Funding

NOTE: We are now reviewing full proposals for our 16th round of competitive grants, with funding announcements expected sometime in January, and are now accepting inquiries for the 17th round, with funding anticipated by year-end 2012. Please be sure to read the funding guidelines in their entirety, to consider the range of past grant recipients, and to utilize the online form for submission of inquiries.

Without music, life would be a mistake. — Nietzsche

The Mockingbird Foundation provides funding for music education for children, through a two-tiered grant application process that is among the most competitive: We are currently able to fund fewer than 2% of inquiries received (perhaps 20 of every 1,200 or so). That’s in part because the need is so widespread, and in part because we are unique in what we fund.

Our grantees have included schools, community centers, hospitals, shelters, workshops, camps, and scholarship programs from Maine to California, from Appalachia to the Southwest, and from Kentucky to Kosovo. But the Mockingbird Foundation differs from other players in this funding area, in important ways:

• Music itself matters – Music is powerful not only culturally and emotionally, but for skills, health, and general well-being. However, we have never funded a grantee solely on the basis of such tangential benefits (such as for music therapy), and tend to favor applicants who recognize the importance of music education for its own sake. Music for therapy is a laudable enterprise – it’s just not what we do.
• Direct experience is best – Several grantees have utilized funds to expose students to music, also a laudable effort. But the Mockingbird board has historically been more interested in programs that engage students directly with music, rather than in funding musical performances for students who would only observe others experiencing music.
• Unconventional outlets are interesting - Our funding guidelines define music education for children broadly and somewhat unconventionally. For example, we are interested in efforts outside of schools, including hospitals, shelters, and foster homes. We are also interested in supporting unconventional forms of instruction, and instruction in unconventional forms. And we are not focused on traditional performance skills, but are also interested in composition, vocalization, and improvisation.
• Outcomes may not be assessable – Nearly all relevant advocacy efforts have focused on putting instruments in public schools, promoting music education as a tool within broader education, and measuring outcomes in terms of assessable skills. Contrarily, the Mockingbird Foundation looks beyond public schools, and is interested in some areas for which skills may be less assessable (or even irrelevant).

We owe a great deal of thanks to Singing for Change for their help in drafting our funding guidelines, and to our thousands of supporters who have contributed to the success of our all-volunteer charitable projects by submitting work, promoting the effort, and purchasing the book and album. We hope you will consider information about music education issues, and our statement on music and hope in this time of world conflict.