The Giving Back Fund became the first charity to ever raise $1 million at the Super Bowl with its annual Big Game Big Give Party on January 31.
Hosted by Mark Wahlberg and Michael Bay, with a performance by Jordin Sparks, the event was held at the private estate of the 2014 MLB National League Manager of the Year Matt Williams and his wife, former television broadcaster, Erika Williams in Paradise Valley, AZ.
Among the attendees at the event were Jerry Bruckheimer, Gavin DeGraw, Maria Menounos, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Nigel Lythgoe, Quinton Aaron and more.
Beneficiaries of this year’s event include the Giving Back Fund, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix and the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation.
The Giving Back Fund celebrated 18 years of giving back on February 5.
“Our first day was February 5, 1997 in a small one room office sharing suite in Wellesley, MA,” said founder Marc Pollick. " I had a staff of one – me – and took no salary for the first two years!
“We have now granted out more than $40,000,000 of our own money and encouraged and overseen the distribution of many tens of millions more; created and managed close to 200 foundations covering every imaginable cause and charitable mission; held three world class, international medical Summits on Parkinson’s disease, Lung Cancer, and ALS; convened six national Best Practices Sports and Entertainment Philanthropy Summits; produced six Big Game Big Give events at the Super Bowl (ESPN has named our event the Number One event at the Super Bowl); four national publications of our Giving Back 30 list in PARADE Magazine; and most importantly, we have had a major positive impact on the authenticity and transparency of celebrity philanthropy by our unyielding insistence on Best Practices.”
Find out more about the Giving Back Fund here.
