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Aug 17, 2015 By Christopher Roberts The National

The National have announced a show at Los Angeles’ iconic Troubadour venue, which is a tiny place for them to play these days, considering they’ve headlined such venues as Sydney’s Opera House and London’s O2 Arena. The reason for such an intimate show is because it’s a benefit concert. National frontman Matt Berninger is partnering with his cousins Joe and Jeff Berninger, who are the co-founders of the nonprofit Cooperative for Education (CoEd). They are launching a program expansion called the Thousand Girls Initiative with the goal of improving the education of girls in Guatemala. Tickets go on sale this Friday (August 21) at 10 AM Pacific Time/7 AM Eastern Time here. Tickets are $150, but remember that it’s for a good cause and you get to see a big band in a small venue.

Matt Berninger had this to say about CoEd in a press release: “Almost 20 years ago my cousins Joe and Jeff Berninger quit their corporate jobs and started this non-profit. CoEd has already reached more than 150,000 kids with textbooks and computers, and now they’re taking on girls’ education. I’m excited to join the effort to keep 1,000 girls from dropping out of school, which is so common in Guatemala. I’m really proud to be a part of this amazing organization.”

Gender inequality in education is still a huge problem in Guatemala, a country where the national high school graduation rate is only 18% to begin with. The Thousand Girls Initiative hopes to reach 1,000 girls in CoEd’s Scholarship & Youth Development Program by 2020. As the press release states, “95% of students who finish middle school with a CoEd scholarship go on to graduate from high school.” If you can’t make it to the show or afford the tickets, but still want to donate to CoEd, then you can do so here.