As young artists and non-profits start out in the world, they’re faced with the same dilemma: audience development.

To be a musician, you must be patient, work hard at your craft and have something to say. For developing grassroots organizations, the growing pains are the same. It can be disheartening, and too many promising voices get drowned out in the process.

In 2015, Clif Bar & Company relaunched a multi-platformed program called GreenNotes. It consists of a video series, an artist grant, a website, a profile driven hub, and a dynamic matchmaking system between musicians and non-profits. GreenNotes was born out of the idea that art can serve as a powerful microphone for change and can act as a catalyst for social movements. The program operates on the belief that people can partner to help build that voice, stand for something bigger and rise above all the noise. GreenNotes provides cutting-edge resources for nonprofits and musicians to promote change in four core areas: the environment, food systems, homelessness, and hunger.

“We launched GreenNotes to make it easier for musicians to make positive change in the world,” says Thao Pham, Vice President of Community at Clif Bar & Company. “The GreenNotes website is a simple and effective tool that puts musicians and nonprofits together. Music coupled with nonprofits is incredibly powerful in its impact on society.”

The program works through matchmaking, grants, research, and a series of best-practice documents designed to give nonprofits and their artist partners a template for embedding social change initiatives in their work. This site aims to capture, open source, and broadcast what works best and why. As the platform builds, the scale and the scope of the program will grow alongside it. Going forward, GreenNotes will continue to expand its reach, participation, and documentation to become an essential tool for the social change community.

GreenNotes will join Toad The Wet Sprocket this Summer on their tour with Smashmouth and Tonic. The bands will all be working with a series of non-profit partners including Love Hope Strength, Harmony 4 Hope, SuperFood Drive and a variety of local food justice and access orgs throughout their tour and beyond.

Says Toad The Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips, “Artists tend to be the canary in the coal mine for social issues. You get a unique point of view as you tour and travel; an insight into different communities, their needs and challenges. It is not just an opportunity, it’s an obligation to do our best to amplify and shine a light on the good work of our nonprofit partners.”

Over the course of 2013-2014, Clif Bar awarded grants to four musicians who demonstrated serious dedication to creating long lasting and sustainable change. Recipients included Grammy-nominated SOJA, who focused on the environmental impact of their tour, rapper Astronautalis, who visited a local food bank to perform a pop-up concert, SF-based Stone Foxes, who looked at homelessness, and Minneapolis-based Dessa, who explored issues in sustainable food on the road.

The site launch kicked off at SXSW with a three-day concert featuring Boxed In, Amason, Jukebox The Ghost, Hey Marseilles, Gill Landry (Old Crow Medicine Show), Jesse Harris, Chadwick Stokes (Dispatch), The Lighthouse and The Whaler, Talk In Tongues, The Family Crest, Doomtree, Surfer Blood, Charlie Belle, Max Jury, Royal Teeth, Sam Pinkerton, Paper Aeroplanes, The Wans, Ryan Culwell, Anthony D’Amato, Humming House, BLKATHY, Magic Giant, Colony House, Blank Range, Mother Falcon, Andrew Combs, Yellerkin, Propaganda, Shaprece, Five Eight and Astronautalis.

Andy Bothwell (Astronautalis) reflects, “There is no shortage of work to be done, both small and large, to make your town, or your country, and even the world a better place. However, it can be daunting at times to try and find a way that you can actually help, in a hands on way. GreenNotes was able to help me focus my energies on a cause, and an organization, that I can get behind wholeheartedly. And to me, that is priceless.”

Toad The Wet Sprocket Tour Dates

Jun 19 Chateau Ste Michelle Winery Woodinville, WA *
Jun 20 Eldorado BBQ, Blues Brews Festival Reno, NV *
Jun 21 Britt Festival Pavillion Medford, OR *
Jun 23 Redding Civic Auditorium Redding, CA *
Jun 24 Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA *
Jun 26 Pechanga Theater Temecula, CA *
Jun 27 Fremont Street Experience Las Vegas, NV #
Jun 28 Humphreys Concerts By the Bay San Diego, CA *
Jun 30 Deer Valley Amphitheatre Park City, UT *
Jul 01 Memorial Hall, Pueblo, CO *
Jul 02 Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities Arvada, CO *
Jul 04 Ozzie Smith Sports Complex O’fallon, MO *
Jul 05 Summerfest – Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI *
Jul 06 National Cherry Festival, Traverse City, MI $
Jul 08 Mill City Nights, Minneapolis, MN !
Jul 09 Waterfest, Leach Amphtheater Oshkosh, WI *
Jul 10 RiverEdge Park Aurora, IL *
Jul 11 Champaign Music Festival, Champaign, IL #
Jul 12 The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI !
Jul 14 Birchmere, Alexandria, VA !
Jul 15 Birchmere, Alexandria, VA !
Jul 16 The Paramount, Huntington, NY !
Jul 17 Shenandoah Valley Music Festival, Orkney Springs, VA #
Jul 18 Golden Nugget Casino, Atlantic City, NJ *
Jul 21 City Winery, Nahsville, TN !
Jul 22 City Winery, Nahsville, TN !
Jul 23 Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, GA *
Jul 25 House of Blues Dallas, Dallas, TX #
Jul 26 Minglewood Hall, Memphis, TN !
Jul 28 The Newton Theatre, Newton, NJ !
Jul 29 Irving Plaza, New York, NY !
Jul 30 Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis, MA !
Jul 31 Flying Monkey Performance Center, Plymouth, NH !
Aug 01 South Shore Music Circus, Cohasset, MA !

* Smashmouth, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Tonic
# Smashmouth, Toad The Wet Sprocket
$ Toad The Wet Sprocket, Tonic
! Toad The Wet Sprocket