MANY WINDS — SPONSOR A STUDENT

Many Winds started with my great friend Carrie and her husband, who each pitch in $50 a month. That's it. That's the origin story. And it adds up — enough that we've been able to put instruments in kids' hands and lessons on their calendars, and prove the model works. Grassroots, from day one. Honestly, this scholarship is the whole reason I got interested in the nonprofit world in the first place — I wanted to understand how the game works so we could make this real. 

Here's exactly how it works, because this is the one place online where I want to spell out precisely where your money goes:

Donations come in through RAFT, our fiscal partner. Noise Town Tulsa then provides the lessons at 30% of our public rate — that's our contribution, on the record. So when a sponsor gives $50 a month for six months — $300 total — that buys a guitar or bass the student keeps ($150) and ten lessons at Noise Town ($150). All in, each package carries around $1,000 in real-world value, delivered for $300. No overhead mystery. No pie chart. A kid gets an instrument and a teacher.

And I want to be clear about who this is for. Many Winds exists specifically for kids whose parents will never realistically be able to cover something like private music lessons. Mine sure couldn't. I regularly meet kids in exactly that spot — some of them living at the Salvation Army — who light up around music the same way any kid does. As much as I'd love to give lessons to everyone who's interested, this scholarship is built to completely remove the financial barrier for the kids who need it most. 

One more thing, because people ask: what happens when the ten lessons run out? If a student is genuinely interested and crushing it, we will find a way to keep them playing. They can come work the door at Noise Town for all I care. Nobody gets cut off for being broke. That's the whole point.

Sponsor a student: $50/month for six months = one full package (instrument + ten lessons). One-time gifts of any size go into the same pool. 

Contact: dehoward23@gmail.com

Or 

VISIT RAFT - MARK ALL DONATIONS AS LISTED FOR MANY WINDS