JWF: a New Twist on Crowd Funding

The appeal of sites like GoFundMe is that you know exactly who's getting your donation. Through on-line journals and photos, you can follow the recipient's journey, struggles and successes, whether or not you know each other in real life.But despite the benefits of these sites, they may not be the best option, either for the donor or the recipient.JWF offers donors the same kind of personal connection you can get on crowdfunding sites. But the foundation provides more benefits, while avoiding some of the negatives.Here's how:

• Tax deductible. Because we're a 501(c)(3) organization, your contributions are fully tax deductible.
• Our grants don't count as income. Our foundation distributes money in the form of grants. Grants in the name of our recipients are paid directly to a physician, landlord, a pharmacist or other vendor or service provider. Because grants aren't considered income, they aren't taxed. They also can't jeopardize a musician's right to state-funded health care or any other assistance based on income. We are also able to grant direct food (and gas) assistance directly to the recipient in the form of Gift Cards to be used at the artists favorite markets such as Fred Meyers, New Seasons or wherever they prefer shopping.
• Connections to other services. Our wonderful social worker services makes sure all recipients learn about the full range of assistance available to them via state and federal programs. This ranges from insurance possibilities to mental health services, free medical care, housing assistance and other help.

Crowdfunding has been a great gift for many local musicians. They have been able to pay for recording projects, sound equipment and even instruments with the help of these amazing social media sites. The most important thing to musicians is to have excellent sound/audio equipment, it brings quality to concerts and gigs that are really needed, sites such as hifisystemcomponents.com, supply equipment like the ones we use, if you're a musician, always check out sites such as this to help with your next gig, crowd funding can get you the help you need!But we think when it comes to direct help for musicians and their families, JWF is a better way to go. Let us know if you have further questions about this. We'd love to talk to you.Written by Claire Levine