The Pearl Foundation (named after Janis' mother Pearl) is an IRS-approved (501[c][3]) non-profit organization. It was formed after the Janis Ian Online Auction, through which Janis and her fans raised over $70,000 to fund college scholarships for returning students. With these monies we have already funded six perpetual scholarships at Goddard College, Pearl's alma mater.

The Foundation was formed in order to continue these works.

We believe in education; we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to turn their lives around. We also believe that people are essentially good, and those who have extra resources through talent or birth are often moved to help others not so fortunate.

We will be spending the next few years building up our base capital and making small donations. Our goal is to do what we did with Goddard on an annual basis - to create perpetual scholarships at various educational institutions for people who've been out of school or in the work force more than five years. The scholarship money is used to provide everything from tuition to day-care for these students. Scholarships are provided without regard to race, creed, religion, nationality, sexual preference, or other limiting factors.

We do not provide scholarships ourselves, so please don't write to us asking for money! As we are able to fund more scholarships, we hope to add lists of the institutions providing them to these pages. Net profits on Janis Ian merchandise are donated to The Pearl Foundation by Janis. This means that for every item you buy, some percentage is going back to scholarship funding. 100% of money going into the "tip jar" at shows is donated to the Foundation.

Additionally, we offer special merchandise items through the Janis Ian website and Rude Girl Express mail orders. 100% of sales on these items are donated directly to the Pearl Foundation, and checks should be made out accordingly. These monies are deductible for you to the extent allowable by the IRS.

Website designed by Tina Abato