We provide grant-writing services to clients whose ideas and goals we share in the areas of music performance, music education, and services for musicians and artists. We assist our clients in obtaining sponsorships and funding opportunities, including public, private, governmental, and educational foundations as well as corporate branding opportunities.

We intend to help arts and educational organizations that help musicians, music education, and music entrepreneurial efforts in New Orleans, unite grants and seek scholarships.

• We believe in assisting individuals and organizations in Orleans Parish who are engaged in efforts to educate and assist the local musician, music education and music entrepreneurship communities in their efforts to raise money through grant applications and sponsorship opportunities.
• We believe in a targeted approach to solving a client’s funding issues through a careful analysis of the client’s goals and the goals of potential funding agencies.
• We believe in the importance of the pursuits of our clients as they aid segments of the arts and education communities and in the pre-eminence of these efforts.
• Our business and personal dealings, agreements, and relationships will be conducted in the highest ethical manner.
• We believe in client service and treat our customers and their audiences with the highest level of respect beginning with the profession demeanor and expertise of our employees.
• We believe in the preeminence of the artist and the creative enterprise and from this our inspiration comes.

• Work closely with the Institutional Advancement office of Loyola and other member schools of the Consortium
• Conduct ourselves as a corporate entity operating in accordance with best business practices in our relationships with customers and the broader market place.
• Create a managerial structure in conjunction with the advisory councils, business and legal consultants, and faculty/staff oversight, a structure run by students.
• Use our efforts and our talents to help rebuild the local entertainment industry infrastructure and serve the artists, musicians and entrepreneurial community.
• Expand our client base through a thorough investigation of the market place, a reputation for reliable and innovative services, and a determination to help our client’s achieve success.
• Create a marketing plan that is Internet-centric and dependent on social networking, using all Internet resources available. Develop innovative approaches.
• Integrate the national “advisory” council (one for every EU)
• Develop a culture of oversight and accountability.
• Adjust, amend, or change this strategic plan and to adopt it by popular vote as the guiding document of the enterprise.
• Define all steps in the services provided and assign individual responsibility accordingly.
• Build a multi-media website that encourages social networking and educates as well as informs our customers, clients, and audiences.
• Create a mechanism for measuring our success.
• Write a code of ethics for our relationship to our artists, our customers, our co-workers, and our broader community.
• We want to apply the theoretical knowledge gained from the classroom environment to the actual experience of “doing it” and to perfect our understanding of the process through focused and informed experience.

Loyola University will own 100% of the Grants and Sponsorship Company but will not receive any salary for doing such. The profits made by the company’s efforts will be used to pay the employees (70% of income) and the remaining profits (30% of income) will be used to fund the growing business as necessary, increasing the quality of available products. Due to the fact that the Grants and Sponsorship Company will not need any outside money to start the company, there are no other investors involved in the Grants and Sponsorship Company.

Key Management of the Grants and Sponsorship Company
The faculty/staff advisor to this EU is Merrit Shallett. The Small Business Development Corporation will assign a local business person as a consultant to this EU. Members of our Advisory Councils who are in the live sound industries will act as an Advisory sub-committee for this EU, making themselves available for questions, internship, and placement opportunities.

The student governance and HR structure will be determined by the character of the services to be rendered, what processes are involved, what equipment will be required, etc. The services of this particular EU imply the following responsibilities: management, research, writing, financial/business affairs, etc. All functions need to be listed, described in detail, and delegated to group/company members.

Members of the student entertainment and sports law club at the College of Law have agreed to act as legal counsel for the company. We hope to involve an MBA student from either Tulane or Loyola as a peer mentor/consultant to the company.

These students will be trained on the job, as well as through their courses provided at Loyola University. The functions to be staffed include:
• Provide grant-writing services
• Financial accounting and billing
• Payroll

Professional Advisors
The Grants and Sponsorship Company will use Loyola University’s accountant and attorney if it becomes necessary. The Grants and Sponsorship Company will not be required to pay for these services due to the fact that they are covered in the financial obligations of Loyola University to the student-run company.

WHAT IS A MARKTING PLAN? One definition of a marketing plan states that, “A marketing plan is a written document containing the guidelines for the business unit’s marketing programs and allocations over the planning period.” (Lehman and Winer 2002) The marketing plan can and should be an essential document for organizational success. A well thought out marketing plan should:
• act as a road map.
• assist in management control and implementation of strategy.
• inform new participants of their roles in implementing the plan and reaching objectives.
• assist in helping to obtain resources for implementation.
• stimulate thinking and better use of limited resources.
• help in the organization and assignment of responsibilities, tasks, and timing.
• help you become aware of problems, opportunities, and threats in the future
-(Cohen 2001)

The marketing plan is an operational document that is created at the business level of the organization. The plan may address a multiple year time horizon but it should be reviewed and updated on an annual basis. Plans tend to fall into one of two categories: a new product/service introduction plan or an annual marketing plan that addresses products and/or services that are already in your company portfolio.
View the complete document

Faculty/Staff Advisor: (name, email, profile)

State Small Business Development Corporation Advisor:

MBA Advisor:

Law School Advisor:

Local Executive Mentor:

Student Management:
President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Business Affairs:
Marketing/Sales:
Operations:
Technology:

Honorary Advisory Board:

Parental Advisors:

We created business plans for each of the entrepreneurial units but they are not complete in several respects. There's no marketing plan, for example, but there is an outline of what is generally in a marketing plan. Other aspects of the plan will have to be developed by the EU's themselves. The plan we have created is to give everyone in the EU a general idea of how to structure a company, what we think this company does, what it believes in, what its mission is, what its goals are, some personnel considerations, and some general information about financial plans, marketing plans, and compensation questions. The EU should use this plan as a guide to creating a detailed and inclusive plan of their own.

The reality is, the EU's have a very large, funded client from whom they can make a steady income for the next 2 years. That client is The Center for Music and Arts Entrepreneurship. The Center actually houses the EU program and is responsible for its operation and results. The Center is also responsible for creating multi-media content (seminars, clinics, forums, lectures, events, performances, documentaries, television programming, etc.) that will aid the local music, music education, and music entrepreneurship communities, as well as the member schools of the New Orleans Music, Entertainment, and Education Consortium (Dillard, Delgado, UNO, and Loyola).

The EU's will be doing the work of producing, video taping, recording, marketing, broadcasting, advertising, selling, distributing, and otherwise involved with the production and distribution of the content. All of these activities are budgeted and the EU's will be offered the opportunity of providing the services needed, and they will be compensated.

Download the Business Plan HERE