The Mockingbird Foundation has started the Mockingbird Volunteer Corps. The MVC is a cooperative structure to assist fellow fans in lending support to the Foundation, which generates charitable proceeds from Phish fandom. More information is available at http://www.mockingbirdfoundation.org/mvc.html, part of the Foundation’s new domain name registration.

The Foundation successfully filed its New York State Charities registration in January. That registration was accepted by the Bureau, and the Foundation has been assigned a NY Charities registration number. Funding Chair Kristen Godard anticipates that the board will make its first major disbursements in March. Initial disbursements were made in January, to the American Music Conference and the International Music Educators Conference.

The Foundation maintains no office or paid staff, and donates all of its net income to music education for children. Income is generated from the 928-page book The Phish Companion (published by Backbeat Books, formerly Miller Freeman, Inc.)and from the forthcoming two-CD charity Phish cover album Sharing in the Groove. The book’s first printing of 24,000 was gone within weeks, and its second printing is selling quickly. The album enters post-production in April and is expected to be released by June.

The Mockingbird Foundation was founded in 1997. Incorporated on an all-volunteer basis by fans of the band Phish, it is the first and only nonprofit grantmaking entity organized by fans of a rock band. The Phish Companion is the most comprehensive, encyclopedic reference on a rock band assembled for charitable purposes.

Phish is a Vermont-based rock quartet that draws on diverse influences including jazz, classical, and bluegrass. One of the most improvisational rock bands in music history, Phish is currently on a hiatus of unknown duration.