So I decided to watch the show “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” just to see what it’s all about. For those who don’t know, the focus of this show is to provide once famous, almost famous, 15-minute famous people to prove that they can survive the jungle. There are two teams of celebrities (mixture of male and female), red team and a yellow team. The cast is not doing this so that they can win money but for a charity.
The interesting thing about this show is that you immediately see a difference in the attitude on both …read more

Are you an Ashton or an Oprah who can cause what I call a Twitter Avalanche of followers just by sharing your username? Can a Twitter avalanche help business owners? What can cause a Twitter avalanche? These are questions that have crossed my mind. In the past few weeks, we have seen how many celebrities have found Twitter and used it to obtain followers. Is this just another “popularity contest” or do the celebrity Tweeters really want to connect with their followers?
It makes one wonder if the power of Twitter is being abused or if it is a genuine way …read more

On Friday night, September 5, 2008, at 8:00 PM (EST), stars from film, television, sports, journalism and music will come together in an unprecedented evening of philanthropy. The major networks are each donating one hour of commercial-free prime-time for the fundraising event.
Karen, at Pink Ribbon Review, will live blog the event at her site. Stop by for more information.

National Volunteer Week begins Monday, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington will gather in D.C. for a photo op and kick-off event. As is customary, organizers have gathered some star power to add luster to the festivities and try to attract more media attention.
The stars who will be there? Actor Stephen Baldwin and singer Michael W. Smith.
Stars? More like "stars." Somehow I doubt this gathering will make the cover of next week’s Entertainment Weekly.
Given the very public stance …read more

Assuming they haven’t pissed away their fortunes on Cristal and Hummers — a big assumption, I grant you — elite athletes retire with very healthy bank accounts. Some continue amassing wealth through TV gigs, personal appearances, and marketing jobs that embody the word "cushy"; others have nobler pursuits. The former Phoenix Suns star Kevin Johnson, for example, has made a huge impact in Sacramento, where he grew up, launching a nonprofit initiative that turned his troubled former high school into a preschool and elementary school and lured more than a dozen businesses to the neighborhood. Johnson’s next project could happen …read more

A pair of stories that broke recently offer some lessons for nonprofits on how to deal with bad news that becomes public.
In New York, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation not only cashiered a couple of employees when an internal audit revealed that hundreds of thousands of dollars was missing, it also asked the Manhattan district attorney to launch an investigation.

“It’s a foolish person who tries this,” [Gail] Pressberg[, secretary of the foundation's board,] said. “We catch people.” She noted, “We had enough evidence to terminate the employees. There’s no nonsense in this organization.”

Meanwhile, Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, which …read more

Carolyn Kellogg, who writes at the Los Angeles Times blog Jacket Copy, noted yesterday that the gang-truce nonprofit cited by fraudulent memoirist Margaret B. Jones (née Seltzer) as her means of remaining linked to the ‘hood where she didn’t grow up may — brace yourself – not exist:
… [W]ho talks to the little kids? The author lives in Oregon. The homies live on death row. What “we” goes into the community? Where is the International Brother/SisterHood office? Is there a phone number? Where do those college aspirants go, exactly, for that $25?The International Brother/SisterHood website was live at brothersisterhood.com until late …read more

Poor Michael Bloomberg.
With less than two years left in his final term and billions of dollars in his bank account, New York’s mayor would seem poised to execute “his oft-stated plan to pursue a full-time career in philanthropy,” as the New York Times put it Sunday. “… If he were to pour much of his wealth into the Bloomberg Family Foundation, it would rank among the biggest in the country.”
There’s just one problem:
Six years of wielding the power of government office and reveling in the ego boost of broad support from ordinary New Yorkers have fueled Mr. Bloomberg’s desire to …read more

A self-professed “reasonably successful, designer, businessman, parent, and philanthropist but … frustrated activist,” Kenneth Cole today went public with the AWEARNESS Blog, “the perfect venue for personal expression and for encouraging genuine change.” Cole — or his ghostwriter — is posting himself, but he’s also enlisted about a dozen writers, photographers, and filmmakers, and one talented musician in KT Tunstall, to join him in the effort.
Obviously, I’m all for blogging, but I’m not sure that mere “venting” — his word, not mine — is the way to effect the kind of change that Cole envisions. He chairs the Foundation for …read more

Last week New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg made big headlines with a speech in Los Angeles that served, according to the Associated Press, as “a scorching assessment of Washington” with respect to its spending practices. “In remarks clearly aimed at a national audience,” wrote AP’s Michael R. Blood, “the mayor said politics trumps common sense in Congress, where pork-barrel spending takes priority.”
Though he denies it, Bloomberg is said to be considering an independent run for the presidency, and the Republican’s appearance with fellow GOP moderate Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, only fueled speculation of a bipartisan bid …read more