LEAVING A POSITIVE LEGACY INC
One World United Through Music
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Back to School with Positive Legacy
The global pandemic has taken its toll, especially on low-income neighborhoods, and the landscape for learning has taken a major shift. Now it is more important than ever to ensure that children and teachers struggling to adapt still have access to the resources they need to be successful. Our program is serving the students in greatest need in America with the goal of addressing racial equality, and will help reduce barriers of learning that create disadvantages to children of lower income families.
To stay true to our recycling efforts, we are refurbishing laptops from donors, ensuring that Macs and PCs are cleaned before distributing to students in need. Anyone interested in donating a laptop or companies looking to partner to serve the school of greatest need in their community should reach out to [email protected] for more info.
Xcacel Sea Turtle Sanctuary
Positive Legacy's most recent environmental project at Xcacel Turtle Sanctuary (part of the largest stretch of turtle nesting area in the Yucatan) has made the most significant impact by showing the importance of the ecosystem and beach to the local government who often are more interested in development and financial gain than maintaining the stretches of untouched beach and associated pristine ecosystems. Positive Legacy has brought 12 groups to this location over the past three winters to provide site improvement projects such as micro-plastic beach combing, painting and hanging educational signage, putting up rope fencing to protect habitat areas, and clearing space to build a picnic area, as well as picnic tables, to provide a designated place for visitors to eat rather than on the beach. Additionally, our grant funding has begun efforts in creating a welcome center for visitors to learn about sea turtles and the importance of their conservation as well as creating better facilities for the overnight volunteers during nesting and hatching season.
COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund & Program
In response to COVID-19's impact on the live music industry, Positive Legacy and Cloud 9 Adventures aligned to spread joy and give back to the music community in need. The COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund & Program was launched to benefit gig workers who were actively involved with live music events and found themselves out of work without a platform to obtain income during the pandemic. Positive Legacy challenged fans to a $10,000 donation match, which was raised within weeks, allowing PL to distribute 180 micro payments of $250 to qualified independent contractors from the live music industry.
"This helps me keep y house and make it another month until I can apply for unemployment," says a COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund recipient. "I'm truly honored to be in this industry and I'm forever grateful to you."
PL also teamed up with artists, events, and venues to fundraise and provide relief to the crews that were out of work, as well as inspire positive improvement within their communities.
Saving Turtles in Mexico
In November 2019, Positive Legacy provided funding for a year-long weekly beach cleanup of 100+ kilometers of virgin beaches to the North and South of Mahahual, Mexico. The goal was to catch plastics before they break down into micro plastics and enter our food, as well as to prevent disrupting the beach’s turtle nesting sites. Through the program, Menos Plástico es Fantástico (“Less Plastic is Fantastic”) created jobs within their community, and spread consciousness around the impacts consumer consumption has on our oceans and beaches.
· Through these beach cleanups, Menos Plástico es Fantástico collected 18,492.37lbs of varied types of plastic, glass, and trash
· The grant project provided 10 families with jobs during the incredible economic downfall of their local community due to the pandemic
· Before the program began, only 12 turtle nests were found on this beach, but this year, over 70 nests were counted. We would call that a major turtle success!
Feeding Families in Need in Quintana Roo
For decades, Mexico has suffered from food insecurity and the pandemic only exacerbated this inequity. That's why we united with Mike's Amazing and RCD Fundación during the 2021-2022 Cloud 9 Adventures event season to assemble food and supply bags for communities in need throughout Quintana Roo.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the 350 volunteers who joined us on the assembly line at one our Days of Service, and the countless others who sponsored a food bag. Over eight events, we watched pallet upon pallet of 16 different products totaling over 43,000 pounds slowly disappear into pretty, upcycled, durable, and reusable bags. Our efforts equated to providing more than 19,000 healthy meals distributed to seven communities: Torres, Vida y Esperanza, Santa Cecilia, Playa del Carmen, Nuevo Noh Bec, Puerto Maya, and Puerto Aventuras. From the smiles on the recipients faces, it’s easy to see how our small actions make a big impact as we build one world united through music.
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Total dollar amount of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Average grant amount
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Total pounds of school and medical supply donations collected
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
During 2021, we were only able to collect school and medical supply donations one month out of the year due to the pandemic.
Total pounds of debris collected
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn 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?
Positive Legacy is working to integrate music and service to benefit people and the environment. We harness the fan power at music events to give back to those less fortunate, bridge cultural gaps, and take steps to protect and ensure the future of the environment. We inspire participant’s activation and engagement at home in their own communities by teaching them that their party can have a positive impact.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Positive Legacy (PL) utilizes music as a platform to raise money and awareness to serve the community in greatest need that is in near proximity to the event. We achieve fundraising and awareness by teaming up with music industry contacts and musicians to amplify our voice by utilizing event ticket surcharges, running charity auctions and other fundraising platforms. We identify the roots of environmental and humanitarian issues by diving deeply into Needs Assessments of the local communities. These Needs Assessments include researching and utilizing local insight to identify how we can best make a difference. We strategize ways to provide grant funding and integrate humanpower with a hands-on service day experience that will leave an impact rather than more harm. We develop working relationships with our partners so that we can measure progress and sustainability, and continue to support them over the years. PL teams up with and provides grant funding to local nonprofit organizations that work directly to serve their communities. This ensures the sustainability of our funds since these community leaders are personally invested in overseeing the longevity and success of the projects to change the issue at hand.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Since 2004, Positive Legacy has seen a need within the music industry and has set out to fill it. We have created and polished a tried and true model that we are able to replicate and adapt wherever an event takes place.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over the past ten years, Positive Legacy (PL) has distributed more than $900,000 in grant funding to support our partners on the ground providing environmental and humanitarian services including:
$114,990 to Trees, Water & People to sequester CO2 and support solar initiatives
$98,229 to Hands Up For Haiti for life-saving health care services
$71,095 to Dreams for Mayan Children to support educational opportunities for underserved children
$66,020 to live music industry crew for emergency COVID-19 relief funding
$22,056 to Xcacel Turtle Sanctuary for facility improvements and the preservation of their turtle nesting beach
$20,000 to the Community Baboon Sanctuary for conservation, education, research, and building the women's entrepreneurship program
$15,000 to Backline for connecting music industry professionals with mental health and wellness providers
Plus, countless boxes of school and medical supplies to residents throughout Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
We have cultivated a team of experts from all aspects within our industry. We have begun expanding our reach to find ways to serve our mission in the United States and develop new strategies for making an impact for people and the environment.
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 collecting feedback from the people you serve?
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when 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.
LEAVING A POSITIVE LEGACY INC
Board of directorsas of 04/18/2022
Jess Gries
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 -
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
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
No data
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
No data
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
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Sexual orientation
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Disability
No data