*References

References

Rick Caruso
CEO
Caruso
rcaruso@caruso.com

Collaborated on myriad initiatives with their organization over 30 years, creating meaningful branding, multi-media, and event successes.

.

Lewis Horne
Senior Managing Director
Southern California Region, CBRE
lew.horne@cbre.com

Produced a multitude of successful initiatives for CBRE over the past 20 years, elevating the brand, culture, and standards of excellence.

.

Bill McGregor
CEO
McGregor and Company

(One of the leading developers and architectural firms in Los Angeles, developing many of Los Angeles’ celebrated offices, multi-use housing, and homes.)

Collaborated with Bill to build one of the most successful public-private partnerships in Los Angeles Recreation and Parks in many years.

.

Sean Burnett
Director of Marketing
Pepperdine

Have created and am creating numerous initiatives impacting Pepperdine’s brand, culture, events, traditions, and fundraising efforts.

Ed Wilson
Dreamcatcher Media/Fifth Partner’s Growth Fund
edwilson19@gmail.com

.

Please contact me for cell phone information or for any other contact information.

Below are a handful of case studies of recent initiatives where I strategically and emotionally engaged audiences—impacting its brand, its culture, and oftentimes its fundraising.

PEPPERDINE

Opportunity:

I had successfully produced initiatives impacting their university’s brand and fundraising efforts.

One initiative was that Pepperdine didn’t have an Alma Mater. 

I wrote and produced a song that spoke to the unique attributes of its culture and mission.  The song has quickly become engrained into the fabric of the university; playing at all core events by its orchestra, choirs, in pop versions—and in a multitude of fundraising and marketing campaigns.

Pepperdine
Wave of Flags

Last year, I became involved in this wonderful perennial Pepperdine tradition with the intention of raising the event’s bar.

I was responsible for reimagining the ‘experience’ of the flags; where individuals and families would come to the lawn to write messages on an individual flag—meant for one of the 9-11 victims. The messages people of all ages wrote were so moving—and images of these messages spread virally on social media.

I was able to secure actor Chris Pratt to MC the event.

He drew national press attention to the event, which was attended by a full crowd. He gave an extraordinary speech. Maria Shriver and other family members also attended.

His social media posts about the event garnered the largest media exposure Pepperdine has ever had in the university's history.

Great for the families writing notes, great for Pepperdine, great for Los Angeles, great for our country.

MS SOCIETY
Dinner of Champions/Los Angeles

Opportunity:
The MS Society in Los Angeles had a yearly event that, for many years, averaged a $60,000 profit.

They engaged me to Produce the event—top-to-bottom. I picked the venue; organized the fundraising team; shot, produced and edited the videos; created all the graphics and marketing for the event; produced every aspect of the evening’s event; wrote the speeches for the majority of participants; wrote and produced original music for the event; and directed the show.

We raised $1,400,000., the largest raise in the history of the event.

The event and show were enormously successful —for all the participants and attendees—in a very emotional evening.

.

For the following year…

In a sell-out event at the Wilshire Ballroom, we topped campaign all-time highs, raising $1,650,000 for MS Society.

The event gathered a who's-who of Los Angeles’ business influencers and leaders.

The emotional show was full of bells and whistles, with celebrity performances, original songs, and many other highlights.

Incredibly memorable night—significantly raising the bar for MS Society on many metrics.

UC MERCED

Opportunity:
UC Merced is a relatively new California university—growing exponentially. They needed an Alma Mater that captured their unique culture and story.

They engaged me, and their new Alma Mater has already been soundly woven into the university's cultural literacy and tapestry.

I introduced the song for the first time at their yearly event for hundreds of their largest donors.

Before introducing me and their new Alma Mater, the Chancellor told the donors they had a strong year—but they were $1,500,000 short of fundraising goals.

The Chancellor introduced me to the stage to play the song—along with a notable singer I flew up to sing the song.

By the end of the song, many in the crowd were emotional.

A donor stood up with tears pouring down his face and wept to the Chancellor, “I’ll give you your $1,500,000.”

The Chancellor stood up, gave me a “thumbs up,” and said to me and the crowd, “That’s what I call an Alma Mater.”

It’s been a joyous ride for the university ever since…

A graduation ceremony for one of its schools singing along with their Alma Mater…

VETERANS GARDENS
Pacific Palisades, California

Opportunity:

My hometown of Pacific Palisades, California has one primary park—heavily used by families and the community. Ironically, the largest growing population in our town is senior citizens. With city funding challenges, parks are in dire conditions. In our park, a large portion of the park was primarily dirt.

I spearheaded a town campaign to create Veterans Gardens, raising $3,000,000 from Palisadians to create a large section of our own “park” featuring three world-class bocce courts.

Now, three years later, 965 Palisadians play in bocce leagues in the park—creating belonging for countless seniors. It has created a sense of community and engagement in an ongoing activity for the community that is unprecedented in our town.

I founded and run every aspect of the marketing, new media, programming, fundraising and operations of the Veterans Gardens initiative.

For these efforts, I was named “Citizen of the Year.”

Here’s a video celebrating the bocce league.

.

SMU

Opportunity:

The Distinguished Alumni Awards event was an opportunity to emotionally remind and inspire our exceptional audience of alumni and donors how spectacular SMU is.

I wrote the music and lyrics to “SMU Forever,” and I edited and produced the video. I worked with a singer from the music department to sing the song “live”—against the video track that night.

For further information, please reach me at:

Jimmy Dunne
310 529 1400
james@inspireentertainment.com