The Dave Matthews Band continued its tradition of community involvement in Charlottesville last week when the group's Bama Works Fund gave the University's largest community service volunteer organization, Madison House, a $114,576 gift.
The gift, the largest single donation to Madison House in recent history, was a percentage of proceeds from the charity concert the band held last April, and represents more than half of Madison House's yearly budget of $200,000.
The band established the Bama Works Fund in 1998, primarily to provide support to charities in the Charlottesville City and Albemarle County area, though the group occasionally makes national and international grants. The fund is managed by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Community Foundation, a non-profit organization that manages hundreds of local endowments.
The band held the benefit concert to raise money for local charities and paid the University for all costs the show incurred. All profits, totaling more than a million dollars, went to the Bama Works fund, which allotted the $114,576 to Madison House and will distribute the remaining funds to other local charities.
"It was arranged that a certain percentage of the money would be donated to U.Va., but we had to decide what part of the University," said John Redick, executive director of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Community Foundation. "The band themselves suggested Madison House, because it is a part of the University that engages students in community service, so it really fit the whole idea of the concert" of giving back to the community.
"The check just came in the mail and was a total surprise," Fredrick said. "I was speechless. This really shows the wonderful character of the Dave Matthews Band, they love and believe in this community, and have a very strong presence in it."
Madison House is an umbrella organization that facilitates the volunteer work of 2,700 students every week and supports more than 60 different charitable agencies. Private donors provide about $60,000 a year, which covers the basic cost of Madison House's projects. Further funding to run the organization comes from a general endowment held by the University.
Fredrick speculated that the gift from Dave Mathews Band and the Bama Works Fund will be invested "for the long-term financial security" of Madison House. The board of directors will decide next week how the money can best be used to support the community.
"By giving to Madison House, the Dave Matthews Band gives to the community, but also to students at the University who supported them so much in their early years," Fredrick said.
The April 21 benefit concert sold out, and Dave Matthews Band performed along with Neil Young for a crowd of about 50,000. The University facilitated the show but received no direct profit.
"We participated as volunteers," said Jbeau Lewis, chair of the University Programs Council's PK German, which coordinated concerts at the University. "It's a really good feeling that something students were involved in could turn around and benefit the community like this."
"This is a group that can go into any stadium and fill it up and make a huge profit, but this was something they really wanted to for the community," Redick said. "The donation to Madison House is kind of the last chapter"
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