Tom Camacho

Tom Camacho is a contract grant-writer and a fundraiser. Prior to these roles, he was a non-profit management and strategic planning consultant and a curriculum coordinator with a background in arts-based and social service organizations. His specialties lie with grassroots, small to mid-sized non-profit organizations in areas of organizational development, fiscal evaluation, strategic planning, board development, fund-raising and curriculum development and alignment to regional educational learning standards. He was contracted with over 40 non-profit arts and social service organizations both in Chicago and nationally and aided 11 organizations with acquisition of their non-profit status. 

Over a ten-year period, one of his core efforts was acting as an advocate for the integration of arts-based curriculum in Chicago Public Schools. His efforts resulted in the development of many curriculum-based arts programs that are currently operating in many Chicago area schools. He is committed to bettering the lives of individuals and communities by expanding their knowledge of, and access to, vehicles of change particularly as they apply to attaining basic sustained needs and expanding their living situations. He aided MAP International, an international medical organization, with a fundraiser as part of the Georgia Marathon to raise money for four global areas in need. Along with regional directors from Kenya, Uganda and South America he networked for funding for practical acquisition and distribution of medical supplies as related to needs and issues of indigenous people in at-risk and depleted areas. He was also part of the Lost Boys of Sudan project.

Tom is very dedicated to creating possibilities for youth particularly in the provision of cultural and arts-based education for low-income and at-risk communities. He believes that every child has the right to the best chance to achieve their potential; regardless of their socioeconomic condition, ethnicity, race, or what occurs at home. He began this work by founding The Serendipity Youth Theatre in 2000, a non-profit organization which in 2002-03 produced five productions in Chicago area schools including a collaborative Nutcracker that involved eight community organizations and had 120 youth performing on stage. At that same time, he developed a program for Nicholas Senn High School that led to the creation of a theater club which students operated entrepreneurially as a small theater company. Not only was this a partial solution to diminishing arts programming in the school, but students also learned core aspects of small business operation. A key result of this program was that four students ultimately attended universities; one for journalism at Brown. 

Since he began contracted work in 2006, Tom has aided over 40 organizations with a secured overall $4 million dollars in corporate, foundation, local municipal and national government support and has helped 11 attain their 501(c)3 status. He also has on-going dialog and relationships with multiple previous funders.

Prior to working independently, Tom served in the marketing department of the Joffrey Ballet and was a development coordinator for Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago where he increased foundation/corporate grant income by 42% with a garnered $450,000 over a two-year period. Tom holds a Master of Arts in Communication, Media and Theater from Northeastern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Arts and Media Management from the Columbia College Chicago.