It’s sung every summer in baseball stadiums around the United States. But the impact of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” goes much further than simply getting fans out of their seats for the 7th- inning stretch.

More than a century after Jack Norworth penned the lyrics, a nonprofit founded with the song’s royalties is celebrating 50 years of supporting young musicians — including the talent behind some of today’s most popular musicals.

The ASCAP Foundation, the separate charitable arm for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, was established in 1975 after Norworth’s estate left a bequest of the future licensing payments for baseball’s unofficial anthem and his other hits.

“Just as all music begins with a song, the ASCAP Foundation began with a song,” said Paul Williams, the group’s president and a composer-lyricist whose award-winning career includes “Rainbow Connection.”

The organization provides money, lessons and mentorship at all career stages in an industry where that support is badly needed by artists who often toil for years working other gigs while trying to get their music before the right ears. To reach its semicentennial, however, the foundation has had to identify new funding streams and reinvent programming.

“Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” written in 1908, has since entered the public domain and no longer generates revenue. The foundation nowadays relies on a mix of philanthropies, corporate sponsors and general public donations.

With dwindling arts funding and millions of children reportedly going without music education, the ASCAP Foundation is also trying to reach underserved communities. Leaders count nearly 60,000 K-12 students who participated in last year’s programs.

Award-winning songwriter Emily Bear, who co-wrote the soundtrack for Disney’s “Moana 2,” said the foundation took her “very seriously” when she was a 5-year-old prodigy receiving its young composer award.

“That kind of validation at that kind of age means so much when you’re just a little girl with very big dreams and you’re in a room full of people that you idolize,” she said.

Composer Stephen Schwartz, who was honored recently with the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award, said the nonprofit is filling gaps as the government “supports the arts less and less.”

April marked the third year that Schwartz has hosted the foundation’s two- day Musical Theatre Fest in Los Angeles. The location allows participants to get feedback from prominent guests and connect with Hollywood studios. It’s emblematic of the mentorship younger composers say Schwartz — a Broadway icon whose hits include “Godspell,” “Pippin” and “Wicked” — has offered to emerging artists over the years.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the songwriting duo behind “Dear Evan Hansen,” credited the ASCAP Foundation for “cementing” their connection with Schwartz. Pasek said such close proximity to a hero, who then became a “living, breathing person who gives you advice,” made the profession “more plausible.”

“Typically, you’re working on projects on a wing and a prayer and hoping that someday it reaches the stage,” Paul said. “So, an organization like the ASCAP Foundation breathing life into not just your work, but your pocketbooks, is a huge, huge support.”

Schwartz sees an important role for himself as someone who can “ease the way a bit” to help newcomers’ “talents flourish earlier and more completely.”

There’s also another motivation. “It’s slightly selfish because I get to see good work and enjoy it,” Schwartz added.