Maggie Rogers, Jamie XX To Headline M3F As Music Fest Expands Its Charitable Focus

Maggie Rogers and Jamie xx will headline M3F Fest, which returns to Phoenix on March 3-4 with plans to expand the scope of organizations to which the music festival donates 100 percent of its proceeds.

Ashe, Coin, Purple Disco Machine, Polo & Pan, Toro y Moi, Becky Hill and Quinn XCII are also on the bill for the 20th iteration of the fest, whose roots are in invigorating the greater Phoenix community and supporting local nonprofits as well as national organizations. Last year M3F drew 30,000 fans and raised a record $1.2 million for charities. Past beneficiaries selected in-house include the Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s music therapy program, Habitat for Humanity, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Backline.

For 2023, the festival’s producer—Phoenix-based Wespac Construction—is opening funding opportunities to the public with the new M3F Fund. Nonprofits and 501(c)(3) organizations that have clear objectives and a measurable way to assess progress can submit requests here. The festival prioritizes funding related to its four primary pillars: community, education, arts and environment.

Aside from expanding the roster of potential beneficiaries, the fund structure will provide more transparency to attendees with the requirement that organizations provide a more detailed description of how they intend to use the funds, year-round follow-ups and shareable assets like short videos through which they show how the money was spent.

“After we raised $1.2 million last year we sat down with Wespac and others and said, ‘How can we create a 365-day ecosystem that allows us to continue our efforts after the gates close,” says Warner Bailey, M3F manager. “So now moving forward we’re going to work with each charity throughout the year and they’re going to give us information on how the donation is being used and how fans can continue to support them and donate.”

Bailey says he and his partner RJ Largay, M3F talent & marketing manager and son of Wespac and M3F founder John Largay, will vet each charity and create lasting relationships with them. “It’s not, ‘Here’s a check, we’ll see you next March.’ We wanted to create the fund and ecosystem that allows us to continue charitable efforts and continue to make real tangible change in the community,” he says.

For the artists, the opportunity to perform at a festival that donates all of its proceeds to impact organizations is an added bonus.

“M3F feels like a huge friends and family gathering,” says Joshy Soul, who’s returning this year. “It’s a festival where I get to have fun doing what I love with a bunch of kind-hearted music lovers while raising a bunch of money for charity. Do not mistake kind-hearted for not being wild though. The M3F fans are definitely a wild bunch!”

Speaking on the 2022 edition, RJ Largay notes British group Jungle performed and DJ’d an afterparty from which all proceeds were donated to Backline, which connects music industry professionals and their families with mental health and wellness providers.

“They were at the venue until 2:30 in the morning and then had to get on a flight at 6 in the morning to get to Florida to do their next concert,” says Largay. They did not have to come through and do all that—and it was all for this beneficiary.”