Since April of 2008, NPR Music has hosted a contest now infamous in the music world called the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. Since its inception there have been over 1,000 tiny desk concerts produced and it has been the catalyst for the success of several well-know artists like Tank and the Bangas, Naia Izumi and Ruby Ibarra.

Concert for Bangladesh, That's What Friends Are For, Ronan by Taylor Swift, We Are The World... all with the purpose to help.