Celebrities Take Part in Nonprofit Fundraising Relief Efforts for Hurricane Sandy Part One

Hurricane Sandy hit the United States East Coast very hard with the worst of it hitting the New York and New Jersey areas. Since then many celebrities have given their money, time and talent to help aid in the relief effort and they have participated with individual and collaborative efforts like telethons, performances and concerts. In the first entry of this 2-part post, I’m looking at some of the fundraising efforts of celebrities and high profile organizations who have stepped up to help restore life for those impacted by the effects of floods, fires and power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy.

• Ralph Lauren donated $2 million – $1 million on behalf of the Ralph and Ricky Lauren Family Foundation to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and $1 million from the Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation to be divided among the American Red Cross, the Robin Hood Relief Fund, and various charities serving storm victims in New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island, and New York’s Westchester County.
• I have written about the charitable efforts of Lady Gaga in previous posts and the native New Yorker is rising to help her home town. Gaga donated $1 million to the American Red Cross for Sandy relief. “If it wasn’t for NYC: the Lower Eastside, Harlem, the Bronx and Brooklyn, I would not be the woman or artist that I am today,” the singer said in a message on her website. She concluded with “Thank you for helping me build my spirit. I will now help you rebuild yours.”
• Project Runway judge Michael Kors, a native New Yorker, donated $1 million on behalf of his company to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.”We are a company based in New York, inspired every day by the energy and beauty of our great city. The tragedy that Hurricane Sandy has left behind may seem insurmountable, but together, we can all pitch in and help those in need” Kors said in a press release.
• The Dave Matthews Band have pledged $1 million to Hurricane Sandy relief charities. The band announced their November 30 concert at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ will now become a fundraiser with proceeds from all ticket sales and merchandise going to Bama Works Sandy Relief Fund. Bama is providing food, supplies and other assistance to the communities hit the hardest in NJ.
• Richard Branson’s Verizon Foundation donated $1.2 million and of that amount, the foundation will match up to $1-million in gifts to the American Red Cross when its customers send text-message donations and $200,000 will be donated to nonprofits in New Jersey and New York. The foundation will also match employee online donations to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army two-to-one.

• Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) have jointly donated $1 million to organizations aiding in the relief efforts and are encouraging fans to also donate to The Salvation Army, Feeding America and American Red Cross.
• The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) donated $1 million to the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, New York Cares and Jersey Cares to assist the people and communities affected by Hurricane Sandy.
• Miami Heat basketball star Duanne Wade, who took to Twitter expressing his concerns about the ethics of playing an NBA game at Madison Square Garden when so many people have had their lives altered by Hurricane Sandy donated his $210k salary from that game to relief charities.
• Food Network darling and talk show host Rachael Ray donated $500,000 to the ASPCA to help the animals affected by hurricane Sandy. She also gave 4 tons of her Nutrish brand dog food to devastated areas. Ray’s nonprofit organization Yum-o! donated $100,000 to City Harvest and the Food Bank for New York City. Food from the set of her daily talk show was also donated to City Harvest.
• Prominent New Yorker’s Kelly Ripa and Alec Baldwin, as well as actress Brooke Shields took part in SoulCycle’s Soul Relief Rides charity benefit, where the stars paid to be part of the indoor exercise class. The event raised $100,000 in forty-five minutes.
• Justin Bieber already donates $1 from every ticket sold on his Believe tour to charity but now the Canadian popstar is helping those affected by Hurricane Sandy. He wrote on his Facebook page “After talking with the team, I am proud to announce that for the four NYC area shows — the Jersey show, the Brooklyn show and two [Madison Square Garden shows], we are going to donate $1 [from the sale of each ticket] to Hurricane Sandy relief. Thanks for helping us. #GIVEBACK.”
• Music legend Madonna raised $60,000 for hurricane victims in New York during one of her concerts, where she encouraged fans to throw money on stage.

As of last count, $219.1 million in donations had been raised for the seven major charities responding to Sandy: the American Red Cross; the Salvation Army; the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City; the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund; the Robin Hood Foundation; the New Jersey Recovery Fund; and the Brooklyn Recovery Fund. The cost of Hurricane Sandy is estimated at $50 billion so there is still a long way to go. If you can give, please click on one of the nonprofit links in this post and give what you can. I will continue highlighting more of the fundraising efforts for Hurricane Sandy in Part 2 next week.

____________________________________________________________________________________

For nonprofit, nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Linedin, Google+ and Pinterest or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.