Bandcamp to Donate 100% of Its Profits to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Every Juneteenth
As well as an additional $30,000 USD per year to partner with organizations that focus on combating racial injustice.
In the wake of George Floyd‘s devastating death, online music company Bandcamp has announced that it will donate 100 percent of its profits to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund – America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice through litigation, advocacy and public education – every Juneteenth (June 19). CEO and Co-Founder Ethan Diamond stated on the company’s website that it will be allocating an additional $30,000 USD per year to “partner with organizations that fight for racial justice and create opportunities for people of color.”
As part of its initiative to promote diversity, the platform’s CEO concluded the memo by encouraging Bandcamp’s community to look for ways to support racial equality. “As a company we’ll continue to look for more opportunities to support racial justice, equality and change,” he ended. Read Diamond’s full announcement down below.
In related news, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has also announced that it will be making donations to a number of organizations including the Equal Justice Initiative.
“The recent killings of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the ongoing state-sanctioned violence against black people in the U.S. and around the world are horrific tragedies. We stand with those rightfully demanding justice, equality, and change, and people of color everywhere who live with racism every single day, including many of our fellow employees and artists and fans in the Bandcamp community.
So this coming Juneteenth (June 19, from midnight to midnight PDT) and every Juneteenth hereafter, for any purchase you make on Bandcamp, we will be donating 100 percent of our share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, a national organization that has a long history of effectively enacting racial justice and change through litigation, advocacy, and public education. We’re also allocating an additional $30,000 USD per year to partner with organizations that fight for racial justice and create opportunities for people of color.
The current moment is part of a long-standing, widespread, and entrenched system of structural oppression of people of color, and real progress requires a sustained and sincere commitment to political, social, and economic racial justice and change. We’ll continue to promote diversity and opportunity through our mission to support artists, the products we build to empower them, who we promote through the Bandcamp Daily, our relationships with local artists and organizations through our Oakland space, how we operate as a team, and who and how we hire.
Beyond that, we encourage everyone in the Bandcamp community to look for ways to support racial equality in your own local community, and as a company we’ll continue to look for more opportunities to support racial justice, equality and change.”
