GOLD2023

North Jersey Blues Society

Supporting live music; keeping it local

Ringwood, NJ   |  https://www.northjerseybluessociety.org/

Mission

The North Jersey Blues Society (NJBS) was founded to celebrate the heritage of blues music as a valued indigenous American art form through the unity of the blues community comprised of fans, musicians, society members, venues, other non-profits, and business owners who will collaborate and promote the blues in Northern New Jersey.​ As a community leader providing the music and the arts, the NJBS priorities include: • Promoting the performance of local and national blues musicians with a devoted interest in American Roots Music in Northern New Jersey • Offering blues artists and audiences artistic programming and venue performance opportunities. • Providing educational opportunities to increase awareness of blues music and its founding artists by targeting the history of the blues and it

Ruling year info

2022

President

Cristy Benvenutti

Main address

PO Box 368

Ringwood, NJ 07456 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

88-0897682

NTEE code info

Professional Societies, Associations (A03)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.

Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Preserving blues heritage and expanding awareness of the blues is a high priority for the North Jersey Blues Society and the blues community, yet there are limited opportunities for the elder artists to provide these services.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

NJBS Priorities:

Promoting the performance of local and national blues musicians with a devoted interest in American Roots Music in the Northern New Jersey

Offering blues artists and audiences artistic programming and venue opportunities.

Providing educational opportunities to increase awareness of blues music and art by targeting the history of blues and artistic impact of blues music world-wide.

Population(s) Served

Where we work

Affiliations & memberships

Blues Foundation 2022

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

As a community leader providing the music and arts, the NJBS goals and priorities include:

​Promoting the performance of local, regional, and national blues musicians with a devoted interest in American roots and blues music in Northern New Jersey by offering blues artists and audiences artistic programming and venue performance opportunities to the blues community.

Preserving and increasing awareness of blues by providing educational opportunities for blues music and its founding artists by targeting the history of blues and the artistic impact of blues music worldwide to the blues community.​

Bring blues musicians to New Jersey and preserve original folk storytelling through recorded video interviews, to enable quarterly live performances to increase awareness of the blues, and to record the performances to ensure future generations are given the opportunity to see and listen to these original folk storytellers.

Develop Blues in Schools program by partnering with Blues Alive and the Blues Foundation

Increase revenues by:
- Obtain grants (local, regional, state and federal)
- Expand sponsorships
- Expand memberships

Grants have been submitted to private foundations, as well as state agencies
Membership drives are ongoing

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

North Jersey Blues Society
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

North Jersey Blues Society

Board of directors
as of 09/24/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Cristy Benvenutti

Vincent Barcelona

Stratus Foods

Doug Sohn

AERCO International, Inc.

Joe Foti

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Not applicable
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Not applicable
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Not applicable
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 7/5/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 09/24/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
Policies and processes
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.