Recommended Nonprofits for 2011 Holiday Giving
Below are some highlights from our annual list of recommended nonprofits that are working on lead issues to consider for the 2011 holiday giving season. Please let us know if you have any questions. Happy Holidays from the ATC staff!
SPOTLIGHT: Call To Action Music Videos
Current research shows that the numbers of Americans who are watching and sharing videos online via sites like YouTube and Vimeo has more than doubled over the last 5 years to a whopping 71 percent. Watching videos online now outranks social networking, online banking and other activities as the most frequent online activity.
As new features and capabilities are being added to video sharing sites including the ability to sell music, merch, tickets and more, it is clear the potential impact call to action music videos can have in raising awareness, generating funds or promoting action for a cause or issue an artist cares about–while at the same time promoting an artist’s music and brand.
Songs About Water & Land
ATC came up with a playlist of songs about water and land for a recent presentation about our work with musician’s on climate change and environmental issues. Here are some of our favorites:
Vote for Our SXSW 2012 Panels
It’s that time of year again. Please vote for ATC’s proposed panels on the official SXSW 2012 Panel Picker website or by clicking on the direct links below. Voting begins 8/15 and runs though 9/2. See below for panel descriptions and links. We have some really great content and speakers on board again this time around. 
It’s an Election Year!: http://bit.ly/mUK3nA
Go Green: Strategies For A More Sustainable Tour: http://bit.ly/pMNpFq
Responding to Natural Disasters: http://bit.ly/n1NRVH
East Africa Food Crisis-How You Can Help
The severe drought throughout East Africa has triggered a famine in Somalia, claiming thousands of innocent lives each day. Political instability, conflict and dysfunction in the area has only complicated relief efforts, but organizations are working to get humanitarian access to some of the hardest-hit areas.
With up to 11 million people in danger of starving to death, relief organizations are calling on the international community to donate the funds needed to get essential aid to those that are suffering.
Ways that you can provide immediate help:
1. Donate to Oxfam America, which has launched a major campaign to help the people affected by drought and famine in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia: http://bit.ly/nAx2f1.
ATC’s New App for Artists Helps Music Fans to “Go Green”
Fan transportation to and from venues constitutes the vast majority of carbon emissions on a tour—up to 85-90%. ATC has researched sustainable production and touring for several years presenting our findings and recommendations for a more sustainable tour to our network. During this time we have observed and evaluated many sustainable touring trends and have learned that – thanks to Radiohead’s pioneering research into fan transportation – encouraging fans to take public transportation and/or carpool is the single, most effective thing an artist can do to reduce the environmental impact of a tour.
U.S. Tornado Relief + Update on Japan Recommendations
Suggested text for sharing on Twitter/Facebook/Band sites – How to help: US tornado relief and Japan aid update http://bit.ly/kDYuSl #disasterrelief
TORNADO RELIEF
ATC has been monitoring response to the recent tornadoes that have ravaged parts of the Midwestern and Southern U.S. After researching what our philanthropy and aid experts advise (including advisers in disaster philanthropy and relief work) we recommend the following organizations. These groups are doing immediate relief and long-term rebuilding in the areas impacted by the flooding and tornadoes.
The BP Oil Spill One-Year Later: How You Can Help
This Wednesday, April 20th, 2011 will mark the 1-year anniversary of the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As that date approaches, we turned to our friends and colleagues at the Gulf Restoration Network (healthygulf.org), a New Orleans based environmental organization who have been following, monitoring, reporting and activating concerned citizens since day one of the disaster.
From today through the 20th sales from ATC’s Dear New Orleans digital benefit album will be dedicated to @HealthyGulf. http://bit.ly/dhYrNx. Help spread the word by tweeting, re-tweeting or posting this message to Facebook.
ATC AND TOPSPIN HELP MUSICIANS SUPPORT CHARITIES & NONPROFITS
A recent Topspin blog post highlights how ATC and Topspin having been working in partnership with several musicians to create successful and engaging social change campaigns. The post also notes some of the ways in which ATC can help to support artists in their efforts – helping to identify a beneficiary, collecting & delivering funds, managing compliance paperwork, evaluating the donation’s impact and more. Below is the original post showcasing some of the most successful case studies from the past year.
(Original post by Topspin can be found here: http://www.topspinmedia.com/case-studies-2/musicians-for-charity/)
BJÖRK + DIRTY PROJECTORS RELEASE “MOUNT WITTENBERG ORCA” BENEFIT ALBUM
ATC can finally tell you about this project we have been working on: Mount Wittenberg Orca. The seven song album can be purchased for a donation of $7, $25, $50 or $100 and all profits will benefit National Geographic Society Oceans Project. Apart from the initial strategizing and research, ATC will receive and re-grant the funds raised by this effort, manage compliance and conduct a thorough evaluation of the project and its impact.
BP OIL DISASTER STILL BLOWS
45 days later and there is still no end in sight for the BP oil disaster in Louisiana and the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Gulf Restoration Network, an organization we have worked closely with in New Orleans, is doing incredible and strategic work on the local, state and national level. They have an action-oriented website www.bpdrillingdisaster.org, and are
OUR 5 FAVORITE WAYS TO SUPPORT CHANGE ON TOUR
Touring season is upon us and ATC is working with many musicians and managers to implement strategies that support the causes and issues artists care about while on tour.
If you are touring band or active manager and would like more information about any of these activities, please contact us.
1. Voter Registration + Engagement For Midterm Elections
Musicians whose audiences includes women, people of color and/or young people have a huge role to play in encouraging fans to vote in the Midterm elections. Midterms are the elections between Presidential elections and include federal, state and local seats and initiatives and always suffer from low turnout. Research has shown us that musicians can help fans—many of which were groups of people, like young people, that were critical to the 2008 election–to return to the polls on Nov 2nd. Here is how:
BP OIL DRILLING DISASTER IN LOUISIANA: UPDATE FROM OUR PARTNERS IN NOLA
Aaron Viles, Campaign Director of Gulf Restoration Network, writes about the BP oil disaster, the environmental impact and how to take action.
[http://www.healthygulf.org/blog/|BP's Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico] Written by Aaron Viles, Friday, 30 April 2010 06:33
TIBET EARTHQUAKE RELIEF – RECOMMENDED ORGS AND WHAT YOU CAN DO
At approximately 7:40am, Wednesday, April 14th a 6.9 magnitude earthquake followed by several powerful aftershocks struck in eastern Tibet.
Media are reporting nearly 600 people killed and more than 10,000 injured. Tibetans with contacts in the area have heard the death toll may be as high as 4,000.
The following is a list of organizations that our colleagues at Students for a Free Tibet recommend. ATC staff knows many of these organizations well and have worked with a few of them in the past when producing the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. We will continue to monitor the situation and update accordingly.
HAITI UPDATE: TWO MONTHS LATER & HOW YOU CAN HELP
An informative editorial in today’s New York Times outlines the current status of the relief efforts and the major players.
It highlights the very small dent that has been made in the on-going relief efforts and what is still required.
The NY Times Editorial states:
”There are four main strands to the campaign to make sure 1.2 million homeless people are sheltered and safe as the weather turns fierce. All are inadequate…
CHILE 8.8 EARTHQUAKE
Six weeks after the devastation in Haiti, another deadly earthquake has struck Chile. Here is the update from our colleagues at Music for Relief:
Very early on Saturday the 27th of February 2010, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Chile, approx. 56 miles Northeast of the city of Concepcion (population 670,000), followed by hundreds of aftershocks and a tsunami which claimed over 800 lives. The government of Chile has reported that over 2 million people have been affected. Hundreds of thousands of homes have been destroyed as well as highways, bridges and other infrastructure. The extent of damage is still difficult to determine. As with most earthquakes, we expect to see immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support. Although this was a larger earthquake, since Chile is a developed country with a very capable government it is unlikely that this situation will be as severe as the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake last month.
REVERB LAUNCHES THE GREEN MUSIC GROUP
Reverb recently announced their latest project, Green Music Group, a coalition of musicians, industry leaders and music fans working for environmental change within the music industry and around the globe.
Reverb founder and Guster guitarist, Adam Gardner, recently wrote about the new venture for The Huffington Post and noted the inspiration behind the new organization:
Reverb feels very fortunate to be working with so many great individual talents in the music community and leaders in the non-profit environmental world. We recently realized that we were in the unique position to bring all aspects of the music community together into a powerful coalition.
HAITI EARTHQUAKE DISASTER RELIEF>> WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
Immediate Support: Established disaster recovery organizations and national governments have been mobilized. These organizations are also raising funds for relief efforts:
Oxfam: www.oxfam.org
Click here to donate.
Doctors Without Borders: www.doctorswithoutborders.org
Click here to donate.
Wyclef Jean’s Yele Foundation: www.yele.org
Click here to donate.
Long-term Support: Crucial recovery and rebuilding efforts are always under funded in comparison to immediate relief efforts. ATC will continue to research and resource the music community with organizations and projects working on long-term recovery efforts that have a long-standing, grassroots presence in Haiti. Here are three that have distributed staff in the country now and are well positioned to aid in the long-term recovery effort.
ATC’S RECOMMENDED NON-PROFITS FOR 2009 HOLIDAY GIVING
ATC’s recommended non-profits for giving include: Sweet Home New Orleans, The Roots of Music, Jail Guitar Doors, Energy Action Coalition, Students for a Free Tibet, Innocence Project, DonorsChoose, Future of Music, Heifer International and more…
Below is a list of ATC’s recommended non-profits for the 2009 holiday giving season. Please let us know if you have any questions. Happy Holidays from the ATC staff!
Arts Corps
Arts Corps is Seattle’s largest nonprofit arts organization working to inspire creative habits in young people through a passionate corps of teaching artists. They hire professional teaching artists who work with a variety of art disciplines and place them in school and after-school sites in the area. They have also been picked to lead the MusicianCorps Seattle pilot.
MUSIC SAVES MOUNTAINS
Country singers and other musicians including Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea and Big Kenny band together to stop mountaintop removal coal mining.
Music Saves Mountains is an artists’ initiative sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Gibson Foundation intended to help protect the Appalachian mountains from a form of strip mining called mountaintop removal.
The campaigns slogan “Let’s keep the ‘country’ in country music” speaks to the close connection that many country singers have to the songs, both new and old, written about or in the region.
MUSICIANS SOUND CALL FOR LOUISIANA WETLANDS
On Nov. 6th, Vodoo Fest, two NOLA based environment groups sent a letter with 200+ Musicians asking President Obama to commit to Gulf wetlands and urging him to take action to save Louisiana’s coastal wetlands.
Current stats have Louisiana losing a football field of wetlands every 45 minutes, “due to the impacts of levees and jetties built on the Mississippi River and exacerbated by the tens of thousands of miles of oil and gas canals dredged through the coastal zone”.
You can read the letter and more on the issue here: Musicians Letter to President Obama: Sound Call for Louisiana Wetlands
LIVE EARTH + THE TIBETAN FREEDOM CONCERTS: MUSIC’S ABILITY TO INFLUENCE
A recent study on the impact of the 2007 Live Earth concerts may lead some to deduce that large-scale concerts have little influence in social change. ATC’s research and experience shows the opposite: when done right, concerts can be an extremely effective way to build movements.
A recent report on the public opinion impact of Live Earth, the environmental concerts from 2007, drew the conclusion that the event and campaign seemed to have “no immediate impact on American public opinion” on climate change, but that it “did reinforce and amplify attitudes about global warming amongst those watchers who were already concerned”. Cynics are likely to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say that mega-concerts or musicians cannot change how people think or act.
TODAY: OBAMA VISITS NEW ORLEANS FOR FIRST TIME AS PRESIDENT
On his first visit to New Orleans since taking office nine months ago, President Obama faced tough criticisms from the community frustrated with the federal government’s role (or lack there of) in the rebuild efforts since the floods.
Harry Shearer posted a good recap of what’s been done and what has yet to be done in New Orleans on The Huffington Post:
New Orleans: What’s Been Done, What’s on the To-Do List
By Harry Shearer
The Huffington Post, Posted: October 15, 2009 06:31 AM
