Jayme Development is a boutique consulting practice focused on helping small businesses, social enterprises, and nonprofits get the fundraising, marketing, and communications support they need to thrive. The business was officially launched as a full-time practice in early 2020, on the crest of the COVID pandemic, seeing a pressing need for organizations with lean budgets to engage expert ad hoc help to increase their visibility and revenue in an unpredictable era.
The practice is built upon invaluable learnings from two decades of leadership in lean organizations. The founder, Jen Jayme, has previously served in leadership roles at prominent local and national social impact agencies including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Community Action Marin, Hispanic Scholarship Fund, St. Vincent de Paul Society, and Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, and consulted with numerous organizations such as the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Nature Conservancy of Washington, and Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Jen has raised millions of dollars for great causes, through multidisciplinary work including:
- Capital campaigns and campaign planning studies,
- Grantwriting and reporting for government, corporate and private funders,
- Corporate sponsorship programs,
- Individual giving and major gift programs,
- Special events of all kinds, from conferences to galas,
- New brand strategies and marketing campaigns (digital, print and outdoor),
- Overhauling websites, and installing and upgrading donor databases,
- and publications from white papers and annual reports to newsletters, blogs and op eds.
Among her core competencies are fundraising strategy and leadership, funder/opportunity identification, writing and graphic design. Along the way, Jen has also gained valuable programmatic expertise which contributes to strong proposals in youth development, education, workforce development, STEM ecosystems, neurodiversity, homelessness, and trauma-informed care.
To staff a busy consulting practice, Jayme Development sometimes engages ad hoc support from a rich network of talented professionals and support staff. When possible, she trains college students and people in need of workforce training to contribute to projects, ensuring high quality with close supervision. Each project is personally overseen by Jen.
The practice is now expanding into full-stack web development. Jen has frequently served as a resident tech whiz, web administrator, and database architect, and recently deepened her technical skills at an intensive coding boot camp. Proficiencies include Adobe Creative Suite, Javascript, React, APIs, WordPress, Bootstrap, and database architectures such as MySql, Salesforce, and Blackbaud/RENXT.
Personally influenced by childhood years spent in an impoverished inner-city projects in Boston, followed by high school years in affluent Marin County, Jen has a passion for creating socioeconomic, racial and gender equity and remains active in community service. She has served as a Big Sister, as the founding Director of Camp Invention in Marin, and in various board and volunteer roles. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the San Jose Middle School Site Council.
Jen holds a B.A. in English with Honors and a Certificate in Full-Stack Web Development from U.C. Berkeley. She lives in Marin County, Northern California, with her husband and 11-year-old son, and enjoys snowboarding, baking, reading, volunteering and supporting her son’s martial arts pursuits.