Annual Fund Drive 2025

Please help caffe lena raise $75,000 by december 31!

It’s Caffe Lena’s mission to provide music, connection and learning. Everyone needs it, and it never goes out of style. We’ve been doing it since 1960 and we want to keep doing it for decades to come–but we need your help. This is a challenging time for nonprofits like ours due to recent changes in funding at the federal level. In this climate, it’s our audience, volunteers and members who will ensure the music lives on.

*Eileen Ivers and the Brigideens, photo courtesy of Bryan Lasky*

DONATE NOW

It’s easy to underestimate the power of music — even for those of us who enjoy it every day. In a world filled with real fears and hard headlines, something quietly extraordinary happens here at Caffe Lena every night. Music turns worry into calm, strangers into neighbors, and songs fill tired hearts with hope again. You see it when a young writer shares her first poem at Open Mic, when toddlers belt out the theme song at Folk Club Kids, when a memory stirs during Caffe Lena On the Road, and when 300 concerts a year welcome people from every walk of life.

IMPACT SNAPSHOT

600+ concerts and community events hosted

350+ students served through the School of Music & scholarships

1,500+ artists paid fair wages and featured on our stage

35% of events offered with sliding-scale or free access

WHAT YOUR GIFT MAKES POSSIBLE

The median ticket price will stay under $30.

You’ll have more than 300 concerts to choose from, ranging from folk stalwarts like Tom Chapin, to thrilling young jazz discoveries like Ari Hoenig Trio.

You’ll help keep music accessible to all–including the service workers and young families that our local economy depends on. Nearly ½ of Lena’s monthly events, including Folk Club Kids, the Senior Jam, Open Mic, Storytelling Night, and more, cost $0-$5. Sustaining this is a big commitment, but broad access to culture is a marker of healthy communities. That’s what our music is for.

You’ll ensure a place for children in the future of music. Not with headphones on, listening alone. But with an instrument in their hands, shoulder to shoulder with friends, playing and singing together.