To promote their preferences of certain charities, bands are literally wearing their beliefs on their sleeves.
Boston University alum Matthew Stotland’s Yellow Bird Project allows musicians to design T-shirts he then sells through an online website, donating proceeds to charities of the bands’ choice.
Stotland, a 2006 College of Arts and Sciences senior, started the nonprofit organization now based in Montreal during his senior year at BU. He said after a rocky beginning, he is now working with nine music groups.
“We really had no major contacts in the music industry [initially],” Stotland said in an email. “So we really kind of just went in with everything we had and contacted everyone we could. Now we get contacted by bands because they really want to be involved in the project.”
Stotland contacts “indie” bands and asks if they are interested in designing T-shirts for charity. He said anyone can buy the band-designed T-shirts on the Yellow Bird website.
“We wanted to offer a chance to our musicians to get totally creative and have fun with [their] drawing or piece of art that they submitted,” he said. “It also made sense to let them choose how they wanted the proceeds from their designs to be distributed.”
Some bands involved in the company said the business setup allows them to creatively contribute to charity. Shara Worden, known in the music industry as My Brightest Diamond, said her involvement in the project is “a really practical way of giving to charity.”
“I think it gives the musicians more incentive to participate because it’s personal,” she said in an email. “It creates something unique, in a T-shirt, that can’t be found anywhere else, so I felt great about supporting them.”
Worden said she appreciates the designing freedom the project gives her.
“I designed the T-shirt by opening up my sketch pad and doing a bunch of drawings,” she said.
Sociology assistant professor Emily Barman said charities, like the Yellow Bird Project, try to associate with famous people to increase donations.
“Certainly, nonprofits try to take advantage of celebrities’ affiliation,” she said in an email. “There’s a perception of value for charities to be associated with a public celebrity.
“Most research has shown that when people have knowledge of, or a say over how and when their donation will be used, they will tend to give more frequently and give a larger amount,” she continued.
Some band members involved in the project said fans relate more to a band-designed T-shirt.
“[Music] gave the shirt a good platform to be noticed,” said Robbie Guertin of the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in an email. “I guess that’s the appeal of the whole project, the way they are associating themselves with the band.”