SongwritingWith: Inc.
Building creativity, connections and strengths
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Many veterans and their families struggle to integrate their experiences between military and civilian communities. The Veteran's Administration estimates that approximately 20 veterans take their own lives each day; of these, 14 have had little or no contact with Veterans Health Administration services. There is often a stigma attached to getting any kind of help which results in isolation. SW:S is truly neutral ground—not therapy and not military—where authenticity and creativity are nurtured in an environment of acceptance, storytelling, and connection to promote wellness for veterans, their families, and their caregivers.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
SongwritingWith:Soldiers
We pair veterans, military families, and active-duty service members with professional songwriters in retreat and workshop settings to craft songs about military experiences and the return home. Collaborative songwriting fosters trust, connection, and well being.
Through collaborative songwriting, participants build trust, forge bonds, and release pain. Newly written songs are recorded on site and veterans registered with ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Artists, and Publishers) as co-writers of their songs. Our creativity workshops deepen connections, with sessions in photography, video, journaling and more, many led by veterans.
After the retreats, all participants receive books with lyrics and photographs from the weekend, CDs of the songs, and DVDs of the final performance. These lasting artifacts preserve positive memories and songs instill pride and serve as stepping-stones for reconnecting with family, friends, and communities.
The program also nurtures post-retreat growth. Participants provide peer support at future retreats, reconnect through our online SW:S forum, and interact through Creativity Calling, a quarterly teleclass focused on creative pursuits featuring special guests. Members of all military branches referred through contacts with VA Hospitals, Veterans Centers, Mental Health professionals. Costs are covered for participants.
SW:S songs shared through CDs, downloads, concerts, and social media to bridge the divide between military and civilian communities.
SongwritingWith:Soldiers Retreats
We pair veterans, military families, and active-duty service members with professional songwriters in retreat and workshop settings to craft songs about military experiences and the return home. Collaborative songwriting fosters trust, connection, and well being.
Through collaborative songwriting, participants build trust, forge bonds, and release pain. Newly written songs are recorded on site and veterans registered with ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Artists, and Publishers) as co-writers of their songs. Our creativity workshops deepen connections, with sessions in photography, video, journaling and more, many led by veterans.
After the retreats, all participants receive books with lyrics and photographs from the weekend, CDs of the songs, and DVDs of the final performance. These lasting artifacts preserve positive memories and songs instill pride and serve as stepping-stones for reconnecting with family, friends, and communities.
The program also nurtures post-retreat growth. Participants provide peer support at future retreats, reconnect through our online SW:S forum, and interact through Creativity Calling, a quarterly teleclass focused on creative pursuits featuring special guests. Members of all military branches referred through contacts with VA Hospitals, Veterans Centers, Mental Health professionals. Costs are covered for participants.
SW:S songs shared through CDs, downloads, concerts, and social media to bridge the divide between military and civilian communities.
Where we work
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of participants who would recommend program to others
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Military personnel, Veterans
Related Program
SongwritingWith:Soldiers Retreats
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
100% of clients served.
Percentage of clients who achieved goal of writing at least one song
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Military personnel, Veterans
Related Program
SongwritingWith:Soldiers Retreats
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
100% of clients served.
Percentage of clients who report an increase in hope and optimism
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Military personnel, Veterans
Related Program
SongwritingWith:Soldiers Retreats
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
RESULTS FROM OUR LONG-TERM SURVEY OF PARTICIPANTS
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our goal is that, through creative self-expression and positive connections, participants will release pain, reduce stress, increase well-being, build hope, and return home supported by their songs and their new SongwritingWith:Soldiers community.
In 2012, SW:S began with one veterans retreat in Texas. Since then, we've held more than 45 retreats and workshops in 7 states, and expanded our program to include military families, military couples, female veterans, and student veterans. We hope to bring the SongwritingWith:Soldiers program to veterans and their families in every state across the nation. Too often, military men and women carry their stories alone. Through collaborative songwriting, stories are shared, released, and transformed into something beautiful.
Key Activities 2022
Key Activities
3 - SW:S Retreats (TX, TN, NY)
2 - SW:S WWP Retreats
4 - SW:S PATHH Retreats (TOF and EODWF)
101 - Warrior PATHH (12-BCVA, 12-BCAZ, 10-BCMobile, 11-CSG, 12-GAF, 11-TMF, 12-BRB, 9-SDI, 12-NWP/PTSDF)
10th Anniversary
10th Anniversary Concert with Live Streaming in Luckenbach (Nov. 11, 2022)
Intimate series friend/fundraising 10th Anniversary concerts with board and major donors (i.e. Nashville, New York, Boston)
Release and share 10th anniversary #CONNECTIONS commemorative music/book
Release produced music and podcasts on streaming platforms for outreach
Serve Existing Demand:
Deliver SW:S modules to Warrior PATHH
Deliver SW:S retreats with open recruitment
Deliver SW:S retreats in partnership with venue, veteran and corporate organizations
Continue to deliver online programs and identify at least one corporate partner
Align with partners on diversity and inclusion metrics/policy
Improve and better understand existing programs.
continue to align our evaluation metrics with partners
further document and share our own evaluation results
Grow Through Partnerships:
Identify, qualify and conduct outreach to explore and develop strategic partnerships to leverage our music, program and other assets
Impact research to improve and better understand existing programs.
conduct research/evaluation with partner organization
Infrastructure:
Design one SW:S retreat for training and improving program systems and delivery
Expand and train roster of songwriters and program facilitators/content experts
Add songwriters and facilitators in key geographic regions
Continue to develop business rules, performance metrics (internal and external), policies and procedures that allow for a consistent, successful and sustainable operation
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We continued our strategic focus on ensuring long-term financial and program sustainability, while gaining important growth and recognition of our signature programs for veterans, active duty service members and their families.
As SW:S moves towards our 10th anniversary in 2022, we remain committed to strengthening the organization and furthering the mission-driven purpose established by our founders.
To achieve this goal, our initiatives embrace three requirements: Solidify. Amplify. Sustain. With this strategic emphasis in place we successfully accomplished the following key objectives:
o Focus on Existing Demand—continuing to service existing military-focused demand (veteran, active military, and families)
o Grow Through Partnership—Leveraging evidence-based programing through strategic partnerships that explore both ingredient and stand-alone approaches
o Build Infrastructure—Invest in strengthening infrastructure to ensure that we are building a sustainable, scalable, self-supporting nonprofit able to carry our mission into the future
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
SongwritingWith:Soldiers continues to connect with funders and partners who strongly believe in our mission and wish to support us.
Examples include two "in progress" partnerships with corporate sponsors, a new board member who is spearheading the first SW:S research project, a renowned documentary filmmaker who is filming SW:S retreats for a feature-length project, invitations to present our unique program to audiences at universities, conferences, corporate gatherings, and private parties.
Like many nonprofits, we continue to rely on individual donors to keep our program free to veterans and their families. At the same time, the high level respect for our young organization assures us that we will continue to meet and exceed our goals.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2021 SW:S safely and successfully transitioned back to serving our community in-person, fortifying our mission to transform lives by using collaborative songwriting to expand creativity, connections, and strengths. In the midst of uncertainty we're proud that ONE HUNDRED FIFTY EIGHT new songs were written!
This year reminded us again of the importance of creativity in fostering connections, building community and growing friendships along the way.
As we celebrate our 10th anniversary in 2022 our work deepens as we continue to build a sustainable, scalable, self-supporting nonprofit able to carry our mission into the future.
PROGRAM - 2021
8 SW:S in person retreats serving 52 veterans and their families
93 SW:S collaborative songwriting sessions in person for Warrior PATHH in 7 different locations serving 560+ veterans
Partnered with Wounded Warrior Project for three retreats in Tennessee
Two retreats lead by new Lead Facilitators, increasing the facilitation team to four
Creative Community Courses (CCC): 20+ courses and interactive interviews engaging past participants, many featuring SW:S veterans
Added online group follow up sessions to all after retreat engagement giving us powerful resources that will continue to benefit and help deliver our mission
MUSIC
158 new songs written
Produced a demo recording of five PATHH songs in partnership with Boulder Crest
Trained 3 new songwriters for our PATHH programs
Trained and added new songwriter Danny Myrick to our music team
5,492 complete listens on Bandcamp
Trained new Lead and PATHH writers for both in-person and online sessions
In collaboration with the team at Luckenbach, presented a“Stories and Songs” concert that reached 150 audience members in person and booked Veterans Day, November 11 concert date for 2022
PBS concert special Songwriting With Soldiers available for free streaming during National Military Family Appreciation Month in November
ORGANIZATION
Reached over $1M in revenue
Hired a full-time Program and Event Manager
Added Board Member - Brian Magerkurth, US Army Lieutenant Colonel (Retired)
Trained and transitioned to Alchemy Artist Services managing social media efforts
Created and distributed second SW:S compilation book “Connections” for public distribution and donor recognition
Created new brochures and collateral and distributed to our community to highlight our campaign theme of #CONNECTIONS for 2021
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
SongwritingWith: Inc.
Board of directorsas of 08/07/2023
Mr. Gary Leopold
Retired
Term: 2018 - 2020
Harry Ballan
Touro College
Barbara Kornreich
Piper7Media
Mike Schatzlein
TRC Studios
Donald Navor
Lieutenant Colonel, USA (Retired)
Mary Judd
Co-Founder and Program Director
Kristin Starling
Ex Officio/Executive Director
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/19/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.