Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation

The Hootie and the Blowfish Foundation was created in 2000 by Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker & Jim Sonefeld to support public education issues in their home state of South Carolina. By establishing a fund with the Central Carolina Community Foundation, Hootie & the Blowfish were able to focus their collective philanthropic passions to make positive, immediate and profound changes in the lives of all South Carolinians. “The Foundation enables us to be proactive for the charities we are passionate about. The foundation becomes a viable resource that enables us to help people at anytime,” says Mark Bryan, guitarist for Hootie and the Blowfish.

Since its inception, the Hootie Foundation has been able to provide major funding to projects benefiting thousands of students in the S.C. public school system. Examples include:

• The building of several Family Learning Centers, which are computer labs available to students and their families in needy school districts.
• In reaction to the release of Corridor Of Shame, a documentary exploiting the extremely poor conditions of public schools in rural S.C. along the I-95 interstate, the Foundation contacted the eight neediest school districts and pledged $80,000.00 to fund an immediate need they were facing.
• The Hootie Foundation partnered with DonorsChoose.org with a $15,000.00 pledge through their matching gift-style Double Your Impact Campaign. Through that organization, teachers can post projects and needs for their classrooms and supporters can search for causes they prefer to support and make donations. Once 50% of the project was funded, the Hootie and the Blowfish Foundation paid the balance resulting in a $30,000.00 impact for funding arts projects in S.C. public schools.
• Each fall, the Hootie Foundation hosts their annual Back To School Roundup in Charleston, SC. Qualifying students enjoy a day of fun preparing for the upcoming school year by receiving backpacks full of school supplies, dental exams, haircuts, new shoes and more. Additionally, in conjunction with their Homegrown tour, Hootie fans brought school supplies to the concerts which were distributed back to needy students in the local community.

The major contributor of funds to the Hootie Foundation is their annual charity event, The Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament. Due to the amazing success of this event, the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation is able to also support the S.C. Jr Golf Foundation by funding programs and providing scholarships for deserving junior golfers.

To date, the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation has donated over $1.4 million dollars to over 180 causes and is endowed to guarantee funding of charitable efforts for eternity. “We want to grow this foundation”, boasts Hootie bassist, Dean Felber, “into a foundation that one day, our children can administrate. What a legacy that would be…”


The South Carolina Junior Golf Association