Charity Beneficiaries

In efforts to support those supporting music and the arts in Charleston and the wellness of our region, The Music Initiative contributes a portion of funds raised to the following organizations:

Carolina Studios:
www.carolinastudios.net
Formed in 2001, Carolina Studios is a Charleston-based non-profit organization that runs after school programs in music and media arts education for at-risk urban youth.

 

 

 

 

Charleston Animal Society
www.charlestonanimalsociety.org
The mission of the Charleston Animal Society is to promote responsible guardianship of domestic animals and advocate the compassionate treatment of all animals.

In order to accomplish our mission we: strive to promote temporary sanctuary to lost, abandoned or abused domestic animals; promote adoption; provide medical care to indigent pets; eliminate overpopulation of animals with aggressive spay/neuter and education programs; provide education about responsible pet guardianship; reunite lost pets and their owners; and reduce cruelty through stronger ordinances; investigations, partnerships and education.

The Musicians Health Initiative of Charleston
www.themusicinitiative.com/the-musicians-health-initiative
The Musicians Health Initiative of Charleston’s mission is to provide affordable health care services for the Charleston Tri-County’s full-time working musicians who cannot afford insurance on their own.  The initiative encourages artists to pursue their career without having to maintain a full-time job for the benefits provided.  The initiative will provide wellness and preventative health care, dental services, and mental health counseling to all musicians who qualify.

 

 

Operation Home
www.operationhome.org
Since its inception, hundreds of homes have been repaired by Operation Home, totaling in excess of $1 million. Operation Home’s mission is to help people remain in their homes by increasing safety and accessibility through the coordination of critical home repairs for low-income residents of Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties. Operation Home receives referrals from a wide network of providers, including home health agencies, utility companies, churches, schools, disability service centers, and many other social service agencies. We are able to reach even more families through our heat and cold relief programs by providing air conditioners during the summer months and heaters in the winter to low-income families in need. Our work focuses on the people who need us the most: households that contain children, a person with a disability, or an older adult. Operation Home is committed to ensuring that no person has to live in a home that is inaccessible or unsafe.

Lowcountry Local First
www.lowcountrylocalfirst.org
A Charleston, South Carolina-based 501c3 non-profit, Lowcountry Local First is an alliance committed to educating and encouraging the public to invest in their local economy with their dollars, their voices, their votes and their hearts. As lovers of the Lowcountry, we understand that we have a choice in what we buy and from whom we buy it. We have a choice in what we eat – and from where and by whom it’s grown. Collectively, our choices have great power. To build or break a life. A business. An economy. A city. A culture. We the people of Lowcountry Local First offer a simple solution: choose the Lowcountry. It’s an understanding that if we choose to neglect the Lowcountry, something beautiful, meaningful, and unique fades away.Lowcountry Local First is a way of life that celebrates and supports what we love most: the local, independent businesses and farmers who reflect the unique character, flavor, and culture of the place we call home. You have a choice. So, choose – with everything you’ve got.

Swamp Sessions
www.swampsessions.com
Deep in the Francis Marion National Forest, on the Echaw creek sits a solar powered swamp house, owned by Awendaw Green proprietor, Eddie White. The first solar powered Cd was recorded there by Danielle Howle, who has been returning to this artistic haven to produce Swamp Sessions “Off The Grid” Sustainable Energy Project.

There are lots of good projects in the works. Stay tuned…

 

 

Girls Rock Charleston
www.girlsrockcharleston.org
Girls Rock Charleston empowers girls and trans youth through music education, DIY media, and creative collaboration.

 

 
 
 
 
 

Veterans on Deck
www.veteransondeck.org
The mission of Veterans on Deck is to help establish functional and rewarding lives in Veterans, while recognizing the unique and often life changing experiences service in the Armed Forces brings. Specifically, to build on each Veteran’s existing military training by using the maritime setting to enhance vocational, familial, and interpersonal functioning.

 

 

 

WINGS for Kids
www.wingsforkids.org
WINGS is an education program that teaches kids how to behave well, make good decisions and build healthy relationships. We do this by weaving a comprehensive social and emotional learning curriculum into a fresh and fun after school program. Kids get the life lessons they need to succeed and be happy and they get a safe place to call home after school.

 

 

 

Feed the Need
www.charlestonplace.com/web/ocha/feed_the_need.jsp
As the negative effects of the global recession took hold in Charleston, S.C. in early 2009, local soup kitchens, shelters and the community they served felt the burden. Demand for services rose sharply. And, at the same time, the charitable donations these service organizations survived on dried up.

After learning that one local soup kitchen planned to close one day a week due to the economic crisis, Mickey Bakst, general manager of the Charleston Grill at Charleston Place Hotel, took action. Within a few days, the idea for Charleston Chefs Feed The Need was born.

Charleston’s vibrant and philanthropic-minded culinary community stepped up. Organized by Bakst and Charleston Place Hotel, a coalition of 52 local restaurants with support from the Greater Charleston Restaurant Association, rallied to commit to one day of food service a year at four local nonprofits—Tricounty Family Ministries, East Cooper Meals on Wheels, Crisis Ministries and Neighborhood House.

Charleston Regional Alliance for the Arts
www.artscharleston.org
The Charleston area has a long and distinguished history of creating and presenting a variety of art forms. Even on the eve of the Revolution, Charlestonians created an uprising to “build such a Playhouse as would be in keeping with the rest of the handsome buildings then being erected in the town and a pride to her people,” as noted by Spoleto Festival USA Director, Nigel Redden. In 2006, the Charleston Regional Alliance for the Arts (formerly the Alliance for the Performing Arts in Charleston) was formed to address the problem of inadequate and deteriorating arts venues as well as to coordinate the improvement of existing arts facilities. Mayor Joseph P. Riley of the City of Charleston and the strong leadership of the Board of Directors of the Alliance launched this initiative to address the needs of a broad cross section of performing arts organizations. In 2009, an awareness emerged that not only were the tri-county’s facilities in dire need of assistance but our arts organizations overall required support to sustain themselves and insure viable and optimistic futures. The members of the Alliance’s Board have a history of daily nurturing the local arts community through leadership and monetary contributions.

Charleston Waterkeeper
www.charlestonwaterkeeper.org
Charleston Waterkeeper is data-driven organization 100% focused on water quality issues in the Charleston Harbor Estuary. We identify and document water quality issues and work towards a pragmatic solution with the public, local business, and government. We are a grassroots, boots-on-the-ground group of water users dedicated to protecting the public’s right to fishable, swimmable, drinkable water.

 
 
 
 
Yo Art!
www.yoartinc.org
Yo Art! brings its diverse community together to give under served children and youth the opportunity to explore and study the media arts. Yo Art partners with local artists and arts organizations to provide comprehensive arts education, nurturing relationships and high expectations that enable young people to better know and express themselves as they discover and develop their artistic gifts.