What can a weekend of concerts, golf, and fashion do for kids in need? In Austin, Texas, the answer was more than $17 million. The 13th annual fundraiser took place on April 24 and 25, 2025, according to a press release from Mack, Jack & McConaughey (MJ&M). It was the group's highest-grossing event to date. The money was raised for five charities that aid children's education, health, and wellness. The organizers say the effort has raised more than $78 million since 2013.
Who is behind MJ&M
MJ&M is a collaboration of Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, recording artist Jack Ingram, and coach Mack Brown. Ingram is an ACM Award-winning artist, and Brown is a longtime Texas coach. The group started fundraising in 2013, making the 2025 weekend its 13th. Brown called it the group's most impactful event to date, and MJ&M describes itself as one of the region's leading charitable initiatives. Both are the organizers' own assessments rather than external measurements of results. Brown also thanked everyone who had helped.
What happened over two days
The weekend kicked off Thursday, April 24, with a gala that featured a performance by country star Eric Church. On Friday, guests could join a golf tournament, a fashion show by Neiman Marcus, and the Jack & Friends concert. The fashion show highlighted the Carolina Herrera Fall/Winter 2025 collection, led by Creative Director Wes Gordon. It was hosted by Sally Brown and Camila Alves McConaughey, who called the collection elegant and poetic. Neiman Marcus was the presenting partner. Jack Ingram, who shared the stage with Miranda Lambert, Ryan Bingham, and other artists, performed in the concert.
Where the money went
The five beneficiaries are CureDuchenne, Dell Children's Medical Center, HeartGift, just keep livin Foundation, and The Rise School of Austin. The funds support children's health care, education, and wellness programs across Texas and beyond. However, the announcement provides no details on what each group does and does not name the amount each charity received.
Children's health needs
{{/usCountry}}The five beneficiaries are CureDuchenne, Dell Children's Medical Center, HeartGift, just keep livin Foundation, and The Rise School of Austin. The funds support children's health care, education, and wellness programs across Texas and beyond. However, the announcement provides no details on what each group does and does not name the amount each charity received.
Children's health needs
{{/usCountry}}The needs these charities address are significant. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) congenital heart defects fact sheet, each year almost 40,000 infants in the United States are born with a heart defect. It also says that about 1 in 4 babies with a heart defect has a critical heart defect that generally requires surgery or some other procedure during the first year of life. These defects are the most common type of structural birth defect, according to the fact sheet.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the condition behind CureDuchenne, is rarer. A 2015 Pediatrics study by Paul Romitti and colleagues covered six sites and used a CDC surveillance network that was set up in 2002. Between 1991 and 2005, Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy was estimated to affect about 2 of every 10,000 boys aged 5 through 9 years in each period and about 1.5 of every 10,000 boys in 2006 through 2010.
These figures show the scale of children's health needs, but they come from CDC surveillance data and do not measure MJ&M's impact. Overall, the release shows that the 2025 weekend set a record for MJ&M, raising more than $17 million for five children's charities, and the research provides context for the health needs behind that giving.