By Sue Hafkemeyer and Nancy Cardwell
When you consider your personal legacy, do you think about the people and causes that have shaped your life, the community that has supported you, the organizations that have made a difference, and the values you want to carry forward?
Are you are someone who cares about bluegrass music because it’s had a powerful impact on your life? When thinking about the impact you could have beyond your lifetime, please consider including the IBMA Foundation in your plans.
The Foundation helps individuals, organizations, foundations, and corporations work together to support the future of bluegrass music. In a nation and a world that are divided in so many ways, music can unite and heal us. Through grant-making, philanthropy, and planned giving, we can make the world a better place by sharing bluegrass with future generations.
“My husband and I donate to the IBMA Foundation and have included them in our estate plans because it is a wonderful way to support the future of bluegrass now and in the future,” said Trisha Tubbs, IBMA Foundation president and board chair. “It means a lot to us that the Foundation is financially well run, and that people who are bluegrass experts and are passionate about bluegrass will ensure that our bequest will benefit bluegrass and the bluegrass community long after we are gone.”
If you’ve ever thought about what your bluegrass music legacy might look like, we’d love to have that conversation with you. Please call IBMA Foundation Executive Director Nancy Cardwell at (615) 260-4807 or email info@bluegrassfoundation.org.
Bluegrass legacies are not just something we talk about at the IBMA Foundation. We make them come true. You can make a donation to go towards wherever the need is greatest, to create your own goal-specific initiative, or to support other initiatives like the Katy Daley Broadcast Media & Sound Engineering Scholarship, the J.D. Crowe Banjo Scholarship, the Gloria Belle Memorial Scholarship, the Sally Ann Forrester Scholarship, the Mike Auldridge Memorial Scholarship, the Terry Baucom Bluegrass Education Fund, the Arnold Shultz Fund, the Fletcher Bright Memorial Grant for Young Musicians, the Neil Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholar Award, the Bill Breen Bluegrass Youth Education Fund, and the Rick Lang Music Songwriter Scholarship.
Many of us on the staff and board have included the IBMA Foundation in our planned giving. We believe deeply in the long-term mission of this organization and the transformative power of giving. We also believe in bluegrass music and everything good it offers—the incredible artistry, the community, and its power to connect people of different ages, backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs.
Planning your legacy doesn’t have to be complicated. With flexible giving options and guidance from the IBMA Foundation and our partners at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, you can create a plan that reflects your values and ensures a lasting impact for generations to come.
Since 2007 the IBMA Foundation (previously known as the Foundation for Bluegrass Music for the first 10 years), has helped individuals with a passion and deep appreciation for bluegrass shape a legacy through giving. That’s 18 years of encouraging, supporting, educating, and recognizing those who will make up the future of bluegrass music. It won’t end with us!
Most of us who are musicians were taught by those who had already been playing bluegrass for a while. If you work or volunteer behind the scenes in the bluegrass music industry and community, you have probably been mentored by folks who taught you those roles, based on years of experience. We have the opportunity to support the bluegrass music community we love, which exists because those who came before us made the choice to “pay it forward” for good. Now, we all have the opportunity to do the same.
RETURN to the May 2025 issue of The Cornerstone.
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