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Thursday night marked the second annual Mighty Mic Human Rights Awareness Concert at Ackerman Grand Ballroom, and the event was a success on multiple levels.

The group behind both the concert and the Genocide Awareness Week raised approximately $23,000 to donate to the nonprofit group U.S. Doctors for Africa.

The concert, which reached maximum capacity, surprisingly only raised a third of the total, or about $8,000. However, the organization created multiple opportunities to raise money and was able to make $7,000 selling T-shirts for the event and $8,000 from auction items at the concert.

Though the total budget reached $60,000, $15,000 came from outside sponsorship, which also helped contribute to the group’s marketing efforts to get the word out. Concert Director Azedah Ghafari estimated that “at least $10,000 to $12,000” will go unused in the end and be given back to USAC.

Many of the bands at the event, such as OK Go, charged reduced fees because of the philanthropic nature of the event.

UCLA alumnus and director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force Adam Sterling, said it best when he told the Daily Bruin the importance of thinking creatively when it comes to activism.

Though similar issues are highlighted on campus day after day, we applaud the group behind Mighty Mic for combining current musical acts with important guest speakers and informative videos to successfully inform (and also entertain) our campus.