Synopsis:
There is a real disconnect between what non-profits do and their ability to do it. That’s why the average stay in non-profits for an executive director is roughly three years. This book is written for all non-profit leaders and those wishing to become non-profit leaders. The first 100 days of new leadership defines the organization. This book contains an easy-to-understand formula for success based on establishing leadership, mission, and vision within the organization. With the proper use of the 100 days “honeymoon period,” you can succeed. Zoot Velasco, CFRE, has raised more than $10 million for a variety of small cultural and youth education non-profits. He is not an academic but has worked in the trenches in non-profit mission building. He has helped dozens of non-profits raise funds, start and grow, plan big projects including new buildings and increase programs. Organizations he led as interim director had astounding growth. In his five years managing the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, Calif., the organization more than doubled its funding; tripled its programs, patrons and membership; and increased education programs by more than 800% and performing arts audiences by more than 2200% during the worst economy since the Great Depression. “The Muck” has won several prestigious regional awards. During his 30- year career, Zoot Velasco has worked with small arts non-profits as a director, artist, funder, board member, founder, and consultant.
About the Author:
Zoot’s life is defined by one event. At 10 days old, Zoot was burned over 80% of his body in a house fire. He spent the next five years living in a hospital and had over a hundred surgeries before graduating high school. Despite losing all the muscles in his right leg below the knee, he made a 12-year career as a professional break dancer, mime, actor and storyteller. He received a bachelor’s degree in dance from St. Mary’s College. He also holds professional designations in arts education, fundraising, management and conflict resolution. He has appeared in commercials, films and television shows with Michael Jackson, Prince, Arsenio Hall, James Cameron, and many others; and toured his one-man shows internationally at venues such as the Kennedy Center, The National Theater, Wolf Trap, The Music Center, Japan’s Canal City and Spoleto International Theater Festival. His passion for teaching brought him to schools, juvenile halls, prisons, malls and hospitals under 16 grants and numerous commissions. His three years of arts residencies with gang members in prisons and schools culminated in co-creating the 1992 California Arts Council-Los Angeles Riot Recovery Program in Watts and the 1994 Los Angeles Earthquake Recovery Program with the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. He transferred from artist to administrator when for six years he managed a prison arts program creating the first inmate music CDs produced in prison, the first youth deterrent program in the form of a play, and handmade books in museum collections at the Getty, Hammer and Library of Congress. In 2000, he managed all cultural programs in the Harbor area and opened four new art centers for the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. A Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), he has raised more than $10 million dollars for various non-profits. In 2007, he became the Executive Director of the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, Calif., doubling the budget and tripling the organization in just three years during the worst depression since the 1930s. He received a Community Leadership Fellowship award from the state of California and a City of Pasadena Fellowship and commendations from the cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Ventura, Oxnard, and Fullerton for his community work. He has authored plays, poems and coauthored the book “The Muckenthaler Cultural Center” (from the “Images of America” series, published by Arcadia Publishing).
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