One of the brightest spots on the busy spring fundraising calendar, the Umlauf Garden Party takes place tonight from 6:30-9:30 PM. Set on the museum grounds, the work of famed 20th century American artist Charles Umlauf creates a picturesque backdrop for the always enchanting annual event. Tonight guests will mix and mingle amidst his creations while enjoying lively big band music courtesy of Nash Hernandez Orchestra. more ›

25 local chefs and drink purveyors bring the table to the farm during the upcoming East Side Urban Farm Tour. Happening this Sunday, the 3rd annual tour is the perfect opportunity to spend time at four of Austin’s most prolific urban farms with no green thumb required. more ›

In an epic throw down rivaling that famous showdown at the O.K. Corral, a slew of nationally recognized chefs will go head to head for late April’s Live Fire! culinary battle celebrating all things beef. more ›

Austin-based charity Water To Thrive raises funds to build water wells in rural Africa. In their five-year existence, they have funded over 230 water projects providing water to 100,000 people. To promote the organization and to raise funds, the group is launching "Chef's Table Austin." The project is a two week auction of large multi-course meals at some of Austin's finest restaurants. While an invite-only event at The Austonian will kick off the bidding tonight, they're not leaving out the rest of the city - foodies can head to ChefsTableAustin.org to bid on one of the many dinners available. more ›

Austin's locavore movement has led local diners to many great things, but among the best are the myriad monthly supper clubs popping up around town featuring some of our best local chefs working outside of their usual kitchens. This month, both East Side Show Room chef Sonya Coté and Barley Swine's acclaimed Bryce Gilmore are hosting dinners at East Austin's Springdale Farm that will showcase some of the best food Austin diners will see this winter. more ›

Raising money for a good cause can be tough. While television dramadies offer up solutions like d.i.y. methamphetamine production and/or asking for charity via sad web design (what, no floating volumetric flask gifs?), a few Austin events are helping you party - legally! happily! - while you pay it forward. more ›

Join a true who’s who of top area chefs at La Condesa this Sunday for an epicurean extravaganza benefiting the Sustainable Food Center. The SFC’s Chef Dinner Series Autumn Harvest event will feature a multi-course tasting menu prepared by chefs from Uchi, Olivia, Fino, La Condesa and more to celebrate local growers, ranchers, and culinary artisans. more ›

What could be better than a leisurely dinner of local food and wine under the twinkling stars? Green Gate Farms, a certified organic family farm in east Austin, is hosting a Slow Farm Feast Saturday, November 19 from 6-9pm. Barbara Frisbie, Sustainable Caterer of El Locavore, will present Green Gate Farms' heritage-bred and pasture-raised meats and certified organic produce while desserts will be provided by Arte de Chocolates. Tickets for this mouthwatering meal are $125 per person, or $100 for a vegetarian option. more ›

For over two decades, the Austin Museum of Art has hosted one of the true highlights of the fall gala event season. La Dolce Vita is now 22, and while the wines, foods, and entertainers are ever-changing, the event's star attraction is the Laguna Gloria settling. To put it plainly, the scope of this event is far larger that most sip-and-stroll tastings, with clusters of restaurants, wine tables, entertainment stages, and cocktail lounges spread throughout the vast and beautiful museum grounds. Attendance is always high, but there's so much to do, see, and eat that it can actually be challenging to get to all of it in the allotted three hours. more ›

Tonight, from 5:30-8:30 PM, Gensler - Austin is hosting the grand opening celebration of a new community-minded business by local artist and entrepreneur, Jennifer Chenoweth. more ›

Most of Austin's attention at the moment is focused on relief efforts for the thousands of residents who've been affected by the recent Central Texas fires, and rightfully so. But there's another charitable event happening this Monday and Tuesday, September 12 and 13, and all you have to do to take part is eat. AIDS Services of Austin is working with more than 68 restaurants in the Austin area to raise money for HIV prevention outreach and care services through its annual Dining for Life event. more ›

Bastrop mom Janet Pollok will be one of 46 women, known as "the 46 Mommas", who will have their heads shaved on September 21. Pollok and the other women are all having their heads shaved to raise money for research on childhood cancers through the St. Baldrick's Foundation. more ›

On May 30, AT&T Conference Center Assistant Food & Beverage Director Daniel Curtis suffered a terrible diving accident which left him with a severe spinal cord injury. Curtis is paralyzed and facing ongoing medical expenses and an extended rehabilitation period. To help with the significant costs involved, Mr. Curtis' current employer Chef Josh Watkins and his former one Chef David Bull have enlisted some of Austin's best culinary talent to co-host a dinner benefit next Wednesday. more ›

The statesmanly Will Oldham, in all his many, many guises (iterations of Palace, Superwolf, Bonnie “Prince” Billy) has been as steady as a steady rock in the world of folk for nearly two decades, and his work both in music and in a variety of other multimedia ventures (you seen his Kanye video with Zach Galifianakis?) has made him one of the most far-reaching presences in the industry. And now he’s used his clout not only to conduct an epic interview with R. Kelly, but to enlist his new relationship with Emmett Kelly of the Cairo Gang to produce “Island Brothers,” a 7” devoted to Haiti in which all proceeds benefit water purification for those affected by last year’s earthquake. With so much to talk about, we called up Mr. Oldham for a lengthy chat—this, Part Two, discusses the Island Brothers/Edge Outreach charity mission and how you can help (hint: buy this), while Part One focuses on his encounters with celebrity interviewing. more ›

In the wake of the tragedy in Japan, Austin's food community has sprung into action to help the victims abroad. This Saturday, April 2, some of Austin's best bake shops and home bakers are donating their time and tasty talents to raise money for AmeriCares relief efforts in Japan. Kathryn Hutchison, creator of AustinGastronomist.com, is bringing together bloggers, foodies, and local businesses for a good, old-fashioned bake sale called Austin Bakes for Japan. more ›

In the Fall of 2009, Chef Rene Ortiz and La Condesa owner Jesse Herman found an innovative and clever way to contribute to the Sustainable Food Center: in an effort to both be charitable and foster collaboration, they offered up their kitchen and restaurant twice a year for an all-star, Top Chef-style parade of locally sourced food from Austin's best culinary talent. After a quiet first event, the word spread: this was perhaps one of the greatest nights for Austin food all year - full-stop. more ›

Steve Martin -- maker of jokes, player of banjo -- once quipped that writing about music was like dancing about architecture. But what would he say about writing about food cooked about film? We think he would totally get it. And we think he would totally want to get in on it, especially if it was an Alamo Drafthouse feast presented in honor of that old-timey Coen Brothers masterpiece O Brother Where Art Thou (2000). more ›

For the better part of two decades, Austin's KGSR has been producing the Broadcasts CD series - a one-off run of highlights from the station's in-studio and on-air performances that is pressed each November as a souvenir of the year in music for Austin-area fans. The catch with the series is that it isn't for profit - all proceeds are donated to the SIMS Foundation, which provides mental heath services to the Austin musician community and their families. The discs started as a limited edition of just a few thousand, but have now grown in popularity to the point that 22,000 2-disc sets were produced this fall. We recently spoke to KGSR's Andy Langer, part of the team producing and curating this year's Broadcasts project, to discuss the changes, challenges, and highlights of this year's edition.

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Giving someone a gift card for Christmas may be wildly popular, but it doesn't always show a lot of imagination. The Austin Community Foundation believes they've found something better. more ›

This morning, Les Dames d'Escoffier posted their 2nd annual Food Fight auction online. The organization provides scholarships for women pursuing careers in the culinary arts, so winners can feel good about donating for the prizes. And what prizes there are! Some our favorites: more ›

Austin's Green Corn Project assists Central Texans with limited access to nutritious food due to income or other challenges in growing organic food gardens. To help raise funds for their noble and healthy cause, the group hosts a charity fundraiser at Boggy Creek Farms on Sunday, October 24th from noon to 3pm. more ›

Last minute notice on this one, but AIDS Service Of Austin's 18th Annual Dining for Life is happening tonight and tomorrow night. 65 Austin restaurants have agreed to donate between 15-50% of their nightly receipts to the charity. If you'd like to dine out and support a noble cause, check here for the participating restaurant list. Upon quick glance, eateries donating include Garrido's, Trudy's, South Congress Cafe, Sago, Snap Kitchen, Asti, FINO, Chuy's, Eastside Cafe, Guero's, Hoover's, Jack Allen's Kitchen, Mirabelle, Olivia, Ranch 616, Snack Bar, and Wink. more ›

As mentioned earlier this week, Hotel San Jose, Perla's, Lambert's, and a host of others have organized a huge benefit Friday evening in the Jo's and Hotel San Jose spaces on South Congress Avenue. The benefit features performances from Louisiana native and Austin resident Papa Mali and Cajun revivalists and Grammy nominees the Lost Bayou Ramblers. There's also an optional $10/plate shrimp and crawfish boil to celebrate Louisiana's coastal cooking, with all proceeds going to the Greater New Orleans Foundation's Gulf Oil Spill Fund. Speakers at the event include Texas State Representative Mark Strama and Brandi Clark of EcoAustin. While the event is free to attend, a voluntary $10 (or more) donation will be collected at the door from those willing to help toward the event goal of raising $30,000 for Gulf cleanup efforts. Austinist is a sponsor of tonight's benefit, and we highly encourage you to join us for a great night out starting at 6pm. more ›

While the past week's news on the oil spill has finally indicated some positive progress, the fact remains that the Gulf Of Mexico's ecosystem has been permanently altered. With millions of gallons of oil in the Gulf, the Louisiana coastline and coastal wetlands area has suffered a tremendous shock. With one-third of the US production of seafood coming from the Louisiana area, the fishing, tourism, and oil-related jobs in the region have been dramatically impacted.

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Pipkin's travels offer a short, but empowering, paradigm shift for those of us who are too often fixated in our local lives. The things we take away are simple but uplifting: the majority of the world is incredibly poor; but they require comparatively little to live happily; these projects create results very efficiently, and we can help them succeed. more ›

As you sit down to write your annual letter to Santa, consider taking a turn behind the sleigh's reigns by fulfilling someone's holiday wish. Many local non-profits have put together wish lists of items that would be particularly useful in helping fulfill their missions. Other groups are making your holiday shopping a little easier by suggesting gift ideas that also give back to the community. For other charity ideas check out our post about holiday volunteering and our roundup of organizations providing services to the area's most needy. As always, visit I Live Here, I Give Here for a comprehensive list of area non-profits. more ›

Yesterday we profiled some organizations that are providing services to our community's most needy who are looking for donations this holiday season. Today we're highlighting groups with volunteer opportunities that are just as helpful as cash donations. Although we might not have extra funds this year, many of us find ourselves underemployed with time to spare. We can't think of a better way to use up some of our free time, give back, feel useful, and gain some valuable experience. more ›

As we enter yet another recession-era holiday season, even more members of our community are looking for assistance and generosity. And, as we sit down to our computers on Monday to being our work week by reading our favorite local news and culture website, we're reminded of just how lucky we are. We can't claim to have endless bounty, but we do take great comfort from contributing charitably to great causes. Though out the week, the altruists at Austinist will be bringing you information about local organizations looking for donations, volunteers, and assistance this holiday season. We'll start things off by profiling a few groups that are providing services to some of the neediest members of our community. more ›

Tomorrow, thirty music, media, and assorted arts professionals will be taking a break from their day jobs to help out Caritas of Austin, a local nonprofit that feeds the homeless and strives to get them back on their feet. The event starts by putting these enthusiastic volunteers to work at the downtown food kitchen during the day, where they'll get to see firsthand just how Caritas goes about its mission. Later in the evening, they'd like you to join them for the "What Gives" Food Drive & Fundraiser Benefit at the Mohawk, a big charity bash catered by Woodland and Frank and featuring music by DJ A.One (of Dallas' The Cannabinoids). Host Mike Wiebe of The Riverboat Gamblers will oversee an auction of goods from a plethora of local stores and businesses, including Woodland, Frank, Decoder Ring, Transmission Entertainment, Olivia, Mint Salon, and more. more ›