How The Giving Tree helps tax-exempt charities:
Giving Tree NYC is a tax-exempt New York non-profit corporation that runs the musical band, The Giving Tree. The Giving Tree Foundation is a charitable expression of Giving Tree NYC. Contributions to Giving Tree NYC and to The Giving Tree Foundation are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
The band, The Giving Tree, donates all of its net earnings to The Giving Tree Foundation. "Net earnings" include what we get paid to play gigs, what people donate directly to The Giving Tree Foundation, and what we earn selling The Giving Tree T-shirts, hats, and CDs, less only "reasonable and necessary" expenses.
There are three ways we determine to whom to give some or all of our net earnings:
- We will also sometimes partner with performance venues to support specific tax-exempt charities. For example, during the 2007 Summer Season, we partnered with the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York to support the Wounded Warrior Project. So for that season, whenever The Giving Tree played the Talkhouse, all our net earnings for those performances benefited the Wounded Warrior Project
- On occasion, The Giving Tree will perform to benefit specific tax-exempt charities and The Giving Tree Foundation. One example of this is "Rock the Farm ’07" in which The Giving Tree played a benefit for Row New York and The Giving Tree Foundation.
Giving Tree NYC was incorporated as a New York non-profit corporation on January 19, 2007 and granted IRC Sect. 501(c)(3) tax exempt status on October 24, 2008, effective as of the date of incorporation.
Perhaps most importantly, The Giving Tree family is all of us there when the band plays -- wives, partners, girlfriends, kids, dogs, brothers, sisters, drum techs, roadies, photographers, cousins, club-owners, sound-guys, studio-owners, Web designers, aritsts, promoters, producers, friends, and everyone willing to dance in the garden in torn sheets in the rain...
The Band, Timeline
- 1981 - Kaimowitz and Weiner meet, start a band called CPW, and have a great time playing college parties.
- 1996 - Kaimowitz and Clifford meet.
- September - October, 2006 - Kaimowitz and Weiner play together again, this time as The Bull Path Jammers.
- December 10, 2006 - The Giving Tree plays together for the first time in Studio 1 at Euphoria Studios. Studio magic.
- Valentine's Day, 2007 - Rebecca Haviland joins the band as lead singer and muse.
- February 26, 2007 - The Giving Tree plays its first public gig at the Mercury Lounge. Live magic.
- November 2, 2007 - Raspler joins the band. TGT is complete.
The Giving Tree Band, Players
|
Brian (lead guitar / vocals)
If the truth be told, Brian learned most all of what he knows about music from playing with the Travis Allison Band. He and Rob have been friends for more than the last decade, and his charitable foundation is The Wounded Warrior Project.
|
|
Matt Clifford (guitar / percussion / vocals)
Although Matt grew up playing the drums on garbage cans in the garage, he managed to transfer his natural street rhythm to his guitar playing. And keeping true to his musical roots, he's done some of his best work in some of the worst bars, having played places from Richmond to Bermuda, some no longer in business. Matt’s charity is The Coalition for the Homeless |
|
Rebecca Haviland (lead vocals)
Rebecca Haviland has been surrounded by music her entire life. Her grandmother was a piano player and teacher; her grandfather a swing drummer. She began to write her own music at the age of twelve and first experienced the local music scene when her father took her out to see her uncles play in rock and roll / blues bands. There she became familiar with the blues style that would have the biggest impact on her songwriting. She began to sing in church and taught herself how to play guitar. At college, she toyed with opera and jazz studies, but ultimately focused on studio composition (recording and songwriting). An internship at Acme Recording Studios lead to an introduction to a wonderful folk singer named Sloan Wainwright, who pushed for producers Peter Denenberg and Joe Bonadio to hear the music of this talented girl who had been making coffee and taking out the garbage. The two producers fell in love with her voice and her songs, and gave her the opportunity to record her music professionally. Her first studio recording, "Taking Advice From Strangers," was independently released in 2005, followed by "Three Thousand Miles" in 2007.
An up-and-coming singer/songwriter, Rebecca’s voice is most often compared to Norah Jones and Fiona Apple, and her songs combine many different genres of music, including folk, rock, pop, and jazz. She plays shows up and down the east coast and has performed in New York City at such famed venues as The Bitter End, The Living Room, The Cutting Room, and The Red Lion, and with The Giving Tree, the Mercury Lounge, the Canal Room, and the Stephen Talkhouse. |
|
Chick Raspler (bass / vocals)
While Chick Raspler is the newest member of The Giving Tree, he is no stranger to the downtown music scene. Over the years he has played with bands like Firehorse and The Jones in venues such as The Knitting Factory, Acme Underground, The Bowery Poetry Club and others including a live radio performance on 99.5 WBAI's Dave Nolan Show. On the production side, Chick co-wrote, produced and played the instruments for Critical Lift, a rap-rock band. From his stage debut in 1979 through his most recent gigs, Chick has always enjoyed connecting with the band and the audience during a live performance. His charity is Seeds of Peace, which is dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with
the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and
coexistence. |
|
Rob Kaimowitz (drums / percussion / vocals)
Rob Kaimowitz has been a drummer since 1977. In 1981, he started drumming in a band called CPW, which included keyboardist and fraternity brother Marc Weiner. Time passed and ultimately, Rob founded and now serves as CEO of Bull Path Capital Management in NYC. Around 2005 he started drumming again, eventually playing with fellow drummer Leon Bibi in Hot Lava. Kaimowitz and Weiner (and CPW bassist Rick Cantor) played together in the Bull Path Jammers at the A Leg To Stand On Benefit in October 2006 at B.B. King’s Blues Club on 42nd Street. Shortly afterward, Rob founded The Giving Tree by bringing together these friends and musicians. Rob's charity is The Wounded Warrior Project. |
|
John Axson Ellis (saxophone)
Be on the lookout for John’s forthcoming release, "Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow" which features Jason Marsalis, Gary Versace, and Matt Perrine. It should be out sometime in late 2007 or early 2008.
One of the most exciting tenor saxophone players on the current jazz scene, the world is going to hear a great deal more from John Ellis. As both a composer and a musician, Ellis is part of a fresh vanguard of jazz players carrying the music forward to a new generation of jazz fans.
www.johnaxsonellis.com |
|
Marc Weiner (keyboards / eminence grise)
"Dear readers, pardon me my paradoxes. When one reflects, they are necessary and, whatever you may say, I prefer to be a paradoxical man than a prejudiced one.” (Jean-Jacques Rosseau, 1762).
"Adam had a glass of champagne, hoping it would make him feel a little better. It made him feel much worse." (Evelyn Waugh, 1930).
My charity is the Meisha’s Hope fund of The Morris Animal Foundation, because how we treat animals is a fundamental indicator of our basic humanity.
Id imperfectum manet dum confectum erit.
 Go ahead... Click the Rabbit!
|
|
