Jay Blum

As the Executive Director of the Blum Family Foundation, I've spent the last seven years, + the eight years prior, building something I'm genuinely proud of; a stronger, more sustainable organization that's grown its impact while becoming smarter about how it operates.

On the financial side, I've reduced overall expenses by 28% and streamlined operational efficiency by 64%, not by cutting corners, but by asking hard questions about where resources were actually going and making deliberate choices about where they should. Those decisions freed up capacity to invest in the work that matters most.

I've deepened the Foundation's relationship with its donors in ways that go well beyond the annual ask. Existing donor contributions have grown by 31%, and we've built a Legacy Gift program that has already secured $11.3 million in bequests, which is a reflection of the trust donors place in the Foundation's mission and its future. I cultivate those relationships continuously, whether with individual donors, government officials, strategic partners, or community organizations, because I know that funding follows trust.

Internally, I've worked hard to build a culture where people want to stay and do their best work. Staff turnover has dropped by 19%, and I attribute that to being intentional about hiring, training, and creating an environment where collaboration is the norm rather than the exception.

I've also become a more visible public advocate for the Foundation's mission, increasing speaking engagement requests by 74%, all while overseeing marketing, new program development, communications, and risk management to keep the organization protected, compliant, and positioned for growth.

For eight years, I led fundraising for a kidney health foundation and every single year, we exceeded our fundraising goals. What started at $1.4 million grew to $2.2 million raised, not through luck, but through relationships built carefully over time with donors, volunteers, lawmakers, staff, and partner organizations. Beating our targets by an average of 5.5% annually wasn't a metric I chased but the natural result of people believing in the work and wanting to be part of it. A lot of that work happened in rooms where the stakes were high. I lobbied state and federal legislators to increase funding and expand their sponsorship and engagement with current and up-coming kidney-focused policies. I also cultivated strategic alliances with multinational organizations in our space that gave the Foundation a stronger voice, greater reach, and political clout using trust built at scale.

I stayed close to the people doing the work; donors, volunteers, and community members, and made sure their feedback actually landed with staff and leadership. I kept meticulous financial records, managed projects from first idea to final wrap, and found ways to streamline operations so we could focus more energy on the mission and less on friction.

When the founding Executive Director retired and after an exhaustive internal and external search, the board promoted me into that role. That transition said something I'm proud of: that the relationships, the credibility, and the institutional knowledge I'd built over nearly a decade were worth investing in.

I've spent my early career, as a C-Suite Marketing Consultant, helping organizations figure out who they are and how to tell that story, then building the infrastructure to make it last. That's meant rolling up my sleeves on everything from grassroots word-of-mouth campaigns to national initiatives with multi-million dollar budgets, and finding what actually moves people in each context.

I've led market research that didn't stop at the surface data, but helped organizations understand what they stood for and who they were trying to reach. From there, I worked with creative and editorial teams to build the content, communications, and campaigns that brought those identities to life across digital channels, print, billboards, and in-person experiences. One campaign grew a client's customer base by more than 375%.

I'm comfortable thinking at the strategic level and getting into the details. I've managed annual marketing budgets upwards of $11 million, designed national outreach initiatives, and evaluated competitive landscapes to keep strategies sharp and responsive. When markets shifted, I shifted with them.

A large part of my work was building capacity; teaching organizations how to run, monitor, and measure their own campaigns so they're not dependent on outside help to sustain momentum. I've helped clients develop entirely new products and services in under served market segments, generating 300% growth in new market share.

What ties it all together is a belief that the best marketing isn't just promotion but community-building. And that's the kind of work I'm most drawn to.