University worker Will Donaldson always enjoyed music festivals, so he decided to organize one himself.

The nonprofit Next to Last Festival begins Saturday in Bogart, off Cleveland Road.

“The scope and size are on a more person-to-person level than giant blockbuster festivals that you pay $150 for and stand an acre away from the stage, squished,” said Donaldson, who works in the University’s dance department.

Dark Meat, Circulatory System, Deaf Judges and The Hot New Mexicans are among the 20 bands performing.

“(The bands) are really new, unique and innovative – all doing things that are pushing music forward in their own way,” he said.

Proceeds benefit Common Ground Athens, an organization meaningful to Donaldson, since he lived in Louisiana and watched Common Ground New Orleans help communities after Hurricane Katrina.

“They were some of the first people to respond to stuff, gut houses, helping people get back on their feet,” he said.

“Common Ground and Next To Last seem to share the same basic goal, which is to bring different organizations within the community to a common space, increasing awareness of each other and fostering a kindred spirit,” said Claire Campbell, of the family-made folk band Hope for Agoldensummer.

Donaldson also convinced Alfred Darlington, who performs under the name Daedelus, to join via MySpace messages to the musician, he said.

“Fortunately, he was persistent enough for me to realize this was an important event with a great cause,” said Darlington.

“I’m not the prodigy of musicianship who was born with perfect pitch and drum sticks in hand. There was a lot of failure and practicing.”

David Adamson, set to perform with Grampall Jookabox, describes his and band member Aimee Brown’s music as “jungle folk.”

“Aimee has a few words she pronounces in strange ways, and two of them are grandpa and jukebox,” Adamson said, explaining the band name.

Along with the music, the festival features a farmer’s market, vendor’s market and Unifire, a group of fire performers and acrobats.

“They’ll be blowing fires, jumping around in fire, twirling fire,” Donaldson said.

To launch the event, Athens Ciné will show two musical films featuring artists Donaldson wanted to bring to the festival but couldn’t due to conflicting schedules.

“Playall” is a mix of music videos from The Books, an experimental band comprised of cellist Paul de Jong and laptop musician Nick Zammuto.

“The Getty Address” is an animated opera about Sept. 11 by The Dirty Projectors, an indie orchestra.