Thanks for your interest in the work I do, as a musician, author and speaker. Recently, I’ve had a few folks ask how they can support that work, so that I can continue to do it. Thank you for seeing value in the work I do.
Here are a few things you can do:
• Keep in touch! Please sign up for my occasional newsletter here. I will drop a note from time to time and keep you posted on things that are happening. You can also follow me on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Get Some Stuff: My three books and twelve albums are all available here, at the store on this web site, in addition to lots of other things that might interest you. Digital downloads of my own albums are now ‘pay what you choose’ on this website. You can download them all for free, or you can choose any price you like (note: buying things from this website is really helpful. Buying them from Amazon barely covers costs of the original products, the shipping, etc.). Here’s the link to the store on this web site.
• Virtual Tip Jar: If you just want to support the work I’m doing with a one time donation, thank you. Here’s the best way to do that.
• Patreon: This one is my fave. Patreon is my innermost circle online. These are the folks I stay in touch with most, and with whom I share everything I’m working on, usually long before it goes out elsewhere. You can choose any level of monthly support you’d like to, from $1 up to whatever you like (there are a few folks doing 50/100/125, and lots doing 1, 5, 10, 25, etc. I’m grateful for each of them!).
Some people join Patreon to support what I do as an artist, writer, and activist, and don’t really participate in the community aspect, and that’s just fine. Others participate in the things that are offered there — a new video every Monday (with a song I record just for Patreon), a brand new song each month (usually long before other people will hear it), twice-monthly hangouts with me and the community via Zoom, private online after-parties after I do digital gigs, and various other sneak previews.
If you want to be a part of that, here’s the link to Patreon (scroll down to choose your own level of support). If you want to know more about it, here are a page and a video that explain it a bit more.
It’s hard to overestimate the difference that Patreon is making in my life. In a wildly erratic profession that is extremely seasonal even at the best of times, the steady, predictable, monthly sustenance of the Patreon community takes a great deal of anxiety out of my life. I started it in November of 2019, a few months before the pandemic began, and I am so grateful for the serendipity of that timing, when suddenly all events were canceled.
My friend Gareth Higgins offered me some great framing for community just before the pandemic began — that in times like this (and, perhaps, any time), the way to live in community is to bring what we have, and ask for what we need. That’s making sense to me, and I’m trying to pay attention to what I can bring. So far, I have found that when I focus on what is mine to do, and try to contribute as I can, the rest takes care of itself, one way or another. Patreon is a great example of that.
Lastly, in terms of support, I want to mention some work that is very close to my heart, not as a way to support me, but to join me in supporting work I believe in. My wife and I founded a non-profit called PEG Partners, Inc. in 2004, to encourage projects fostering literacy, critical thought, and artistic expression in Guatemala. I’ve never had any salary from PEG, but I’m deeply grateful to you for any support you care to offer to this organization I’ve been volunteering for since 2004. Here’s a link to learn more about PEG, or make a donation to PEG (PEG is a 501(c)3 non-profit).
Peace to you, and sincere gratitude,
David