Nonprofit Spark – Traveling Guitar Foundation’s start-up success story, and a presentation contest for non-profits – 02/06/12

Summary: The Traveling Guitar Foundation (http://www.travelingguitarfoundation.org)is a rising nonprofit star. It was founded in the New York tri-state area less than three years ago by Damon Marks, a guitarist and songwriter. Damon has performed and recorded with notable musicians including Bret Michaels, Beyonce, Melanie Fiona, and Marco Mendoza and was a touring guitarist on Alicia Keys' Freedom Tour. The Foundation travels to schools whose music programs are in jeopardy and gives music education clinics and concerts, and donates guitars, amplifiers and cables to the schools from major music industry sponsors. The Foundation has already impacted some 40 schools in California, Georgia, Florida and Pennsylvania reaching an estimated 20,000 students and giving away $50,000 in musical equipment. The Traveling Guitar Foundation is a true grassroots organization: musicians, sponsors and parents are spreading the word and even lining up more schools on behalf of the Foundation. Damon is quick to give credit to the team he's assembled who make it all work. He also is not shy about using traditional and social media every chance he gets. It's an inspiring nonprofit start-up story. Also on the show is Heidi Jackman, chief marketing officer for SlideRocket (http://www.sliderocket.com), an online presentation platform. Heidi describes a fun presentation contest that's going on right now for nonprofits that's designed to inspire your creativity using their elegant, online presentation software. The top four winners will get $5,000 each so you'll want to stay tuned to learn more later in the show.