I love it when high profile people take advantage of their status to help others and donate to charity. While I still find it more impressive when celebrities give without announcing it to the rest of the world, I think that taking advantage of technology and their high profile status is just as good.
I am pretty sure that you have heard about Hugh Jackman’s recent stunt – he announced via Twitter that he would be donating $100,000 to charities. The rule of the game was that people should tweet about their favorite charities, and that the best tweets would be used in determining the winners. The world’s sexiest man of 2008 said on his Twitter that people should name their favorite charity and why – all in 140 words. He also encouraged people to show just how passionate they are about their favorite charity:
“The more passion shown for your charity the better! Get the support of your friends and teach them the importance of giving.”
Yesterday was the big day as the actor many associate with the Xmen character Wolverine announced that he and his wife Deb have chosen the two winning charities. They are Charity Water and Operation of Hope. His tweet is below:
“Thank you for all of your passionate responses. I have chosen www.charitywater.com and www.operationofhope.com Keep your generous spirit flowing!”
While I did not have the chance to join the contest – I know, bad tweeter, bad giver, my conscience is punishing me already – I am happy for these two charities and quite proud of everyone who joined in.
Categories: Activities, Charities, News
Charity need not be all serious. Ask the people behind Red Nose Day and they will agree with you wholeheartedly. This event is part of BBC’s programming and happens biennially, on a Friday. From their web site, we have a lighthearted (and yet meaningful) description:
Red Nose Day is, quite simply, a day like no other! We take some fantastic fundraising in schools, offices and homes across the land, mix it with the nation’s favourite celebrities getting up to all kinds of mischief, sprinkle a new Red Nose (or three!) across the entire UK and add a cracking night of comedy on BBC One to make Red Nose Day the phenomenon it is.
All this funny business unites the nation in trying to make a difference to the lives of thousands of people – and the best thing is – it works!
The idea is to “do something funny for money.” This year, Red Nose Day was held on the 13 March and they were able to raise a whopping $79.6 million! Among the notable names that participated in the event are Tom Jones, and England’s football squad. The good news is that despite the economic crisis that the country (and the rest of the world) is facing, the turnout for the charity was still very impressive. This only goes to show that people who are willing to give will give no matter what the economic situation is. That is encouraging news, isn’t it?
Categories: Activities, Campaigns, Charities, Fundraising, Inspiration, Organizations
In some parts of the world, charitable organizations are the ones who take control of some gambling operations. The idea is for these organizations to raise additional income through gambling activities. More so, people who take part in the gambling activities are also given the chance to give to charity.
In Michigan, for example, the scale of operations of charity-sponsored gambling is quite large. Take a look at these figures (courtesy of The Associated Press):
The Michigan Lottery reports it issued 681 Millionaire Party licenses for casino style gambling games in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2004. That grew to 4,043 in fiscal 2008.
The casino-style games earned Michigan charities $3.6 million in fiscal 2004 and $10.5 million in fiscal 2008.
Overall, all forms of charitable gambling in Michigan took in $479.9 million in fiscal 2008, and $75.1 million in profits went to charities.
Not bad, huh? Not everyone is happy with the way things are going though. Authorities are looking at stricter controls. They think that “real” casinos are suffering from such activities by the charities. On the other hand, we have people who have problems with the activities based on moral grounds. They feel that charities should raise money in other ways. This is a bit tricky as not everyone sees gambling in the same light. Some people would say that it shouldn’t matter if the money comes from gambling as long as the profits go to a good cause.
What is your take on this?
Categories: Activities, Charities
The blog is a collection of pet charities and concerned individuals, which combines posts from pet lovers from all over who are tasked into improving the lives of neglected and abandoned pets. The many charities that deal with pets have been wrecked by intrigue and drama that you don’t know which is which. The pages contain warming stories straight from the people who do the rescue work themselves as well as pet lovers who are passionate about our furry friends.
Not just for furry but all types of animals and pets are subject with many links to several blogs that also aim to raise awareness regarding the plight of dogs, cats, birds and even farm animals that are being raised for the pet trade. Hear the warming stories of adopted animals as far as Baghdad that have been brought home to the States, helping their adopted owners deal with the turmoil that is war.
Categories: Activities, Animals, Campaigns, Charities, Children, Disaster Relief, Environmental, Families, Fundraising, Ideas, Inspiration, News, Organizations, Websites | Tags: Animal-charity, animal-protection, animal-welfare, Animals, Organizations
Where do you go when you want to find things to buy online? We all have our special favorites but I would be willing to bet that a lot of people have eBay at the top of their lists of web sites. And why not? You can find most anything on eBay.
Auctioning off things for a profit is not the only thing that eBay is busy with these days though. One of their projects is to hold a sale – not an auction, mind you – of fashion items for charity. Auction Bytes has this report:
eBay announced a collaboration with fashion designer Yigal Azrouel for Mercedes-Benz Fall Fashion Week. eBay is an online sponsor for Azrouel’s men’s and women’s Fall/Winter 2009 runway shows and will host a charity sale – not auction – from the designer’s Spring/Summer 2009 collection.
eBay said the collaboration represents its continued commitment to support the fashion world. In 2005 and 2007, eBay partnered with the CFDA and Vogue to present 7th on Sale, the largest sample sale on the Internet. eBay has also partnered with leading designers for past charity auctions.
So where does the charity part come in? Read on:
As part of the collaboration, eBay will sell a variety of looks from Azrouel’s Spring/Summer 2009 collection in a sale to benefit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The charity sale, launching on June 4, is unusual in that typically such charity fund-raising events are offered in an auction format. eBay said all pieces would be offered at fixed-prices that are below retail in order to make high-end fashion accessible to eBay’s users while raising money for a charity benefiting environmental causes.
High end fashion pieces for lower prices and the environment benefitting – not such a bad deal, don’t you think?
Categories: Activities, Campaigns, Charities, Children, Environmental, Fundraising, Ideas, News, Organizations, Programs, Shopping
