When Disaster Strikes: An Artist Fund For Rebuilding
RPM’s disaster response strategy helps artists play a critical role in raising funds and attention for disaster recovery, keeping a much-need spotlight on areas, after the cameras go home.
For more on these strategies and others, contact [email protected] or any of the RPM staff.
Three Phases of Disaster Response
Disaster aftermath is broken down into three separate phases: Rescue → Relief → Recovery. Governments and multinational organizations are usually best equipped and poised to handle the first two phases of the aftermath: Rescue → Relief. It’s in the third phase, Recovery, that we’ve seen artists and their fans have the greatest impact: by tracking, amplifying, and funding long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts.
This third phase, while critical to full recovery, is also often the most overlooked and under-resourced, as it takes place after the international attention and news cameras have left the area. As witnessed in post-Katrina New Orleans and after the Haitian earthquake, artists and fans can help ensure that the world remains engaged after the media leaves, maintaining the public’s attention on impacted communities.
Best Practices For Artists “When Disaster Strikes”
- RPM suggests artists and their fans donate to a long-term recovery fund which allows time for the impact of the disaster to become clearer and for long-term implications to be identified.
- Giving a donation to a long-term fund allows individuals to respond quickly and with a sense of urgency, but ensures donations have a greater impact and go towards efforts that are making a difference.
- These private dollar donations can then be used to establish funds for future rebuilding and other long-term recovery needs, like health care, and to help ensure that all affected communities have a voice at the rebuilding table.
RPM partners with one of the world’s foremost experts, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, to run an always-active, long-term disaster response fund: When Disaster Strikes. Donations are accepted immediately after a disaster, but held until they can be strategically re-granted to fully vetted organizations working on the ground in affected communities. Donate directly or contact us to learn more. Regular email updates will make sure that you know how your money (and that of your fans) is being spent and what outcomes you helped to achieve.
Examples Of Artist Fundraisers In Response To Disasters
Creative ways artists in our network have raised funds in response to a specific disaster include:
- Digital Download Fundraisers. RPM worked with Nicole Atkins, Frank Bressi, and Mickey Hart to set up and manage successful digital download fundraisers to raise money for organizations doing relief work.
- Ticket Add-Ons. Several artists, including Benjamin Gibbard, My Morning Jacket, and Bassnectar partnered with RPM to donate $1 from every ticket sold to organizations responding to Hurricane Sandy, including Waves for Water, Occupy Sandy, and Team Rubicon.
- Direct Fan Donations. RPM established a fund for MGMT to collect donations directly from their fans. While these types of fundraisers can be set up at any time, RPM has often done so in the wake of disasters. This allows donations to be collected in immediate response, while charity selections can be postponed until a full understanding of the greatest needs in an area are determined.