Photo Credit: Save the Music
Save the Music non-profit has announced it will continue supporting music education as an independent non-profit separate from Paramount Global.
The non-profit has supported music education in 285+ school districts across the United States. Now as an independent non-profit, the organization will remain dedicated to music education by providing schools with instruments and technology, training and supporting teachers, and funding and convening community-based music organizations.
Save the Music has launched a $10 million endowment fund, with nearly $4 million already raised. The new endowment will ensure the cultural institution’s sustainability and long-term support for music education, empowering future generations of students with access to the transformative power of making music. While the formal partnership with Paramount is ending, the relationship will remain.
Paramount has pledged an initial six-figure donations to the endowment fund. This milestone marks the completion of a process that began in 2019, when the organization rebranded to remove VH1 from its name. The rebranding was the first step in a strategy designed to reduce reliance on a single funding source and instead, embracing a broad-based approach to financial support.
Over the past five years, Save the Music has attracted a diverse group of funders, with 95% of the organizational budget in 2024 coming from non-Paramount sources. They include community-based foundations, individual donations, and contributions from the music industry. Notable funders include major record labels, talent agencies, Live Nation, AEG Presents, and tech giants including Amazon, TikTok, and Meta. The Foundation also received a $2 million grant from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
Since its inception, Save the Music has invested over $75 million in more than 2,800 school music programs. Since 2019 it has doubled the number of schools it reaches, funding more than 600 new programs in U.S. cities including New York, Newark, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Nashville, and Columbus.
“Going independent is a huge step forward for us—and the culmination of a five-year effort form our team, partners, and boards,” adds Executive Director Henry Donahue. “In every school I visit from the Bronx to Miami, Philadelphia to Los Angeles, Detroit to Columbus, Memphis to New Orleans—I find that the music room is a special place.”
“The students are excited to be there, and they are creative, thoughtful, and optimistic in a way that should give us all hope for the future.”
To mark this exciting new chapter, Save the Music has rallied an incredible lineup of artists for an exclusive giveaway campaign hosted on the Propeller platform. Now through the end of February, fans can bid on over a dozen unique auction prizes from talents like Sabrina Carpenter, The War and Treaty, Denzel Curry, GHOST, Common x Pete Rock, Patti LaBelle, Blake Shelton, and more.
Proceeds from the auction will directly support the creation of new music programs across the country as Save the Music proudly steps into its new era as an independent organization.