Music That Gives Back; Kindness You Can Hear

What if generosity were as simple as pressing play? We sit down with Dave Lewis, a San Diego accountant and solo pianist who built Playing To Pitch In, a project that routes 100% of streaming royalties directly to six vetted charities. No tip jars, no detours—just music funding impact through automated splits to organizations like the Against Malaria Foundation, Helen Keller International, Best The Book Bus, a local food bank, the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, and disaster relief groups.

Dave walks us through the moment that sparked it all—discovering “earning to give” during 2020—and how he engineered a transparent system where artists and listeners collaborate. We dig into the why behind his charity choices, leaning on GiveWell research for high-impact outcomes: bed nets that prevent malaria, vitamin A supplements that save sight and lives, and literacy programs that build home libraries and confidence. Dave shares a moving story from Tampa, where he helped children pick books right off the bus, and then zooms out with the “drowning child” thought experiment to reframe distance and duty: saving a life far away is no less urgent than saving one next door.

Along the way, we explore music’s quiet power to bridge divides, the joy of returning to a shelved passion, and the many small ways anyone can help—time, skills, or simple daily habits like choosing a playlist. Playing To Pitch In has grown beyond Dave, welcoming tracks from other pianists so listeners can support causes while enjoying calm, reflective music on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon, and more under “Playing To Pitch In.”

Join us as we turn attention into action and art into aid. If this story moves you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a quick review. Then press play on kindness—and tell us which cause you’ll stream for today.

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“Intro music: ‘Human First’ by Mike Baker – YouTube Music: https://youtu.be/wRXqkYVarGA | Podcast: Still Here, Still Trying | Website: www.mikebakerhq.com”

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Walking slow. Down my street. Strangers smile.

Why Compassion At Scale Matters

Gratitude And Today’s Guest

Dave’s Origin: Earning To Give

SPEAKER_00 0:18

When I doesn't matter. Welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. A show that celebrates the powerful truth that kindness can change the world. Every week I aim to shine a light on people and organizations making a positive difference in their communities, proving that compassion, empathy, and connection still thrive, even in challenging times. This podcast is about more than good storytellers. It's about real impact. Through heartfelt conversations, inspiring acts, and perfect example of humanity. If the message of this show resonates with you, please share it with your friends and family. Faith Share helps spread the light a little further. Because when it comes to kindness, the ripple effect is limitless. Each of us only has so many hours in a day, so much time in a day. And the fact that you chose to spend 30 minutes or so of your time with us today means the world to me. I appreciate it and I thank you so much. I have a fantastic show for you today. Our guest today, Dave Lewis, is someone who proves that kindness can be a daily practice woven into your talents. By day, he's a senior accountant in San Diego, but by night, he's a solo pianist and composer whose music has reached over a million listeners. Through his project Playing to Pitch In, Dave donates his music proceeds to charity, turning every stream into support for organizations like Best the Bookbus, for example. His work reminds us that generosity doesn't always require grand gestures. Sometimes it's as simple as sharing your gifts with the world. Welcome to the show, Dave. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks. Really looking forward to this. Ah, that and this is this is so amazing. Um I absolutely love what you're doing. Um so now as we mentioned, you're an accountant and you you do music on the side, right? Yes. Was there a specific moment or a sour note in the world that made you realize your music could do more than just entertain?

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Um, in a way, COVID, I guess, would have been the sour note. Um playing the pitch-in, I started it back in um 2020, and or at least started to have the idea for it in 2020. It was December, and uh I heard a podcast, uh, a different pro podcast, but I heard a podcast that was talking about giving back and the concept of earning to give, the idea that you can basically earn money for the purposes of giving it to charity. And um, what I realized is that I had my accounting income for my day job, and I wasn't dependent on the money that I had been making from music. So it just became an opportunity for me to give back without actually feeling the pain of having to open up my wallet and pull money out for the causes that uh I cared about. This was something I could do without affecting um my ability to pay my bills.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Right, yeah. And I think there are so many people in the world right now, you know, they go, they look and they go, they look at their wallet and then they go, there are so many places that need help, but I have limited sources of income, right? And you want to help everybody. I think a lot of people feel that way. You know, you want to donate to this or that or the other charity, um, but you're just like, I only have so many bucks, and much like our listeners only have certain number of hours in a day, we only have certain amount of money that we can spend to to help out truly deserving causes. And uh and so yeah, I I totally get that. I understand it.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Um So, Dave, are you still there? Okay, all right, I'm sorry.

Streaming Model That Donates Royalties

SPEAKER_00 5:18

I didn't know if you wanted me to continue on or no, that's fine. Um oftentimes there there's an old saying that um music sues the savage beast. Um, we often hear that music can be healing, um, and you're using it to fundraise. How does a piano performance open people's hearts and wallets in a way that a standard donation plea might not?

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Well, at least in my case with playing the pitch-in, the great thing about the way playing the pitch-in is structured is that you don't actually have to open up your wallet to help. You're helping just by listening. Um, so playing the pitch-in basically walk works off of um a streaming model where all of the streaming royalties are donated to the six charities. I never receive any of the money for it because I've worked with each charity to set up an account with my distributor. So they actually log into their own accounts of my distributor and just withdraw the funds because I've arranged all the money to go through them to them through splits. So if you don't have a lot of money to donate, this is a way you can do it for free.

Choosing High-Impact Charities

SPEAKER_00 6:32

That's perfect. And you know what? This seems like something that only an accountant could have figured out. Um so how do you what's your process? Do you have a process for figuring out which causes um or pigeon projects to support?

Music Bridging Divides

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Well, when I first started out, um I began by looking at uh a site called givewell.org. And what I wanted to do was not just find um charities that were important to me personally, but also to find ways to, this is the accountant in me also, I guess, to maximize the utility of my dollar. If I was going to be donating money, I wanted to make sure that the charities were truly effective in reducing suffering and saving lives. So the first two charities I found were the Against Malaria Foundation and Helen Keller International. And what I love about the Against Malaria Foundation is that they have a separate partnered organization that takes care of all the funding for their logistics and their operations. And the money that you donate specifically to the Against Malaria Foundation, or that goes to them through playing the pitch-in, just goes to buying the bed nets that they supply, which reduce um malaria in Africa simply by just keeping people safe, keeping kids specifically safe, especially at night. Yeah. I mean, for the other ones, um, some of them, sorry, uh for the other charities that uh that I've had an interest in, um, Best the Bookbuster you mentioned, that's actually kind of a sad story. I um I was uh playing with a group of friends, I still play with them, I'm playing with them tomorrow. We have like a little piano meetup group, and there's uh a group of six or seven of us, and um one of them was a children's author, and she'd been playing with us for years, and um she um she passed away sadly, and um she was a big Beatles fan, and I had recorded a cover of um with a little help from my friends, and because she was a children's author, um I started researching charities that focused on literacy, children's literacy, and that's how I found best the book bus. And uh my wife chose the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, and uh the San Diego Food Bank is a local charity, and then it's also based off of need, because um recently with the LA Wildfires, um I got involved with a charity that helps them that helps to um deal with those that situation and uh another um organization that helps deal with uh disasters around the world. So all different ways, really.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Oh wow, yeah. Yeah, the I I have no idea how people will will recover from those wildfires. So many people lost homes and and and what have you. It's absolutely horrifying. Um Have you ever seen a specific piece of music bridge a gap between two people who were previously at odds? That's an off-the-wall, out-of-the-box kind of question, I think.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

I think music definitely has the power to do that. Um I uh I look at my wife and I'm amazed by how eclectic her tastes are. She passionately loves opera and country music. And you tend to find that a lot of fans from those two types of music tend to come from very different backgrounds. But um I've seen that um you really can bring people together through music and through different styles and um kind of broaden their horizons to appreciating different types of styles of music. And also sometimes you find that people come from very different backgrounds and like the same music, and it definitely can bridge the gap in that way too.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

So yeah, yeah, I would never picture um one person liking opera and country. Yeah, because there's very different kinds of music, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

But you know what?

Anyone Can Contribute Meaningfully

SPEAKER_00 10:43

That's good though. Diversity. Absolutely, yeah, yeah. Um so and and I'm sure that and we kind of touched on this a second ago. Many people, there's a lot of people that want to help, but feel their contribution is too small, and I know you touched on that. What would you say to the person who thinks they don't have a grand piano level of talent to offer the world?

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Um, everybody finds their own unique way to contribute and give back to the world. It doesn't have to be necessarily money coming out of your wallet. It can be time, it can be other resources that you can provide if you have maybe not a grand talent, but skills that you possess that can help contribute. Um, we all find our own ways. I I came across a website the other day. Um, it's a browser called Ecosia, E-C-O-S-I-A. It's like basically a browser just like Google, except that all the money goes to planting trees. So it's amazing what how people are finding ways to help where you don't even have to spend money, different ways where you can just, through your normal daily activities, find ways to help charities.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah, and there are really there are limitless ways, and some we may not even know about. Um I'm sure there's a lot I don't know about.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

But I what I would say, if I could say one more thing on that, is that if you if your listeners have a passion or an interest, something that they love to do maybe them when they were younger, and as they've grown older in life, they've had to reprioritize how they spend their time. Returning to that passion can have multiple rewards. First of all, it's gonna enhance your own life because when you return to it, you're doing something you love that you probably missed, and you can regrain a sense of self that you may have lost from the past. But in addition, if you love doing it, you're probably gonna spend a fair amount of time doing it. And sooner or later, if you have to be someplace to do it, somebody may pay you money to be there, or somehow you find may find a way to earn money at it, even if it's a small amount. And if you're not dependent on those funds, that can be a way for you to donate financially. Um but if you don't find that, you can still just donate your time. Whatever it is that you loved to do, you can bring it back in, and there's just incredible benefits from it. And if you can marry what you love to do with causes that you really care about, it gives you a sense of purpose that you wouldn't believe.

Growing A Community Of Artists

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Honestly, that's the stuff, right? That's the juice right there. If you're doing something you love and you're helping out others while you're doing it, I mean, that's like the perfect scenario, right? Yeah, absolutely. Um your website, and there'll be a link to your website. It's Dave LewisPiano.com, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Yes, yes, yes, it is. Then there's a separate link to through that you can link to playing to pitch in and get a little bit more information about each of the charities that we help. Right there. Um I I do want to say absolutely, and I just said we I want to bring that up also. Playing to Pitch In started out as me, but we've actually had nine other musicians donate music to it now. So it's which is what I really wanted. It's growing and it's going beyond me. So um if you listen and you don't like some of the music, my own stuff, you might like the something that somebody else has donated to it. So you have different styles? It's all pretty much the same style. It's all relaxing solo piano, but it's different artists. And uh I'm an accountant. I'm not a professional pianist, but I've had professional pianists record under playing the pitch in very successful ones and uh with with really great quality music.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

So yeah. Fantastic. Uh well, okay, on your website, you mentioned the power of community. Um, how do you balance being the lead performer? And you just said you're really not the lead performer, but maybe you are the lead performer, with the need to make the audience feel like they are the ones making the impact?

SPEAKER_02 15:07

That's a great question. Um, specifically with playing the pitch-in, what I love about this model is that I see that it is more of a fundraising collaboration between myself or the other artists who have donated songs and the listener. If we just put songs out there and nobody listens to the music, no money gets donated. We don't raise anything. But this is a way where the listener can collaborate with the artist. And I mean, what I really would love to see is this model be taken on by other artists, successful ones that are much larger than me, in the pop world, jazz world, different styles. And if that were were to happen, a collaboration on that level could do an immense amount of good. So much.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

If you had this is not one of the questions I had planned on, but all of a sudden I just thought about it. If you could have anybody else get involved with this, uh a big name star, um uh musician, who would be your your daydream performer?

A Book Bus And Real-World Impact

SPEAKER_02 16:15

So I guess there's two ways to look at that question. One of them would be my first instinct is to say that I would want to look at the Taylor Swifts of the world or whoever has the absolute maximum exposure simply because that would be the to do the most amount of good, to raise the most amount of money for charity. Um I mean, if you're asking me who I would love to donate to playing the pitch-in, from an instrumentalist standpoint, I would love to have the piano guys donate, and I have reached out to them. Um that would be a lot of fun. And I also am a huge Billy Joel fan. I would love to have him donate. Um, I'm interested also, I I I've thought of trying to get a hold of Billie Eilish simply because um I'm vegan also. She's vegan, and um her mom runs a vegan charity that uh I'm thinking about getting involved with and just our interests kind of align in that way. So I would there are a lot of artists I would love to work with.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Yeah, and I mean Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, they both do a lot of charitable stuff, right? Yes, yes, very much so. I think when we when I promote this episode on on um my social medias, I'll just tag those people. I'll just tag them all. Sure. You never know. Didn't mean to put you on the spot, but no, that's great. Uh maybe uh how about Pink? I don't know. Is she a musician?

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I you know, I've thought I was thinking about her today, actually. And she's she is um I've seen her in concert. She is doing a tour right now, she's coming here in May, and the concert tour she's on is actually raising money for cancer. It's a whole series of them, and they're raising money for cancer research. So I I am very tempted to look into going to see her again. Um I'm seeing Paul Simon in June, so I don't know if I'll get to see her. Oh my god. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

I would give my left something big toe to see Paul Simon.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Yeah, this is I've never seen him, so yeah, bucket list item for me.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

For sure. I remember years ago um when Billy Joel and Elton John toured together and they were coming to the to the city that I lived in, I'm like, and the tickets were quite expensive because oh yeah, the tickets are very expensive these days. And I'm like, yeah, but how many more opportunities am I gonna have to see these two absolute legends together? They ended up coming like four more times together.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

So I've seen them both separately, but the last thing I went to, which was really inspiring and ties into all of this, was um Jason Moraz. And um I really like his music, and he had$30 tickets to a show. So I took my wife and daughter, this was a couple of weeks ago, and he o he actually only ended up performing a couple of songs. What the show was was it was his foundation at all of these different music organizations and artistic organizations that he's raised money for and donated to, and they all were performing and displaying their art, and it was incredibly inspiring. He was there and he was um basically um like hosting the event. Um but it and he did perform a couple of songs, but it was still and my my wife and daughter loved it too, even though it wasn't really him performing the whole time. But um, I was thinking about playing the pitch-in the entire time. He I say that I won I reached out recently to Billy Eilish. He lives about 30 minutes from my house. So yeah, he's local. He's in San Diego. So um I'm kind of thinking of like cyber stalking him and trying to see if there's a way I can actually meet him at some point. Do it talking to him about playing the pitch in.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

I I do love his musical style. It's quirky, but it's funny. There is nothing that he doesn't sing that is not immediately an earworm. He's a great lyricist. Yeah, yeah. And he does a lot of scat too, doesn't he?

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Yeah, yeah. I think that's what you call it, is it? Yeah, he's got like a very jazzy style and the way he uh he he kind of does that be-di-be-da-b-a-kind of thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

That's what I was talking about. Okay. We should get back to the question. Okay, yeah. We kind of went off on a tangent there, didn't we? Um, so what is one pitch-in project that stays with you um when you when you saw the direct result of your music changing someone's life?

SPEAKER_02 20:51

So Best the Book Bus is actually based out of Tampa. And what Best the Book Bus is, is it's uh this this woman named Jennifer, years ago um got a bus that she named after her mom. And uh she basically reached out and got a bunch of books, and she went to areas where the kids are suffering suffering from basically they're just in lower socioeconomic areas where they live, and they don't have as much of an opportunity to build a home library. And she would go and she would read them a book, and then she would have them choose a book from the bus, and she would help them start to build their own home library in a love for reading. And it's really inspiring what she did. But the nice thing was at the time my parents were living in Tampa. I live in San Diego. Okay. So I flew out on a visit and I contacted Jennifer and let her know, you know, I'm I'm gonna be in town. And she didn't just invite me to meet me at her bus. She actually brought me to one of the schools and brought me to a site where I actually got to see her do a presentation and give out books. I got to give out books, and it was just really amazing because. Doing what I do with music, I love it, but it was really nice to have that hands-on experience with one of the charities.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, because sometimes you don't always see, you know, where your money is going to, right? Or I mean, you know what kind of work they do, but you don't get to see it up close firsthand. That's that's pretty special.

The Drowning Child Thought Experiment

SPEAKER_02 22:21

So it's funny it it's interesting that you mentioned that. And that there there is real value in that. But um kind of what I've done goes kind of in a in a bit of a different direction. I um one of the things that inspired me about that first podcast was a thought experiment. Um, and it goes like this, if I can share it. Where you're walking down the street and you just bought a new set of clothes, you're wearing a brand new outfit, and you really like it, you're feeling pretty good about yourself. And as you're walking, you walk by a little lake and you see a kid in the lake, young kid, and his arms are flailing around, and you can tell he's drowning. It's kind of scary. He's drowning. Yeah. Now you have two choices. You can either keep on walking and save your clothes, or you can jump in and try to save the kid drowning in the lake. Now, pretty much only a monster is going to say, I'm not gonna save that kid in the lake. You're gonna save that kid in the lake. Right. But chances are if you do that, many, many years from now, as you're reflecting on your life and all the things you've done, most likely when you look back on that kid that you saved, that's gonna be one of the most important things you've ever done with your life.

unknown 23:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

And if you think about it, the difference between that and saving a child in Africa who's starving to death or has malaria or something like that, it's just the proximity to it, right? It it does feel great to be connected like I was with Best the Book Bus. But the result is the same. So the only reason I mention is that it's wonderful if you can um volunteer your time for something where it's in your community and you're close to it. But I think a lot of people that try to work with charities kind of restrict themselves to the community. And in reality, you can really get more bang for your buck, at least if you're donating financially, if you try to help areas where it's less expensive to do to provide more help.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Yep, absolutely. Yeah, the the mosquito netting or the what do they call it? Is that mosquito netting?

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Mosquito nets. Um the Helen Keller International also, they um they provide life-saving vitamin A supplements, and they're two dollars a piece, these supplements. So it's the the I mention this because it we feel very much disconnected in some plays from a place like Africa, but the amount of money it costs to save a life in Africa versus the amount of money it costs to save a life in the US, it's incredible how much more good you can do in other places.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yeah, yeah. Talk about return on investment, right? Yeah. Again, the accountant and me. Um okay, so a couple questions left. Um for someone listening who feels out of tune with their community right now, what is one simple act that they can do today to start pitching in? And it's totally fair if you say go in, go to pitch playing to pitch in.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Well, absolutely I would love the support for playing to pitch in. Um and again, none of that actually comes to me or any of the artists that have recorded it, all goes to charities. But I'd also say um if you want to get involved with something, you start small. You know, nobody I don't think you have to look at giving a charity as a huge time commitment or this incredible financial commitment. It it you can do it in baby steps. You start out small, you volunteer an hour or two a week, you see if you find the right fit. And with a lot of these organizations, you'll find like-minded people. You'll find that you make friends, and it's really rewarding personally for a lot of reasons. A lot of the reasons a big part of the reason why I do this is selfish, to be honest. I love the fact that I'm helping other people, but for me, it's just the sense of purpose, the sense of knowing that I'm actually doing something for the world really enriches my own life. And it it's okay to be selfish and want that feeling.

Listening With Intent

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Sure. Absolutely. Um okay, last question. In jazz or conversation, uh, you have to react to what the other person gives you, right? Um has being a musician made you a better listener in everyday life?

SPEAKER_02 26:50

I think so. Um I definitely think so. I mean, just you learn to listen with intent, a different kind of intent. Um the podcast I listen to podcasts all day long, usually while I'm working, I have them on in the background. But I don't think playing the pitch-in would have happened if I had just been passively listening. I was actively listening and actively considering as I listened to that podcast, I I thought about what I could do. I thought about taking actual action. And uh and that takes a different kind of listening to really receive that message.

Where To Listen And Support

SPEAKER_00 27:28

It really does. It really does. Well, Dave, I so appreciate your time today. Um, what you're doing is amazing. You're making a positive impact on on so many people's lives, people you probably never meet, um through your your organization playing to pitch in.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Um, I encourage everybody to go to DaveLewisPiano.com, check it out, enjoy some music, and the one other thing I want to say is that in order to help, because on on my site you wouldn't actually be helping, but if you go to um any of the major listening platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon, Google Play, all those platforms, if you listen there, the royalties actually go to the charities.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Thank you. I appreciate that. Now, are is it still Dave Lewis on Spotify or playing to pitch in?

SPEAKER_02 28:26

It's uh playing to pitch in with a space in between each word.

Closing Thanks And Call To Action

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Okay, perfect, perfect. I appreciate your time today, Dave. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. Thanks so much for hanging out with us for today's episode of the Kindness Matters Podcast with my guest, Dave Lewis from Playing to Pit Gym. I really appreciate you tuning in and being a part of this kindness community. If you liked what you heard, leaving a quick review or a comment would really help others to find the show and means a lot to me personally as well. And hey, if you can't support us financially, that's totally okay. The best way you can support the show is to go out and do one random act of kindness for a stranger today. But if you are in a position to help us grow, you can make a one-time gift or join one of our monthly supporters tiers over on Buy MeACoffee. There is a link in the show notes. We'll be back again next week with another brand new episode. But until then, remember, Times Matter.