The Mockingbird Foundation

The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc. was founded in 1996 by fans of the band Phish  to raise funds for music education. With no salaries, staff, office, or endowment, the 14 directors live in 8 states, have supported grantees  in 47 states, and work with volunteers worldwide. It exists almost exclusively online, using the Internet for publicity, fundraising, all internal communications, and even to develop, produce, and distribute intellectual property.

As leading grantmaker in music education for children, the Foundation has now made over 300 grants across the country, totalling over $1M since its inception in 1996. Proceeds are generated through comprehensive books, innovative recordings, special art prints, creative donation premiums, and fan community events.

The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc. is an unconventional organization, in many regards. It is an all-volunteer non-profit organization of Phish fans, founded to raise money for charity. The original project was the compilation of the most factually accurate and delightfully literary book on Phish’s music available, with contributions from as many fans as possible. The Foundation now produces a wider range of resources and diversions for fans, including a Phish cover album.

Borne from a Usenet newsgroup, and started in a mailing list, Mockingbird now utilizes blogs, forums, RSS feeds, Twitter, and Facebook; publishes content to a dozen other sites through a set of APIs, and to four mobile device “apps” through strategic partnerships; and develops internal guidelines and draft content in Google Docs. The Foundation recently announced that Phish fans have donated over one million dollars to charity.

ePromos For Good Award Winner

For all the work The Mockingbird Foundation is doing for the arts, ePromos has awarded $500 worth of promotional products to this nonprofit through our monthly contest, ePromos For Good. The Foundation will use the awarded money to purchase t-shirts, hats and other apparel pieces to outfit each child whose music program receives a grant with the Mockingbird Foundation. The Foundation also holds many fundraisers and benefits in which promotional items would be used as giveaways and gifts to promote brand awareness.

Learn how to help out this organization b