Fans of Jam Rockers Phish are some of the most fanatically devoted in the music business. They follow the group across the country attending show after show, they religiously tape, upload, and download every show, even paying $10 per show on Live Download for officially sanctioned high quality recordings. They endlessly debate which version of which Phish song was the best on internet forums devoted to nothing but these discussions. And today, they proved that they are even willing to follow Phish in their philanthropy, donating a combined $1 million to two charities sanctioned by the band.
The two charities, The Mockingbird Foundation and the Mimi Fishman Foundation made the joint announcement today. Both organizations are completely volunteer driven, with no salaries, paid staff, or offices, meaning almost all of the million dollars will go directly to the causes.
The Mockingbird Foundation was organized in 1996 by a group of Phish fans. It was originally formed to produce an encyclopedic book about Phish to raise money for music education in schools. Since that time, they have expanded into other Phish related merchandise including a tribute album, tour-friendly merchandise, and the relaunch of the Phish.net website as a comprehensive database of the band. The Mockingbird Foundation has, through the sales of this merchandise, raised over $613,000 and has funded 193 music education grants in 42 states.
The Mimi Fishman Foundation was started in 1998 by the mother of Phish drummer Jon Fishman. It raised money for vision related charities through online auctions of Phish merchandise. Since that time, the Mimi Fishman Foundation has expanded not only the scope of its giving, branching into women's, children's, and animal related charities, but also into merchandise by other bands in the Jam genre including String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee, and Yonder Mountain String Band. These auctions have raised over $390,000 which has translated to grants for over 38 organizations.
Both organizations reported that they plan to continue their relationship with Phish and hope to continue raising money in the coming years for their causes.
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