A diverse group of musicians, actors, athletes, artists and the nation’s top creative talents are joining the #GivingTuesday movement to help inspire the first national day dedicated to giving coinciding with the Holiday season.
Instead of focusing solely on sales and shopping, these celebrities are supporting some of the country’s most innovative charities, volunteer organizations, global campaigns and community groups as they “get out the give” this November 27. With more than 2,000 partner organizations in all 50 states, there are many ways these men and women are building awareness and support for issues ranging from Hurricane Sandy relief to children’s education to women’s health to aid for veterans…and myriad causes in between. A few examples of some of the top stars who are supporting their favorite charities include:
• Charlize Theron and the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) are teaming up with the Center for Living Peace to raise funds for CTAOP’s mission to keep African youth safe from HIV. Every donation made to CTAOP on #GivingTuesday will be matched by the Center for Living Peace (up to $10,000).
• Grammy Award winning band, Linkin Park, and Music for Relief are premiering a new video cut to one of their song to help tell the story of energy poverty and are asking their fans to be a part of the solution. The band is asking fans to share the video with friends and to make a donation as a unique holiday gift to friends and family this season to provide clean energy solutions for people who have no access to electricity.
• Marie Osmond, co-founder of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, is the face of the charity’s new holiday fundraising program: GiveMiracles.org. Marie will be talking up #GivingTuesday during a number of confirmed media interviews promoting the Donny and Marie Christmas Show on Monday, November 26. She’ll explain how for as little as $10 or as much as $12 million, #GivingTuesday do-gooders can choose the perfect pediatric gift for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital on GiveMiracles.org.
• Steve Nash, Los Angeles Lakers point guard is urging fans and friends of the Steve Nash Foundation, which helps children to access critical health and education resources, to support the United Nations Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign this #GivingTuesday.
• Victoria Justice will announce a GirlRaiser challenge for Girl Up on Social Media and via a Huffington Post Impact blog that will run on November 21. This GirlRaiser will have a goal of raising $20,000 for Girl Up in order to provide girls abroad with the tools they need to go to school, be healthy, stay safe, and become leaders. To further incentivize participation, a new single and music video “Girl Up,” will be released when the goal is met.
• Susan Sarandon will be featured by MSN on its Causes page on Nov. 27, #GivingTuesday, as part of her support for Heifer International. The Q&A with the Academy Award-winning actress delves into her reasons for giving to Heifer International, as well as her own gift-giving traditions. MSN Causes enables easy ways to give and shares inspiring stories about people who have changed the world through their generosity.
• Penelope Cruz and La Tienda’s Campaign For Spain are raising much needed funds for the Federation of Spanish Food Banks. The organization is asking everyone to be a part of #GivingTuesday and remember those in need.
• Oxfam America will be enlisting the help of a few key celebrity ambassadors to promote #GivingTuesday and Oxfam’s gift-giving program, Oxfam Unwrapped. Actors Kristin Davis, Djimon Hounsou, and Minnie Driver, among others, will be spreading the word about #GivingTuesday by sharing the message of “You are what you give.”
• Entertainment giant WWE, which recently formed an alliance with Nothing But Nets to smackdown malaria in Africa, will be tweeting about #GivingTuesday across its Twitter channels. WWE’s social media platforms reach more than 115 million fans and followers worldwide.
• Ethan Zohn, winner of CBS’s Survivor: Africa and co-host of ABC’s Everyday Health will be supporting the #GivingTuesday campaign of Grassroot Soccer, the organization he helped co-found. Grassroot Soccer uses the power of soccer, the world’s most popular sport, to educate, inspire, and mobilize young people and communities against HIV and AIDS. Zohn helped found the organization in 2002 after playing professional soccer in Zimbabwe and seeing firsthand the devastating effects of the disease. For #GivingTuesday, Zohn will be using the power of social media to promote a one-day special donation blitz on behalf of the organization.
• Kevin Bacon, Ryan Reynolds, Cee Lo Green, Danny DeVito, and other celebrities are teaming up to make the Celebrity Bookends famous. A random set of bookends are traveling the world to meet famous people and do famous things in an attempt to give them enough celebrity status to help benefit schoolchildren in Guatemala. Along with the awareness that celebrity icons can garner for their cause, these Celebrity Bookends and their team will attempt to monetize their someday celebrity status and be sold for one million dollars for #GivingTuesday partner Cooperative for Education.
• Toni Collette partnered with Concern Worldwide U.S. in a campaign to make hunger history. The campaign, Concern for Hunger, asks people to support Concern’s work to treat and prevent malnutrition in the world’s poorest countries. You can watch Toni Collette’s PSA against hunger here. Toni Collette has contributed an exclusive blog on the fight against hunger and a call to action for #GivingTuesday and the holiday season to the Huffington Post. It might also be worth noting that Toni Collette is part of the all-star cast of Hitchcock, which is set to release on November 23.
• Mike Farrell, the actor and longtime human rights activist, is supporting Just Detention International’s Words of Hope holiday campaign, which will launch on #GivingTuesday. Now in its third year, Words of Hope invites people to reach out directly to some of the most marginalized and forgotten people in our society: survivors of prisoner rape. Mike Farrell will himself send a card to a survivor behind bars and will lend his name and voice to encourage others to do so as well.
• Andres Levin, American/Venezuelan Grammy Winner, composer, producer and philanthropist, joins Arcangeles as an Ambassador for our cause spreading the word on empowering vulnerable communities, especially those living with a disability. Levin, along with his Non Profit ‘Music Has No Enemies’, will usher the entertainment industry toward the widespread promotion of philanthropy and the importance of giving to communities living in conditions of exclusion.
• Award-winning actor of stage and screen Joe Mantegna has been a longtime advocate for U.S servicemen and women, veterans and his Italian heritage. This is one reason he has supported the good work of the Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF) for many years. The SIF raises money for cultural preservation programs and veteran’s/wounded warrior organizations, among other causes. Active year-round lending support to causes that are dear to him, Joe will tweet for the Sons of Italy Foundation on #GivingTuesday, encouraging charitable giving among his many followers.
For a complete list of #GivingTuesday partners, please visit www.givingtuesday.org.
Source: PR Newswire
