A nonprofit organization called
Music Beats Cancer is partnering with up-and-coming musicians to help raise money and awareness for
new cancer treatments. The unique crowdfunding platform partners with musical artists across the US from various genres to raise money for cancer fighting solutions that are at risk of disappearing in a “funding bottleneck”. All funds raised by artists supports the Music Beats Cancer Community
Mega Fund, which is dedicated to matching contributions made to campaigns.
Founder and Executive Director Mona Jhaveri says her idea for the charity came about in an unconventional way. “Most cancer charities are founded by people who have been deeply affected by the disease. My own story differs,” she says. Jhaveri was part of a team in the early 2000s who discovered that small pieces of DNA proved to be anti-cancer agents for ovarian cancer. This discovery redirected her path from a cancer researcher to a biotech entrepreneur.
However, she would run into funding challenges and learned that many biotech innovations required investments rather than government or charitable grants. The company unfortunately shut down due to unsustainable financing. “In the biotech industry, this tragedy...is termed the “valley of death”, a metaphorical place where promising innovations die due to lack of funding,” Jhaveri explains.
This wider problem of thousands of missed opportunities to develop groundbreaking treatments prompted Jhaveri to establish Music Beats Cancer. “Reaching and inspiring the greater public on our approach to fight and finance the war on cancer is our priority,” she says. “We decided we needed a cool medium to help with our messaging, and we chose music. Music brings people together, it’s inspirational, it is powerful, and those who make music have potential positive influence on beliefs and cultural change.”
As part of the program, Music Beats Cancer partners with emerging musicians via music artist platform
Reverbnation to help connect with people who wish to align their sound with the nonprofit’s purpose. Not only does each musician have their own fundraising page, but they have the opportunity to participate in challenges that can earn a special performance, like South by Southwest, or get a meeting with a record label like Republic Records. “In this way, as artists help us advance the cause, we help artists get more exposure,” Jhaveri says.
The partner artists come from a broad range of genres, from hip-hop, country, funk, jazz, soul, pop, and more. “Artists that have partnered with Music Beats Cancer are incredible agents,” Jhaveri says. “Many of the artists have been affected by cancer directly or indirectly through someone they love. Notably our artists want to do good and see good in the world, they are truly authentic people with the power to shift new thinking.”
The long term goal of Music Beats Cancer is to host a world concert with performances from both established and emerging artists who are aligned with the mission of the war on cancer.
Find out more about the Music Beats Cancer artists and ways to
donate here.
