We Are Loud Charitable Trust: our first year
Eleven students funded, over 200 hours of tuition delivered, one sold-out launch concert. A look back at the trust's first full year.
The reason the trust exists
We’ve run an informal scholarship scheme inside the studio for years. A family would be struggling, we’d quietly drop their lesson fee, and absorb the cost. It worked — but it wasn’t scaleable, wasn’t transparent, and wasn’t fundable.
The We Are Loud Charitable Trust was registered in 2024 to put that work on a proper footing. A separate legal entity, a real board, real financials — so we can apply for funding, be accountable for it, and help more students than we ever could out of the studio’s own pocket.
Year one in numbers
- 11 students funded across 2025
- 200+ hours of tuition delivered
- 5 instruments on offer to scholarship students (singing, piano, guitar, violin, drums)
- 1 sold-out launch concert in September 2025
- $0 spent on administration — all funds went directly to tuition
Who’s been funded
All scholarship recipients come through a simple application form reviewed by the board. The criteria are straightforward:
- Real financial need
- The young person wants music lessons (we don’t fund reluctant students — motivation matters)
- The placement is a good fit (we match students to teachers carefully)
We’ve deliberately kept the process light. Families don’t need to produce detailed financial disclosures. We trust people.
What the first year taught us
- Funders want numbers. We now track tuition hours, student retention, and demographic breakdown from day one.
- Consent for stories is ongoing, not one-off. We revisit it every term.
- A two-entity structure is worth the admin. The studio and trust each do what they’re good at.
What’s next
- Growing from 11 funded students to 20+ in 2026
- Launching sponsorship tiers on the donate page for families and businesses who want to help
- Publishing our first annual report (available on the impact page)
- Continuing the partnership with Foundation North and other sponsors
If you’d like to help, the quickest way is to sponsor a term. If you know a young West Aucklander who could use a music scholarship, point them at /trust/scholarships.
Thank you to everyone who backed year one.