14 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 4-10, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com Quite unexpectedly, the Monterey County chapter of nonprofit Guitars Not Guns has been disbanded. In mid-August, the $26,000 in its bank account was drained by the nonprofit’s national leadership. The same fate also befell three other chapters. Steve Vagnini, who founded the local chapter in 2009 and was the national board president for six-and-ahalf years before resigning in February, still doesn’t understand why things went down the way they did, but he knows how they went down. The nonprofit was founded by Ray and Louise Nelson 25 years ago, with Ray being the musician and visionary, Vagnini says, and Louise the administrator. Ray died in January 2024, and toward the end of last year, Vagnini says there were some internal board squabbles he wanted no part of—disagreements about sharing swag from a conference he didn’t attend, among others—so he resigned to focus on the local chapter. Donna Hammond, a board member who’d been managing the website and doing annual census reports of chapter activity and enrollment, became board president. On June 3, Vagnini says, Hammond sent an email to all eight chapter directors informing them of a new branding policy, but more importantly, a 20-percent retroactive assessment of all donations made in 2025. The local chapter had received $45,000 through Monterey County Gives! and already spent it on 250 electric guitars and amps to distribute to kids. In the email, Hammond wrote there would be a June 25 board meeting, and requested all the chapters’ questions and feedback beforehand. Then on June 23, that board meeting was canceled. Hammond sent another email June 29 answering many of the questions, but in Vagnini’s mind, not the most important one: How much money was in the national account? (In 2021, the most recent year publicly available, the organization reported $49,226 in total assets to the IRS.) Hammond also included an attachment each chapter was to sign by July 10, agreeing to the retroactive fee. Vagnini—along with chapter directors in Marin, San Benito and Contra Costa counties—didn’t sign it, and on July 17, were issued a cease-and-desist order. Hammond and Guitars Not Guns national representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment, but an “important update” was posted on its website “regarding the closure of four chapters whose leadership refused to contribute to administrative costs critical to fulfilling Guitars Not Guns’ mission.” Regarding concerns the four chapters had about time to discuss the new policy, it states, “we provided ample opportunity for dialogue and feedback…However, nothing we did was enough for these four chapters. At bottom, they wanted a free ride…” Vagnini doesn’t want to disparage the national organization—he loves the mission. He says he’s already started the paperwork to create a new nonprofit to fill its void locally, under a new name, “Guitars United/Guitarras Unidas of Monterey County.” Broken Strings Nonprofit Guitars Not Guns disbands four regional chapters, including Monterey County’s. By David Schmalz Upward Bound at CSUMB includes Guitars Not Guns (above). While a local chapter relaunches, instructors will continue because “they feel the importance of what they’re doing,” Steve Vagnini says. NEWS He’s already started the paperwork to create a new nonprofit. DANIEL DREIFUSS
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