has.
Operations · Money & Venues
The version of this section built for public commissions was "money & building." The Society has no building — and that's an advantage. No lease, no repairs, no insurance on a room that sits empty six days a week. The model is different, and it's lighter.
🎵 No building? Good. Here's why.
Jazz doesn't need a hall — it needs an audience. The Society's model is partner-venue programming: the venue pays the band, and the Society brings the crowd. That means zero fixed real-estate cost, freedom to program wherever the audience is, and every dollar going to musicians, scholarships, and youth instead of rent. The only "building" question that remains is a reliable place to hold the biweekly working session — parked as a joint decision.
🎺 Performance Payment Protocol
Sundays — the TJS protocol (Tesoro)
- TJS fronts the $350 performance fee — paid directly to the band.
- The venue reimburses TJS the $350 fee.
- The venue provides $100 in gift cards, in $25 increments, for the performers to divide however they choose.
Result: the band receives $350 cash + $100 in gift cards = $450 total value. TJS is cash-neutral — it fronts the fee and is reimbursed. Watch the float & the reimbursement owed — that's the one budget item this protocol creates.
| Line | Sundays (Tesoro) | Tuesdays · Four Corners |
|---|---|---|
| Performance fee | $350 — TJS fronts, venue reimburses | $300 — TJS supports |
| Gift cards ($25 increments) | $100 — venue provides | $150 — venue provides |
| Total value to the band | $450 | $450 |
| TJS net cash | $0 (fronts & reimbursed) | −$300 (TJS-funded) |
Budget note: on Sundays, TJS carries a short-term $350 float per show until the venue reimburses — track "reimbursements owed" so the float never gets lost.
📍 Hosting Venues — operational tracker
Carl's standing goal from the record: "we don't need to be at the same place every week, but we need to be someplace every week." The Society is actively seeking 1–2 regular programming venues. This is the running list.
🗺️ Venue Map — plan coverage across Pima County
A schematic of the Pima County / Greater Tucson region. Each venue drops a pin in its area so you can see coverage and gaps at a glance — and space regular programming so no part of the county is left out.
➕ Add a possible venue partner
Adds a pin to the map + a row to the list below. (Saves for this session — connect the site to persist across devices.)
| Venue | Area | Role / note | Status |
|---|
Note: the Green Valley row and specific event dates are held here for you to confirm — they weren't in the June 16 transcript on file, so nothing was assumed. Drop the exact dates in live and they'll flow onto the calendar. "New venue recommendations" is also on today's board agenda.
💵 Society finances sample data
Real balances load from the books once shared. This is where the honest reserve picture lives — including what any reserve is committed against before anyone asks "why are you sitting on it?"
Advocacy & Recognition Tracker
A jazz society's "policy" work is recognition and placement — the proclamations, designations, and partnerships that put TJS on the civic map. Track each one from idea to secured.
| Item | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| International Jazz Day — AZ representative | Tucson is Arizona's representative (UNESCO / Herbie Hancock Institute) | held ✅ |
| Middle-school fine-arts program | Pima County Supt. Dustin Williams placing a rotating middle school | in motion |
| "We Are Jazz" 4-city challenge | Tucson + San Francisco (West) vs. New Orleans + New York (East) | exploring |
| Proclamation song — 6 genre versions | Bonus $50 for member bands to learn/play a version — a fun engagement hook | parked · next mtg |
Youth Outreach & Songs
The Society's youth engine — the in-schools program, the 4-city "Where As, Jazz Is" challenge and curriculum, the Jr. Ambassadors, and the original song library that carries a character lesson in every refrain.
🎓 Middle-school fine-arts program
Launching with Pima County Superintendent Dustin Williams helping place a rotating middle school. Musicians go into classrooms; the In-Schools Service & Training committee runs the service and trains volunteers and Jr. Ambassadors. Feeds directly into the Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund and High School Awards.
🏆 Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund restricted fund — tracked separately
This is a separate, donor-restricted fund — kept apart from the Society's general operating money so every dollar given for scholarships goes to scholarships. Its own gifts-in, awards-out, and balance.
💛 How the fund grows
- Event proceeds (Int'l Jazz Day, Derby, Gospel Brunch)
- Individual & sponsor gifts earmarked "scholarship"
- Grants written specifically for youth scholarships
📋 High School Awards criteria on today's agenda
- Define eligibility & award amounts
- Nomination partners (schools, Jr. Ambassadors)
- Selection & timeline
- Donor thank-you & recognition
Fund-accounting note: because these gifts are donor-restricted, they're recorded and reported as a separate fund — never commingled with operating cash. Acknowledgment letters describe the gift and, for non-cash gifts, don't state a value (donor sets FMV). This is what lets the Society honestly tell a donor "100% of your scholarship gift went to a student."
🎺 "Where As, Jazz Is" — the 4-city STEAM challenge
A free, 4-level challenge for middle & high school, framed as a friendly East vs. West story across four cities — Tucson + San Francisco (West) vs. New Orleans + New York (East). The winning city earns a Marsalis concert (invitation to Nicole Marsalis in progress).
🆓 Free version
Full Level 1 Listening Lab + single Bingo card, free forever for any student, club, or family. Embeds in any class page.
🏫 Per-school license
Teacher backend, rosters, progress reporting, 12-card Bingo, A-Cubed submission, and eligibility for the season's Marsalis concert prize. Standards-aligned Teacher's Guide (ISTE · NHES · NGSS · SHAPE America).
🎶 The song library from the Listening Lab
Original works honoring the 10 Legacy Makers plus the base "Where As, Jazz Is" anthem — each recordable across genres as a Listening Lab track. Cover art drops in from the Song library once linked.
🌟 Jr. Ambassadors
A youth tier (on today's agenda under old business) — students who lead the challenge at their school, earn coins, and grow into the Society's next generation of volunteers and directors.
Gap Analysis — opportunities, not oversights
Every item here is a door standing open, framed honestly and kindly. Nothing was anyone's fault — most gaps are systems gaps, not people gaps.
The original domain and its Outlook (768 emails back to 2019) have been locked ~3 months. That history is not lost — it's on the other side of a $100 broker fee and a cleanup pass. The door is open; it just needs a decision.
Matt Lyon (CEO, WCF Insurance) sat for an on-camera interview about why he sponsors. That's a sponsor telling your story for you — the strongest possible position from which to formalize and renew.
Lyon, Burton, and Bedford are filmed and reviewed — ~1 hour of editing stands between the Society and a full interview gallery that anchors the newsletter and the sponsor pitch alike.
The middle-school fine-arts program + the Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund is exactly the kind of measurable youth-impact story that grants and sponsors fund. It just needs to be packaged and shown.
Community Impact Score Card
The issues below come from the Society's own words in the June 16 session — not a template. Each will be scored against benchmarks (you · Arizona arts nonprofits · peer jazz societies · a top-quartile target) once data is bound. Until then, every score wears a red banner.
🎫 Membership growth
⭐ Only TJS can report this — from the directory.
💳 Sponsorship & revenue
Gap to the 75th-percentile line = the achievable win.
📣 Digital presence
Website, newsletter, social reach.
🎓 Youth fine-arts reach
Students reached via the middle-school program.
🤝 Scholarship fund health
Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund.
🎶 Community engagement
Concert attendance, wellness-through-music.
Named but not yet scored: the "wellness & storytelling" dimension Ron Burton describes ("jazz is relaxing and therapeutic"). It's real, and worth a panel once we can measure it — saying so is what keeps the rest honest.
Website, Data & Social
This is the lane Coach Lucy owns most directly — and the one big integration task that turns every sample number in this Command Center into a live one.
⚡ THE integration task: connect the website (Brilliant Directories)
The TJS site — thetucsonjazzsociety.com — runs on Brilliant Directories. It already holds the whole story: members, leads, events, photos, reviews, posts, and revenue. Connecting it is what replaces the red-banner sample data with live dashboards. Brilliant Directories doesn't use OAuth (it authenticates with two HTTP headers), so it connects via a small config-file step, not the standard connector dialog.
- Regenerate the API key in BD Admin → Developer Hub (the one shared in chat is compromised).
- Set permissions — turn endpoints ON but uncheck every delete action. Read/create/update only; TJS data can never be deleted.
- Confirm Node.js is installed (the connector runs via
npx). - Add the config under Settings → Developer → Edit Config, then fully quit & reopen.
- Verify — ask "pull the roster and photos." Real numbers = we're live.
Full step-by-step is in BD-Connector-Setup.md. Rate limit: 100 req/60s (raisable to 1,000/min via BD support).
📊 What your website already holds live from BD admin
Pulled from your Brilliant Directories admin (Site #11117). This is real — proof the asset is valuable and worth investing in.
That 311 past-due number is real renewal revenue sitting on the table — one of the first things the reporting will help you recover.
🆚 Brilliant Directories vs. your Command Center
The honest expert read: these are not competitors — they're partners. Brilliant Directories is the engine (members, dues, events, payments, the public site). The Command Center is the brain on top (governance, strategy, board reporting) that BD will never be.
| Capability | Brilliant Directories | Command Center |
|---|---|---|
| Member database & profiles (1,778) | ✅ Core strength | Reads from BD |
| Dues, payments & renewals | ✅ Core strength | Reads from BD |
| Public website & directory | ✅ Yes | — (not a public site) |
| Event pages & RSVP (371) | ✅ Yes | Reads from BD |
| Photo galleries | ⚠️ Premium add-on (in VIP) | ✅ Displays |
| Reports & exports | ⚠️ Premium add-on (in VIP) | ✅ Custom dashboards |
| Board roster & governance | ❌ Not built for it | ✅ Yes |
| Bylaws, compliance, minutes | ❌ | ✅ Yes |
| In-kind & contribution log | ❌ | ✅ Yes |
| Fundraising pipeline & grants | ❌ (leads only) | ✅ Yes |
| Youth programs & curriculum | ❌ | ✅ Yes |
| Board report, impact scorecard | ❌ | ✅ Yes |
| Annual cost | $249/yr VIP — unlocks 75+ add-ons | In-kind — $4,500 donated |
💡 The $249 VIP Add-Ons Club — my recommendation: yes
The reason you can't pull a report or a photo gallery isn't you — those are premium widgets locked behind add-ons. The VIP Club unlocks all 75+ of them at 75% off legacy pricing, one flat $249/year, new add-ons included as they launch. Against $5,375 in revenue and 1,778 members that's about $0.14 per member — the cheapest possible fix for the exact reporting & gallery gaps you hit today. Approve it, and it activates instantly.
🛤️ Build-from-scratch vs. keep-and-integrate
Don't rebuild the website. A fully custom site means migrating 1,778 members, re-plumbing payments, and rebuilding 371 event pages — months of work, real risk, and you'd be throwing away rails that already work. The smart path: keep Brilliant Directories as the engine, add the $249 VIP for the missing widgets, and layer this Command Center on top (in-kind) as the strategy & board brain. Best of both — proven transactional engine + governance the engine was never built to do.
✅ Digital wins already banked
| Asset | Status | Ownership note |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage video | live ✅ | Showing on the site |
| Email — carl@thetucsonjazzsociety.com | working ✅ | + support@ & president@ aliases |
| Multi-factor authentication | set ✅ | Microsoft Authenticator on Carl's account |
| YouTube channel | admin granted ✅ | Lucy = Manager; first video uploaded |
| Old domain / Outlook | locked ~3 mo | ~$100 to recover — joint decision |
| Facebook / Instagram | keep & re-own | Move ownership to the org, not a person |
📱 Social reach sample
Media & Files
The Society's shared space for photos, videos, and documents — one home so assets stop living on one person's phone or laptop. Upload to preview here now; connect the website or a shared drive to store them for the whole board.
📸 Shared Photos
Seeded from the record: the three sponsor-interview stills + event galleries.
🎬 Shared Videos
📄 Shared Documents
Why this matters: every asset the Society ever lost — the old domain, the Gmail, the Facebook page — was lost because it lived with one person. A shared library owned by the organization is how that stops. Connect the site to make these persist for everyone; design drafts live in the TJS Canva folder ↗.
Brand Assets & Brand Maker
Upload the Society's logos, set the official colors and fonts, and the Brand Maker below assembles a live style card you can hand to any designer, printer, or volunteer — so everything looks like TJS and nothing lives only on one person's laptop.
🎨 Canva — the TJS design library
Jump straight into the Society's Canva folders for flyers, socials, and event graphics.
⬆️ Upload brand assets
Logos, wordmarks, photos, fonts — drop them in. Uploads preview instantly; connect the website or shared drive to store them for the whole board.
🎨 Brand Maker
This card updates live. It's the one-page brand standard for flyers, the newsletter, social, and print.
🖼️ Photo library
Tawana's event galleries + the three interview stills. These feed the newsletter and social carousels. upload above
🎷 Logos & wordmark
Master TJS logo files — upload above so ownership sits with the org, not a laptop.
🎟️ Event templates
Step-and-repeat, flyers, and social frames built on the Brand Maker card. from the maker
Design Review
Where drafts get a thumbs-up before they ship — flyers, newsletter layouts, social carousels. Board members can rate and comment so nothing goes out that doesn't feel like the Society. Drafts live in the TJS Canva folder ↗.
🃏 Interview carousel — 3 sponsors
11-slide carousel blending the Burton, Lyon & Bedford quotes. draft ready to review
✉️ Newsletter template
Ties the two monthly blogs to the interview gallery + Tawana's photos. in design
Projects & Game Plan
The 30/60/90 view of the partnership — the loose one-pager, now living and shareable. Meeting rhythm: 1st session each month = content & technology; 2nd = venues, partners & membership.
0–30 days · Foundation
- Email, MFA, YouTube, homepage video ✅
- 3 interviews filmed ✅
- Command Center stood up ✅
30–60 days · Build
- Connect the website data
- Publish interview gallery + first blog
- Launch monthly newsletter
- Formalize WCF sponsorship
60–90 days · Grow
- Membership & renewal push
- Scholarship-fund campaign
- Lock 1–2 standing venues
- Decide on the $500/mo continuation
📅 This month's content plan (from June 16)
- Carl's monthly executive blog — in his voice, from "sloppy copy" bullets he sends Lucy.
- Lucy's "Kentucky Derby → jazz" history recap — the seasonal hook.
- The newsletter ties both blogs to the 3-interview gallery + Tawana's photo gallery.
🗒️ Today's Board Agenda tracker — July 15, 2026
| Item | Area | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Nominate James Williams as Board Member | Recruitment | vote today |
| New venue recommendations | Venues | open |
| Grants: Kroger, Lopez Family Foundation | Fundraising | in motion |
| Scholarship criteria + High School Awards | Youth | defining |
| Recruit Accountant, Attorney & Grant Writer | Recruitment | seeking |
| Website, email, newsletter, Media Admin, Jr. Ambassadors, blog | Old business (Lucy) | in progress ✅ |
| 2027 events: Reunion · IJD · Jazz Under the Stars · Gospel Brunch · CPAC | Programming | planning |
Next: Annual Meeting, August 13, 2026.
Fundraising Pipeline
Six columns, drag-and-drop. Sponsors, grants, and major gifts move left to right. Try it — grab a card and drop it in the next column.
sample amounts Cards below are illustrative to show the flow. Real sponsor & donor records populate from the website once connected.
Members & Bands
The people and the music — your membership base (from the website) and the bands that make the Society. Members flow from Brilliant Directories; bands you can track and add to right here.
🎫 Membership
Members by plan sample until connected
The full member directory — names, plans, renewal dates, contact — lives in Brilliant Directories and streams into this view the moment the connector is live (see Website & Data). The 1,778 / $5,375 / 311 past-due figures above are already real from the BD admin.
🎸 Bands & Musicians
The bands that play the Society's Sundays and events. Track who plays, their genre, and status — and add new bands as you book them. (Venue typically pays ~$350/Sunday for ~4 players; TJS adds ~$100 in gift cards.)
➕ Add a band / musician
Adds to the roster below. (Saves for this session — connect the site to persist.)
| Band / artist | Leader | Genre / instruments | Status |
|---|
"We Are Jazz" tie-in: member bands can earn a $50 bonus to learn/play a version of the proclamation song across 6 genres — a fun way to engage the roster and feed the youth challenge. See Youth Outreach.
🎙️ Collect member stories with the Member Voice & Legacy Book form ↗ — feeds the Spotlight blog and the Legacy Book.
🎤 Booked a band? Send them the Performer Spotlight form ↗ — a few fun questions from the artist auto-build a "Get to Know Us" promo blog + social post to grow their following and fill the room. Great to send with every booking.
Partners & Relationships CRM
The people and organizations who move the mission forward. Every warm door from the record, in one place, so no relationship goes cold.
| Partner | Who / role | The opportunity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| WCF Insurance | Matt Lyon, CEO (via Jan Frank) | Festival sponsor — filmed on why he gives | warm · formalize |
| Tesoro Latin Kitchen & Cantina | New Sunday venue partner | New 8-week Sunday series, 2–5 PM from Aug 23 | NEW ✅ |
| Brother John's Beer, Bourbon & BBQ | John Aldecoa (TJS board) | Longtime Sunday home — closed; honored with deep gratitude | closed 🙏 |
| Pima County Schools | Supt. Dustin Williams | Placing a rotating middle school for the fine-arts program | in motion |
| The Marsalis path | via Nicole Marsalis | Possible play/appearance; "We Are Jazz" challenge host | Lucy calling · report Thu |
| Force for Health Network | Coach Lucy Howell | In-kind coaching, content & systems partner | active ✅ |
| International Jazz Day | UNESCO / Herbie Hancock Institute | Tucson = Arizona's representative | held ✅ |
| Kroger Corporation | Corporate giving | Grant / community sponsorship | grant target |
| Lopez Family Foundation | Foundation | Grant for youth & scholarship programs | grant target |
| Professional roles sought | Accountant · Attorney · Grant Writer | Fill the Society's advisory bench | recruiting |
Note to self (from the record): Harvey Mason is a separate thread — the Marsalis connection routes through Nicole Marsalis, not through Janine.
Venue Outreach Tracker
Our working pipeline to lock down Tuesday Night Jazz — a rotating weekly series across the region. Call, log a status, and edit any row. Add new rooms anytime. It all plots on the Regional Map.
🎷 Tuesday Night Jazz — the rotation idea
Rotate a Tuesday night through the region so every corner gets jazz. Lock one anchor venue per zone, then cycle weekly. The pitch: we bring the audience & the brand; you host the room — TJS supports the band $300, the venue provides $150 in gift cards ($25 increments).
| Week | Zone that night |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Zone 1 · NW / Oro Valley |
| Week 2 | Zone 2 · East / Northeast |
| Week 3 | Zone 3 · Central |
| Week 4 | Zone 4 · Southwest / South |
| Week 5 | Zone 5 · Sahuarita / Green Valley |
➕ Add a venue to the tracker
Prospect list — verify before pitching. Phone numbers start blank so you add the confirmed number, then tap 📞 Call. Edits save for this session; connect the site to persist across devices. ⭐ marks the strongest anchor to open first in each zone.
Regional Venue Map
Every venue in the tracker, plotted by zone across the Greater Tucson region and color-coded by status. Add or update venues in Venue Outreach and they move here automatically.
Public Sector & Champions
The civic relationships that give a small arts nonprofit outsized reach — the offices and institutions that already believe in Tucson jazz.
🏫 Pima County Schools
Supt. Dustin Williams — helping place a rotating middle school for the new fine-arts program. Youth pipeline + a fundable impact story.
🎺 International Jazz Day
UNESCO / Herbie Hancock Institute — Tucson is Arizona's representative. A national designation most cities would love to hold.
🏛️ City of Tucson & Pima County
Natural champions for proclamations, arts recognition, and event support. to map
🎓 Scholarship partners
The Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund connects the Society to families, schools, and donors across the region.
Peer Jazz Societies
How TJS stacks up against comparable arts nonprofits — so a target is grounded in what peers actually achieve, not a fantasy. Median of peers, never the single best. sample
| Dimension | Tucson Jazz Society | Peer median | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly programming | Sundays, year-round | Seasonal | ✅ Ahead — a real differentiator |
| National designation | AZ Int'l Jazz Day rep | Rare | ✅ Ahead |
| Youth education program | Launching | Established | Room to grow — and a fundable one |
| Digital presence | Rebuilding | Mature | The current focus of the partnership |
The honest headline: TJS punches above its weight on programming and recognition and is catching up on the digital and youth-education fronts — exactly the two the partnership is built to accelerate.
Legacy Book
The stories that make the Society worth saving — captured once, used twice: a public gallery card and a keepsake page. This is how institutional memory stops walking out the door.
🎙️ Member Voice & Legacy Book form
One form, two destinations: it turns a member's story into a blog spotlight AND a Legacy Book page — ready to copy, download, or email in.
🥁 Ron Burton
70+ years in music, former Chicago drummer, Board director. "Jazz is more than music — it's a universal language that brings families and communities together."
🎓 The Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund
The Society's youth-investment legacy, hosted at Brother John's — turning concerts into scholarships.
🎷 International Jazz Day in Tucson
Arizona's UNESCO representative — a civic honor and an annual centerpiece.
🎹 Why sponsors give — Matt Lyon
"Music brings people together — and that's exactly why we support the Tucson Jazz Festival."
Activity Feed
The running log of the partnership — what moved, when. This is the shared memory so nobody has to reconstruct "where did we land on that?"
- Jul 15 — Executive Command Center stood up for the Board meeting. 🎷
- Jun 16 — Meeting 1 · Day 1 of the 100-Day Trial. Email, MFA, YouTube, homepage video all confirmed live.
- Jun 16 — Three sponsor/board interviews reviewed (Lyon, Burton, Bedford).
- Jun 16 — In-kind level set below the $5,000 tier; biweekly Tuesday 1 PM cadence agreed.
- Ongoing — Domain/email recovery and standing-venue decisions parked for the Board.
A quick, kind reminder that applies to any board's group chat or email thread: keep decisions in the minutes and this feed, so the record never lives only in a text message someone can lose.
Meeting Recaps
The written memory of the partnership — every working session and board meeting, captured so no decision ever lives only in someone's head. Newest first.
Agenda: Secretary's minutes · Treasurer's report (bank statements) · President's report & 2027 events (Reunion Jan · IJD Apr · Jazz Under the Stars Spring · Gospel Brunch Summer · CPAC Oct).
New business: nominate James Williams as Board Member · new venue recommendations · grants (Kroger, Lopez Family Foundation) · scholarship criteria + High School Awards · recruit Accountant, Attorney & Grant Writer.
Old business (Lucy): website updates, email, newsletter, Media Admin, Jr. Ambassadors, blog — and the walkthrough of this Command Center.
Next: Annual Meeting, August 13, 2026. Full recap will be filed here after the meeting.
▶ Watch the June 16 Executive Session recording ↗
The partnership in one line: an in-kind coaching-ambassador engagement across three lanes — Operational efficiency, Revenue growth, Content creation — held below the $5,000 tier, biweekly Tuesdays.
Wins this session:
- Homepage video live and showing on the site.
- New email working — carl@thetucsonjazzsociety.com + support@ & president@ aliases.
- Multi-factor authentication set up (Microsoft Authenticator).
- YouTube admin access granted — Lucy added as Manager; first video uploaded.
- Reviewed the 3 sponsor/board interviews (Lyon, Burton, Bedford) — ~1 hr edit left.
Key decisions: in-kind level below $5k · this month's content = Carl's monthly exec blog + Lucy's "Kentucky Derby → jazz" recap, tied together by the newsletter · meeting rhythm: 1st session/month = content & tech, 2nd = venues/partners/membership · everything rolls into this interactive Command Center.
Context for board reporting: band economics (venue pays ~$350/Sunday for ~4 players; TJS adds ~$100 in gift cards; idea to bump to $400+$100) · middle-school fine-arts program (via Pima County Supt. Dustin Williams) · Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund · Tucson = AZ's International Jazz Day representative.
Action items — Lucy: post Tawana's photos · deliver updated one-pager (folded into this Game Plan) · finish the interactive Game Plan w/ 30/60/90 · build the board-meeting report template · research preserving historic email · call Nicole Marsalis re: appearance + the "We Are Jazz" 4-city challenge.
Action items — Carl: walk GoDaddy tutorials to add the mailbox to desktop Outlook · clean up the old Outlook inbox (768 emails) · send "sloppy copy" bullets for the blog · identify 1–2 regular venues · keep pursuing Wynton Marsalis for a special event.
Parked (joint): domain/email recovery (~$100 broker) · standing meeting venue · the "We Are Jazz" band challenge (bonus $50 for a proclamation-song version).
🎉 Signature Event Recaps
Tucson's celebration of International Jazz Day — Tucson is Arizona's representative (UNESCO / Herbie Hancock Institute), held at Brother John's Bourbon & BBQ (5:30–9:30 PM).
What it did: raised funds for the Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund, showcased the new middle-school fine-arts direction, and produced the on-camera interviews (Carl Bedford, Ron Burton, Matt Lyon of WCF) now anchoring the newsletter & sponsor pitch.
Coach Lucy present ✅ (4 hrs, logged). Add: attendance, funds raised, photos — drop the figures in and they'll headline this recap.
The Society's Kentucky Derby community & fundraising event at Brother John's (12:00–3:30 PM) — hats, jazz, and community.
Content tie-in: the seasonal hook for Lucy's "Kentucky Derby → jazz" history-recap blog, one of this month's two feature blogs.
Coach Lucy present ✅ (3.5 hrs, logged). Add: attendance, funds raised, photos — the details flow straight into the newsletter and the fundraising totals.
Recap discipline: each session and signature event is written up within two weeks and filed here as searchable text — the single habit that keeps institutional memory from walking out the door.
Interview & Speaker Studio
The three filmed conversations — the raw material for the newsletter, social carousels, and the sponsor pitch. Social-ready quotes already pulled.
| Voice | Who | Social-ready quote |
|---|---|---|
| 🎤 Sponsor | Matt Lyon — CEO, WCF Insurance | "Music brings people together — and that's exactly why we support the Tucson Jazz Festival." |
| 🎤 Director | Ron Burton — 70+ yrs in music | "When we teach jazz to kids, we're not just teaching music — we're building culture, confidence, and connection." |
| 🎤 President | Carl Bedford — TJS President | "Join us for live jazz every Sunday — come experience the music, the culture, and the community." |
Ready to ship: an 11-slide carousel blends all three into one story (see Design Review). ~1 hour of video editing completes the full interview gallery.
Calendar & Meeting Rhythm
One calendar, two audiences — public events publish to the website; private sessions stay internal. The rhythm is now set: Board meeting on the 2nd Tuesday, Executive Coaching on the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays.
🔁 The monthly rhythm
| When | Session | Focus | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Tuesday · 1 PM | Executive Coaching (Carl / Lucy) | Content & technology | private |
| 2nd Tuesday | Monthly Board Meeting | Full board business | board |
| 3rd Tuesday · 1 PM | Executive Coaching (Carl / Lucy) | Venues, partners & membership | private |
| Sundays · 2–5 PM | Sunday Jazz Jams at Tesoro — new 8-week series (from Aug 23) | Programming | public |
📅 Key dates & 2026–27 season
| Date | Event | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 15, 2026 | Monthly Board Meeting (Zoom) — today | 🎩 Board |
| Aug 13, 2026 | Annual Meeting | ⭐ Signature |
| Aug 23, 2026 | 🎷 Sunday Jazz Jams open · Soulchild (2–5 PM · Tesoro, 4450 N Oracle) | 🎷 Season launch |
| Aug 30, 2026 | Sunday Jazz Jams at Tesoro · JazzMantics | 🎷 Sunday |
| Sep 6, 2026 | Sunday Jazz Jams · New Devotion (Motown) | 🎷 Sunday |
| Sep 13, 2026 | Sunday Jazz Jams · Hiram Perez | 🎷 Sunday |
| Sep 20, 2026 | Sunday Jazz Jams · Edna & Ely B | 🎷 Sunday |
| Sept 2026 | Green Valley event — fall quarterly tentpole | 🎷 Q event |
| June 2027 | Juneteenth partnership event — summer tentpole | 🎷 Q event |
| Apr 30, 2027 | International Jazz Day — expanded youth/student main event | 🎺 Signature |
| Jan 2027 | Reunion | 🎷 Event |
| Apr 2027 | International Jazz Day (AZ representative) | 🎺 Signature |
| Spring 2027 | Jazz Under the Stars | 🎷 Event |
| Summer 2027 | Gospel Brunch | 🎷 Event |
| Oct 2027 | CPAC | 🎷 Event |
| May/June | A-Cubed Events — "Where As, Jazz Is" performances | 🎓 Youth |
🕐 In-kind engagement log — sessions with Carl / TJS for the gift record
Pulled from the calendar & Zoom record to document the contribution. This is the backbone of the in-kind gift acknowledgment — the Society describes the gift; the donor sets its fair-market value.
| Date | Session | ~Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 10, 2026 | TJS Annual Board Meeting (Brother John's / Zoom) | 1.5 |
| Mar 24, 2026 | Genres/Jazz pilot planning w/ Nicole (Sprockit) | 0.5 |
| Apr 30, 2026 | International Jazz Day event @ Brother John's | 4.0 |
| May 2, 2026 | Kentucky Derby with TJS @ Brother John's | 3.5 |
| Jun 9, 2026 | Board Zoom (Carl, Valeene, John Aldecoa) | 1.5 |
| Jun 11, 2026 | Carl / Lucy working session | 1.0 |
| Jun 16, 2026 | Biweekly Coaching #1 — Day 1 of the 100-day trial | 1.0 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Biweekly Coaching #2 | 1.0 |
| Jul 15, 2026 | Monthly Board Meeting (today) | 1.0 |
| Documented meeting time | 9 sessions since March | ≈ 15 hrs |
Plus off-call production & systems work (website, email/MFA, YouTube, three interviews, this Command Center) — the bulk of the $4,500 in-kind value. See Transparency & In-Kind Offer.
Coins & Leaderboards
How the Society notices and thanks the people who show up. Three coins — LEARN It, LIVE It, SHARE It — and two boards: a private board for the team, a public board for the community. The weights are the strategy: the biggest payouts sit on whatever the Society most needs right now.
Learn It
Attend, take orientation, learn the music
Live It
Volunteer, bring a friend, join
Share It
Post, refer a sponsor, spread the word
👥 Team board sample
🎶 Community board sample
Blog & Media Library
Every blog, newsletter, and official poster we've created for the Society — in one place. Use the upcoming Sunday Jazz Jams lineup to keep the series rolling (moving to weekly now that we're leaning into a full season).
📝 Blogs & Newsletter — created so far
Click any card to read the full post right here — copy it straight into your blog or Brilliant Directories.
Executive Voice — "Turning the Page"
Carl Bedford, President · season-launch reflection. ready · read ↗
Health & Community — "Jazz Is Good Medicine"
How live jazz keeps a community well. ready · read ↗
Spotlight — "A Home for the Music"
Thank-you to Brother John's & John Aldecoa. ready · read ↗
Newsletter #1 — August 2026
Full season-launch issue + "Looking Back" recap. ready · read ↗
Also created: the 3-interview gallery (Lyon · Burton · Bedford), the Where As, Jazz Is song library, and the Member Voice & Legacy form ↗. Draft new posts in the Content Studio composer.
🎨 Want full brand control? Use the Newsletter & Content Template Library ↗ — 6 designed HTML templates (Monthly Newsletter, Weekly Show, Blog Wrapper, Sponsor Appeal, Performer Spotlight, Carl's Corner). Preview, Copy HTML, and paste straight into Brilliant Directories or your email tool.
🖼️ Sunday Jazz Jams — Official Posters
Every Sunday, 2–5 PM · Tesoro Latin Kitchen & Cantina, 4450 N Oracle Rd, Tucson. (Posters render on the deployed site.)
Soulchild
Aug 23 · opening day
JazzMantics
Aug 30
New Devotion (Motown)
Sep 6
Hiram Perez
Sep 13
Edna & Ely B
Sep 20
📆 Weekly Blog Series — build it out from the lineup
One band-spotlight post per show — write it from the poster + a short chat with the artist. This is the engine that takes the blog weekly.
| Sunday | Band | Spotlight post to write | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 23 | Soulchild | "Meet Soulchild — Opening the Season at Tesoro" | draft next |
| Aug 30 | JazzMantics | "JazzMantics Bring the Groove — Sunday Jazz Jams" | planned |
| Sep 6 | New Devotion (Motown) | "Motown Sunday — New Devotion Takes the Stage" | planned |
| Sep 13 | Hiram Perez | "Hiram Perez — A Tucson Voice in the Jams" | planned |
| Sep 20 | Edna & Ely B | "Edna & Ely B Close Out September" | planned |
Weekly rhythm: each week = 1 band-spotlight blog + a social post (compose both in Content Studio) + the poster (above) + a Member Voice capture from the artist (form ↗). Five weeks banked = a real series.
🎤 New — Performer Spotlight form. Send each upcoming band the Performer Spotlight form ↗ before their show. They fill in a few fun "get to know us" prompts + their links, and it instantly builds a "Get to Know [Band] 🎷" promo blog + a matching social post — pre-loaded with their Sunday Jazz Jams date at Tesoro. Turns each artist into a following-builder for TJS.
Content Studio
Your content hub — the editorial calendar, a blog & social post composer, and quick links to every toolkit page we've built. Plan it, write it, post it.
🧰 The Toolkit — every page, one place
🎷 Season Launch Kit
Framed announcements, monthly template & the sponsorship package.
✍️ August Content Pack
3 finished blogs + the full August newsletter, ready to publish.
🎙️ Member Voice & Legacy form
One form → a blog spotlight + a Legacy Book page.
🎤 Performer Spotlight form
Send to any band → auto-builds a fun "Get to Know Us" promo blog + social post.
🎨 Newsletter & Content Templates
6 brand-owned HTML templates — copy & paste into your site or email. Full design control.
🔌 WordPress Embed Kit
Put the Command Center on theforceforhealth.com.
✉️ Email Campaigns
Newsletter & segments — sends as your own domain.
🎨 Brand Maker & Canva
Brand card + direct links to the TJS Canva folders.
🗓️ Editorial Calendar
What publishes when. Newsletter monthly (Aug 1 → Jul 31), two blogs a month, social around every show & announcement.
| When | Piece | Type | Owner |
|---|
Add your own rows in the composer below — anything you compose can be slotted onto the plan.
✏️ Blog & Social Composer
Write once, publish everywhere. Enter your piece, pick channels, and it formats a blog draft plus ready-to-paste social posts with character counts.
Email Campaigns
The monthly newsletter and blasts — sent as the Society's own domain (thetucsonjazzsociety.com), never as a vendor. Lists, tags, and segments so the right message reaches the right people.
✉️ Monthly Newsletter
Ties the two monthly blogs to the interview gallery + Tawana's photos. first issue in design
🏷️ Segments to build
- Members (by plan)
- Sponsors & donors
- Scholarship supporters
- Sunday regulars
Sending as your own domain takes three DNS records and protects deliverability — so newsletters keep landing in inboxes, not spam. Wired up as part of the website connection task.
Admin — who sees what
Show, hide, and preset the sections. A new volunteer shouldn't land in all 24 tabs — give them a focused starter view. Toggle a section below and watch the sidebar update live.
Section visibility
Turnover note that ships with every install
When a member is seated or leaves, edit the access list and the view follows. That list is the access-control roster. No shared passwords, ever.