Jack White has donated £130,000 ($200,000) to the National Recording Preservation Foundation.

The NRPF is an independent, non-profit, charitable organisation launched in 2011 by the US Congress. Its aim is to support archives, libraries and other cultural institutions committed to preserving America’s recorded sounds.

White is on the board of directors for the charity. His donation will get the project off the ground, its executive director Gerald Seligman said in a statement (via Billboard). “[It] is our first and therefore provides the welcome opportunity to go from talk about the needs and priorities of audio preservation to concerted action. With this contribution we can now put up our basic structure, begin enacting the preservation plan – and give out our first grants. We’re committed to doing that right away, and certainly within the coming months,” he said.

Sam Brylawski, the chairman of the National Recording Preservation Board, added that he hopes White’s “extraordinarily generous donation inspires many others, especially those in the recording business—record companies, artists, songwriters, and others—to follow his lead to help ensure that we are able to preserve and make accessible recent and historical recordings at risk of loss.”