The 2025 MusiCares Persons Of The Year Charity Gala will help raise vital funds to support music professionals in need, including those impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires. Donate to MusiCares' Greater Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort to make a difference.
Inherent in the name of the greatest jam band of all time is a spirit of gratitude. Formed in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1965, the Grateful Dead were innovators — on stage, via an improvisational approach; off stage, via community-building.
Each member of The Dead — Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bobby Weir — displayed this altruism from the band's earliest days by playing free gigs in public parks and performing countless benefit shows. As their fame grew, so, too, did their charitable works, donating time and money to causes that moved them, from grassroots organizations to global nonprofits. Whether raising funds to help a San Francisco Bay Area theatre troupe or raising awareness for humanitarian crises like saving the rainforest, the raison d'etre behind this generosity was the same: kill them with kindness.
Sixty years since the Grateful Dead first started jamming, Dead Heads, the band's devout and diverse community of followers, also remain grateful — not just for the music, but for these charitable lessons. The group has taught their army of fans to become environmental stewards and benevolent individuals. For the band, that feeling has always been mutual.
"It's simple: we all need music. It speaks to each of us, offering what we need to face what life presents — enhancing our joys, helping us spread them, and making our sorrows easier to bear. We can't imagine a world without it. As our ol' pal, Jerry, used to say, 'You get some, you give some back,' a tremendously effective way to share those benefits," Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, and Weir said in a statement upon the band's official announcement as the 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year. (Lesh passed on Oct. 25, 2024, two days after the announcement.)
"This honor is truly a testament to the legacy of the music, which has always been bigger than us — it's about the connection between us, the crew, and all those who've been on this long strange trip," they added.
To celebrate the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award honoree’s 60th anniversary — and ongoing commitment to philanthropy — Hart, Kreutzmann and Weir will be honored on Jan. 31, two nights before the 2025 GRAMMYS, at the 34th annual MusiCares Persons Of The Year benefit gala at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The ceremony will also include posthumous tributes to Garcia and Lesh.
Ahead of the MusiCares gala, learn about a handful of the causes and communities the Grateful Dead support.
The Rex Foundation
Founded by members of the Grateful Dead and their families in 1983, this California-based nonprofit supports a wide range of causes. Named after Rex Jackson, a former Grateful Dead roadie and tour manager who passed away in 1976, the Foundation has awarded over 1,400 grants totalling more than $10 million to date.
The following principles guide the charities' approach to giving: supporting grassroots organizations, helping those who are making a difference in their communities and those who are catalysts for change. Two of the 2024 grant recipients were nonprofits Girls Garage and A Leg to Stand On (ALTSO). The former is a design and construction school for girls and gender-expansive youth ages 9-18 in the Bay Area; the latter works in emerging countries to bring free prosthetic limbs, orthotic braces and fitted wheelchairs to children living with limb disabilities.
The Further Foundation
A passionate environmental activist, Bobby Weir started this nonprofit in Berkeley, California more than 30 years ago. The Further Foundation gives grants to like-minded, socially conscious groups working to preserve the Earth's ecosystems — both locally and globally — and care for people and communities that fall through the social safety nets. Some of the causes the Foundation has supported over the years include HeadCount, Camp Winnarainbow and the Snow Leopard Conservancy.
The Unbroken Chain Foundation
Following Garcia's death in 1997, the Rex Foundation went into a temporary limbo; with no benefit concerts for the foreseeable future, there was no revenue coming in. Lesh, along with his wife, Jill, decided to start their own foundation to help give back.
Initially, the couple did not know what causes to support. The Unbroken Chain Foundation kicked off with a sing-along benefit concert dubbed Philharmonia. Proceeds from the show helped fund a trio of organizations in the San Francisco area: a women and children's center, a rec center and a neighborhood shelter.
Over the ensuing decades, the volunteer-driven nonprofit has held many benefits, raising money and supporting a variety of causes with a primary focus on health and the arts. In 2022, the Unbroken Chain Foundation awarded $77,422 in grants to organizations in need that included the Bay Area Womens and Childrens Center, Save the Redwoods League and Seeds of Learning.
The Jerry Garcia Foundation
Established in 2015 by Garcia's daughter Keelin and his widow, Manasha, this nonprofit supports a variety of artistic, environmental and humanitarian causes. It is driven by the philosophy, espoused by Garcia and the rest of the Grateful Dead members, that music and art are healing forces.
The Foundation has hosted many benefit concerts to raise money and awareness for causes like WhyHunger; it also donates original pieces of Garcia's artwork to like-minded nonprofits as gift grants. When the foundation was launched, Manasha summed up the inspiration behind its creation: "From our very first conversation, I realized Jerry was a compassionate humanitarian as well as a brilliant artist touched by the muses … it is a blessing to share his creativity with the community."
Keeping the Rhythm: The Philanthropic Passions of the Dead's Drummers
Two-time GRAMMY-winner Mickey Hart, along with Bill Kreutzmann, were the Grateful Dead's longtime drummers; together, the pair were nicknamed "the rhythm devils." When not keeping time, these musical brothers used their influence to champion causes close to their hearts.
Hart believes in music's power to heal. His philanthropic efforts and advocacy has focused on raising public awareness on the positive effects music has on treating afflictions associated with aging (like Alzheimer's disease).
Hart is also concerned with the digital preservation of music. He is on the Board of Directors of the Smithsonian's American Recorded Sound Project, and in 1999, the Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in San Francisco bestowed him with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters for his aural preservation work. And, in 2003, the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, gave Hart its Music Has Power Award to recognize his advocacy work.
Kreutzmann, an avid scuba diver, is most active in causes relating to the conservation of the world's oceans like the Save Japan Dolphins Campaign, the Grateful Diver and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He summed up the Dead's collective philanthropic philosophy to Billboard last year.
"We help people and give them stuff. It's just a good way to live life," he said. "I wish more people in the world lived life that way, instead of wars and bombings."
What's perhaps most remarkable about the Grateful Dead is that in addition to their meaningful community impact, they've built a musical output that includes 13 studio albums and 77 live records. With an attitude of gratitude and community-building ethos for more than 60 years and counting, the Grateful Dead have long ensured that their legacy isn't just about the music — it's also marked by caring for the greater good.