a n n u a l re p o rt - Rock the Earth

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President’s Message “Get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand” 2006 was a banner year for Rock the Earth and we knew that as that year came to a close, we were poised for another amazing year of accomplishments in 2007. But never could we have imagined the extent of the overwhelming success that the organization enjoyed in ’07. By nearly every standard, Rock the Earth grew: members, money raised, profile, involvement in festivals, diversity of artist partners and audience reached, substantive projects advanced, grant applications and grants awarded – all expectations were exceeded. With only one full-time paid employee and two part-time employees, Rock the Earth continues to grow thanks in large part to the efforts of the nearly three dozen Volunteer Staff and Advisory Board members. Some of the highlights contained within this 2007 Annual Report are: • With financial support from the Rex Foundation and the Fund for Wild Nature, Rock the Earth continued to prosecute its first litigation matter – a lawsuit against the United States National Park Service for their mismanagement of the stretch of the Colorado River that flows through Grand Canyon National Park. • In our first petition campaign, Rock the Earth formed a partnership with the Gulf Restoration Network and Save Our Cypress against Wal-Mart, Lowes and Home Depot to petition the companies to cease purchasing and selling mulch from cypress forests within the Gulf Region. After only three months, Wal-mart announced that they will no longer sell cypress mulch originating in the Gulf region. • Rock the Earth conducted its first service project. Rock the Earth volunteers and Staff collaborated with John Butler Trio, Brett Dennen, CLIF Bar Green Notes, Surfrider Foundation, and Save the Bay, on a beach cleanup and concert at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, California. • Rock the Earth successfully “greened” Jam Cruise for the second time in as many years. With the support of festival promoters, Rock the Earth partnered with green businesses, artists and another nonprofit to reduce the environmental impact of the festival, educate and activate attendees on environmental issues, and completely offset the carbon emissions from the ship with trees planted in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. • Rock the Earth’s volunteer legal and technical Staff reviewed and/or worked on 15 separate, substantive issues and projects brought to our attention by supporters in the music community. • Rock the Earth played a major part in the environmental programming at 3 festivals in 2007: Bonnaroo, The Echo Project and the Northwest String Summit. • As of year end, Rock the Earth had 2075 members in all 50 states, an increase of 24% over our 2006 membership. Over 14,000 people are now on our mailing list. • Nearly 43% of our members and the people on our mailing list have volunteered to assist Rock the Earth in some way – from tabling concerts and festivals, to providing legal and technical assistance, to grant writing and helping us with publicity. • Rock the Earth volunteers have donated more than 10,000 hours supporting our mission and activities. • Rock the Earth had a presence at 126 concert dates throughout the United States in 2007, and had a full-time team that traversed the country for 17 weeks between May and September. • Over 100 unpaid volunteers worked these concert and festival events in 2007. • In 2007, Rock the Earth raised over $125,000 from memberships, sponsorships, donations, grants and auctions – a 23% increase over 2006! • The music industry and more-high profile artists continued to embrace Rock the Earth in 2007, leading us to collaborate with, among others, Ozzy Osbourne and Ozzfest, the Vans Warped Tour, Incubus, The Allman Brothers Band, The Dave Matthews Band, and the Indigo Girls.
2007annual report • In 2007, Rock the Earth not only continued to maintain a part-time paid Office Manager and a full-time paid Executive Director, but the organization also hired its first Development Director (part-time). Rock the Earth continues to advance, progressing onward to becoming not only a fixture in the music community, but also serving as a huge asset to the environmental community. In 2007, we partnered with more bands and more environmental organizations than ever before, leveraging nearly 15,000 environmentally concerned and music-loving constituents to bring about environmental awareness and change. Some of our most significant work in 2007 took place in partnership with other groups. Not only did we completely prosecute our first piece of litigation through the Federal District Court level in partnership with two other environmental groups, but our public campaign with the Save Our Cypress Coalition to force retailers to stop buying and selling mulch from endangered cypress forests in the Gulf Region, resulted in success and caused Wal-Mart to agree to stop selling such mulch. The year wasn’t without our struggles with regard to funding, but whereas a year ago, nearly all of our money came from grassroots memberships, in 2007 over $30,000 came from businesses, special events and grants. Furthermore, membership renewal rates were up, the average amount donated to Rock the Earth with a membership similarly rose, multiple donations from the same donors within a calendar year increased. All of this combined, not only provided the organization with a more rounded and sustainable funding plan, but positions Rock the Earth for increased success in these areas in 2008. With the addition of a new part-time paid Development Director to really focus on individual donors and green corporate partners, it is our belief that we will maintain (or exceed) the current rate of growth in 2008. Rock the Earth continues to make inroads with an increasingly diverse number of artists and once again, we worked with some of the biggest names in Rock ‘n Roll, highlighted by our work with the Vans Warped Tour and as the first and only charity working with the Ozzfest tour. Our exposure at music festivals also reached new heights. For the second year in a row, we played a major role in the environmental programming at Bonnaroo (the largest music festival in the country), highlighted by one-on-one, on-stage interviews with Michael Franti, Warren Haynes and rock legend, Bob Weir. We also played significant roles in the environmental programming at the first annual Echo Project in Georgia, as well as at the annual Northwest String Summit in Oregon. As 2007 came to a close, the entire Volunteer Staff and Advisory Board are incredibly excited and optimistic. We have several, unique projects under development, including a potential national cable television show, coordinating the programming, greening and vending at a major festival, and gearing up for our most ambitious Summer Education & Outreach Tour yet. In 2008, Rock the Earth will continue to expand our work to preserve America’s most threatened natural spaces and hold polluters and governmental entities responsible for their actions. We will continue to educate and activate thousands of environmentally concerned, music-loving fans, inspiring them to take actions to create a more sustainable and healthy planet, and we’ll continue to look for opportunities to work with a greater variety of artists. Meanwhile, with every passing year, it becomes all too clear that Rock the Earth is indeed poised to reach its goal of becoming the preeminent environmental advocacy organization to work with and on behalf of the music community. We thank you for your support and hope that you will continue to join with us in 2008. Rockin’ in the free world, Marc A. Ross, President and Executive Director
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