Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation Announces 2020 Grants

NAZARETH, Pa., Feb. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Martin Guitar Charitable Foundation is pleased to announce that it awarded 55 grants to Lehigh Valley and national organizations at its December 2020 Board of Directors meeting.

This year's grants mark a quarter century of giving since the Foundation was established by Christian Frederick Martin IV in 1996. C. F. Martin & Co., Inc. has provided funding every year to support the Foundation's programs. Since 1996, the Foundation has distributed $3.65 million in grants to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, including $380,000 in 2020. 

The Foundation's core principles are to support Martin Guitar's engagement with nonprofit music, arts, education, environmental action, and human service organizations. The Foundation does not fund political or religious organizations or activity. The Directors manage the Foundation's assets conservatively to allow for long-term planning and seek best value from Foundation grant-making for the people and causes that their grantees serve.

Lehigh Valley and regional organizations receiving Foundation support in 2019 were: Allentown Rescue Mission, ArtsQuest, Center for Humanistic Change, Community Music School, Da Vinci Science Center, Godfrey Daniels, Greater Easton Development Partnership, Lehigh Gap Nature Center, Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Miller-Keystone Blood Center, Moravian Historical Society, Muhlenberg College, New Bethany Ministries, Northampton Community College Foundation, PBS 39, Second Harvest, State Theatre Center for the Arts, Touchstone Theatre, WDIY-FM, and several other Lehigh Valley charities. The Northampton Community Foundation grant supports equipment and materials for the College's guitar-making program in Bethlehem. In Nazareth, the Foundation supported the YMCA, Memorial Library, Nazareth Area Food Bank, and several other charities.

The Foundation also made grants to national organizations with strong arts presence and programs in acoustic guitar education and research: Guitars in the Classroom (San Diego, CA), International Bluegrass Music Museum (Owensboro, KY), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City), Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ), Museum of Making Music (Carlsbad, CA), Old Town School of Folk Music (Chicago, IL), Southern Folklife Collection at University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC), WHYY (Philadelphia), Woody Guthrie Center (Tulsa, OK), and several other organizations.  The Foundation supported current projects at the Kealakai Center for Pacific Strings in Hawaii honoring the life of musician Major Kealakai (1867-1944), who played a key role in the development of Martin's flagship guitar, the Dreadnought. 

The 2020-21 Foundation Directors are C. F. Martin IV, Chairman and CEO of Martin Guitar Company and Foundation President; Diane Martin, Foundation Vice President; Dick Boak, retired Martin Guitar Director of Museum, Archives, and Special Projects; James Dunleavy, Vice President, Finance and Operations, Northampton Community College and Foundation Treasurer; Debra Karlowitch, retired Martin Guitar Vice President of Human Resources and Foundation Secretary; Susan Kubik, Managing Principal of eAdvancement and retired Executive Director of Northampton Community College Foundation; Matthew Kennedy, Administrative & Operations Assistant at Martin Guitar; Dr. Roland Kushner, Professor of Business at Muhlenberg College; and Charles J. Peischl, Esq., of Peters, Moritz, Peischl, Zulick, Landes & Brienza.

The Foundation will accept applications for 2021 grants between August 1, 2021, and September 1, 2021. To obtain guidelines, send an inquiry by email to [email protected].

SOURCE C.F. Martin Guitar Co.