250 Votes In 32 Days

Mission Main Street Grants® is a grant program by Chase to award twenty (20) small businesses with grants of $100,000 and in an unusual twist for our field, the program is open to for-profit businesses only. As such, I’ve submitted an application for The Venture Platform and I need your help to reach the program’s initial threshold of obtaining 250 unique votes before June 19, 2015.

Once we reach that goal, the application moves on to a panel review process where grant recipients will be announced in September, 2015. Here is the low-down on program details:

Who Is Involved?

Mission Main Street Grants® by Chase

What Are They Doing?

Awarding twenty (20) small businesses with grants of $100,000. In order to qualify, applicants must first receive 250 unique votes.

Where Can You Vote?

https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/b/25397. You do need a valid Facebook account in order to vote and Chase will not access any information other than a Facebook ID to authenticate voting.

Step 1 - click the blue "Vote Now" button.
Step 1
Step 2 - log in with your Facebook account.
Step 2
Step 3 - click the gray "Vote Now" button. This step may not be entirely self evident but after you click the gray button, your vote should register.
Step 3

  1. Click the blue “Vote Now” button.
  2. Log in with your Facebook account.
  3. Click the gray “Vote Now” button. This step may not be entirely self evident but after you click the gray button, your vote should register.

When Should You Vote?

Before June 19, 2015, 11:59:59 p.m. ET so don’t wait, vote today!

Why Should You Vote?

Since the Mission Main Street Grants® began in 2012 a number of worthy business have been selected but none of them are geared toward providing services dedicated to performing arts organizations and artists. But we can help change all of that in 2015 by making sure a small business that designed to cater to the needs of arts orgs and artists crosses the initial threshold for consideration.

What Happens If Venture Is Awarded A Grant?

The bulk of post-tax funds will be directed toward hiring additional programmers to strengthen core code and expand on our existing arts field focused proprietary features and functionality. We’ll also introduce a brand new senior position dedicated to account management along with upgrading our hosting environment (which will help us manage legacy costs) and expanding service offerings in the content relationship management sector.

At Venture, we’re dedicated to filling these positions with individuals who are traditionally underrepresented in each area, such as women programmers.

I’d like to believe we can reach the 250 threshold within 48 hours so please accept my advance thanks for taking the time to not only vote but encourage friends and colleagues to do the same. It would be fantastic to be among the first businesses to cross that mark so let’s demonstrate what arts advocacy is all about!

If you have any additional questions you want to ask before voting, feel free to submit one as a comment, reach out via email, or through Facebook and Twitter.

Venture Flyer

Venture Flyer

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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