From playing an instrument to singing a song to dancing offbeat to your favorite tune, music has that universal ability to connect with everyone and brands know it,” Jennifer Dunn says.
The director of corporate sponsorship and special events for VH1 Save the Music Foundation, which is dedicated to restoring music programs in America’s public schools, has produced hundreds of events, ranging from intimate cocktail parties and citywide school performances to seated galas, and has earned a reputation (along with an Emmy, Peabody, and other awards) for organizing pitch-perfect experiences.
The foundation’s efforts have paid off. So far, it has provided $51 million worth of new musical instruments to more than 1,900 public schools in more than 192 school districts across the country.
“Music is our brand, and it is what lures people to donate, take action, and participate,” she says.
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In 2014, after an almost seven-year hiatus, Dunn and her team resurrected the foundation’s Hamptons fund-raiser with an exclusive concert at the private home of a supporter as a way to bring a music festival vibe to the East Coast beach community. “This event was a huge success for VH1 Save the Music, and ever since we have looked to grow the concert into the foundation’s main tent-pole event of the year and to come up with new and unique ways to do events on a larger scale,” Dunn says. “To address this need, VH1 Save the Music will be giving our followers a second-screen experience through the development of unique, compelling online content in conjunction with all of our events.”
Dunn, 39, predicts that original content and storytelling (in her case, through music) will help fuel fund-raising efforts in the future.
“We’re entering into uncharted territory and are focusing on crafting narratives with the content that we as a foundation own and create. We want to amplify everything that we do, as music has the universal ability to connect with everyone.”
Bringing supporters together—whether online or in person—remains at the heart of charitable giving, and Dunn is consistently cooking up new initiatives, like the Musically Mastered Menu. The three-city tour kicked off in Nashville in late April and includes exclusive pop-up dinner parties featuring local fare and tunes; each event pairs a chef with chart-topping musicians for a one-of-a-kind experience.
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