Statements

Mission

Guitars 4 Gifts is a 501(c)(3) organization that provides musical instruments to promote healing and communication.

Background

Guitars 4 Gifts is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of providing musical instruments to underserved groups to help people tell their story and heal through music. It is our goal to make sure that everyone has access to the tools they need to play music. Anna Clark started this organization in 2011 when she was eleven years old. After giving four guitars away through her Church's Christmas Basket program, she decided she wanted to provide instruments to people more often. To date, Guitars 4 Gifts has given away about 200 instruments to organizations such as CreatiVets, El Sistema USA, 3 Chords (part of World Relief Nashville), Kids on Stage Summer Academy, W.O. Smith School of Music, Liberty Collegiate Academy, Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Music Therapy Program at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, and The Boys and Girls Clubs of Rutherford County. Guitars 4 Gifts has seen how a musical instrument and education can make a huge impact on one person's life. While giving a guitar to the Ronald McDonald House, G4G was able to make a young boy smile for the first time in months, simply by playing him a Johnny Cash song. Another mother saw her child receive his guitar in tears. She later explained how much he loved music, but how they were unable to afford an instrument for him to practice on. Because of the generosity of so many people, G4G has been able to bring the joy of music to countless people. There have been multiple articles published about G4G, including articles in SixDegrees.org and The Women's International Music Network. Guitars 4 Gifts also did a radio interview with Lightning 100 in Nashville, TN, and has been featured on the show Real People by Rudy on Channel 4 News. In the next few years, Guitars 4 Gifts would like to grow to be able to give away an instrument a day to enable more people to share their stories.

Impact

Accomplishments from the past year:- Increasing donations 150% from 2017.- Adding five new in-kind donors for musical instruments and accessories.- Developing partnerships to provide musical instruments to schools all over the US. Goals for 2019:- Provide over 100 musical instruments to those in need (As of May 2019, we have provided over 55 instruments)- Increase our funding through monetary grants.- Inform more people about the power of music through our work.

Needs

1. In-kind instrument donations or monetary donations for the purchase of instruments. (100 instruments or roughly $20,000)2. Monetary donations to cover shipping costs (roughly $2,000 per year)3. Volunteers to help with everyday tasks, such as setting up and preparing instruments for shipping.4. Cases for musical instruments (roughly $50-$100 per case). These cases ensure that all instruments can be properly cared for.5. Instrument accessories such as strings, which can easily be broken in a classroom setting.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Arts, Culture & Humanities  - Music
Secondary Category:	-
Tertiary Category:	-

Areas Served

TN - Davidson

TN - Williamson