Favorite Music/Audio related charities

[alexdingley]

Hi there!

This is a two part post: one, I'm looking for charities... two, it's really fun to share info about the impact of volunteering & charity work.

I manage my company's charitable contribution work, and we tend to donate a bunch of money (each year) to the charities that mean the most to our employees. I have lots of non-music related charities that I donate to each year, but I don't know many (other Than "Music Cares") in our space. Are there any charities that you all care about? Please reply with them below / share a little about what they do and if you've ever volunteered with them.

[alexdingley]

It looks like Cory at Seventh Circle Audio put together a GoFundMe to get metal stoves bought/made in Ukraine, so that's a nice thing to donate to.

[The Scum]

A few entities I've given to in the past spring to mind:

My local independent FM music stations. We have an NPR-adjacent station that plays locally programmed music - I think the only syndicated show they have is World Cafe on the overnights. We've also got one of the few dedicated Jazz stations in the country. When I try to listen to commercial radio anymore, I can't stand the commercials....so the commercial-free stations gets my support.

Jail Guitar Doors - Wayne Kramer's 501c3, with a mission to teach music to the incarcerated.

Youth On Record - the Flobots organization that runs a community center in Denver, again with an emphasis music & arts.

Girls Rock Denver - giving teenage girls an environment away from teenage boys to explore music and creativity (my description, not theirs). Girls Rock has a number of independent chapters around the country - there might be one near you. The Denver one (at least before the pandemic) runs a summer camp, and they have a bunch of donated instruments. I used to help coordinate a prep day for that - make sure guitars are strung & playable, repair some cables, sort out which parts go to which drumset, etc.

(And just found this: https://www.girlsrockphilly.org)

[The Scum]

One more:

The Georgia Tech Foundation - with a note specifically identifying Dr Lanterman's outreach in the synthesizer-DIY community.

[digitaldrummer]

I donate to this one (because it's important), but I think it is focused (limited?) to serving the central-Texas area only at this time.

https://simsfoundation.org/

[Nick Sevilla]

Not a specific charity, but I did donate to these people:

https://www.rpmchallenge.com/

When you sign up, towards the end, you can donate to their thing.

[mjau]

I donate to the Bob Moog Foundation, and recently learned about Emily Lazar’s new-ish endeavor, We Are Moving the Needle.

[drumsound]

Musicares the charity arm of the Grammys is pretty great. Garges might have lost his house without them when he was diagnosed with cancer.