John has much experience working in the philanthropic world, and takes great interest in charitable goings on today.

Colts Cheerleaders Shave Their Heads for Worthy Cause

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By JohnPosted In: Health

Two Indianapolis Colts cheerleaders are showing their commitment to a charity they believe in. Megan and Crystal Ann both had their heads shaved by the team mascot on Sunday during the game at Lucas Oil Stadium. They were sticking by their commitment to shave their heads if they managed to raise $10,000 for leukemia research, and they’ve reached $22,670.50 at this point.

Blue, the Colts’ mascot, had put out the challenge on Twitter, and Megan and Crystal Ann took up the challenge. Megan’s father held up a sign over the rails that read, “Megan… Bald is beautiful. You are Chuckstrong … Love Dad”

First-year coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia during Week 4 and has since undergone aggressive chemotherapy. The cheerleaders have joined quarterback Andrew Luck and other Colts players to show their solidarity for Pagano.

Pagano was in attendance at the game and received a standing ovation from the crowd of over 64,000 when he came out to wave. As Colts Reggie Wayne said about Pagano being there, “We knew he was here before the game. Our motto was, when it’s all said and done when this game’s done, make sure he’s smiling. We went out there with that approach. … Hopefully he’s on his way smiling.”

The Colts have raised, in total, more than $250,000 for the cause.

Ryan Gosling Drops In for Big Surprise at School for the Deaf

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , , ,

Ryan Gosling is one of those celebrities who knows how to appreciate what he has – and give to others. He recently took a break from filming his latest movie in Austin, Texas to make a surprise visit at the Texas School for the Deaf.

As Anne Adams, the executive director of the school’s foundation, said “We knew that Ryan was in town, and he’s been on streets around campus often so we were just pipe dreaming (and look what happened!).”

He came to their Spooky Skedaddle 5K, which is an annual charity run. He contributed to the event by raising approximately $20,000 for the event and getting other supporters. As Adams told E!, “Ryan was extremely kind, allowing lots of photo ops with fans and when the director told him, ‘Enough,’ he said, ‘No, one more,’ and pulled a small deaf child out of the line for a picture. Ryan is a wonderful person and we were delighted that they came!”

The Giving Library

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By JohnPosted In: Charity in BusinessTagged: , ,

library-1In August 2012, together with his wife Linda, John Arnold launched The Giving Library.  This $4m project is a collection of videos featuring the works of 250 charities.  The idea is that philanthropists can use the data from the Library to facilitate learning what they need to know about the nonprofits.  The Giving Library was launched because when Linda and John Arnold started their philanthropic journey, they found it challenging to figure out which nonprofits were most worthy and in need of support.  Spending so much time on searches and meeting with executive directors is not necessarily the most efficient use of everyone’s time so once they had done it, they developed this resource to save others’ time.

Until the Giving Library was established, most philanthropists were only able to access details from a few worthy organizations.  Thus foundation executive directors had to spend way too much time on fundraising.  As Laura Arnold explained, “we saw a need to create more efficiency in the system to have a more organized vision of receiving and processing information on nonprofits.” John added, “we started to do our own research, trying to go to websites to read about nonprofits. We realized we got much more insight by speaking to the founder. If you have significant resources, it’s worth their time to sit down and meet a particular funder but that’s not always practical for the majority of funder or nonprofits.”

The Arnolds thus took it upon themselves to film the work of worthy organizations and made the short documentaries Internet accessible so that these people could tell their stories and reach a much larger audience. They also sent letters to nonprofits – any organization that they had received confirmation was a legitimate nonprofit.  They then began working with some of these places to help them improve their scripts.  This is an ongoing project which has already helped save a lot of time of many willing philanthropists.

Belk’s Charity Sale Coming Soon

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , , ,

Belk is having a charity sale on November 3rd from 6-10 am that just might be worth rolling out of bed to enjoy. It will benefit local charities, schools and nonprofit organizations all over the company’s 16-state marketplace.

Last year, the Belk’s Charity Sale managed to raise more than $5 million for hundreds of nonprofit organizations.

The shopping event is a terrific way to help out those in need, while also benefiting from the many discounts and sales they will have.

The way that the charity event works is that customers can purchase $5 donations and receive a ticket to get into the charity sale. With this ticket, they will be entitled to buy merchandise at discounted prices that range from 20-75% on items in the entire store.

There will be other perks as well for Belk Rewards cardholders, Belk Elite cardholders and others. On the day of the event, the first 100 customers in each of the stores will also get a free Belk gift card – and three people company-wide will get a gift card worth $1000.

Football Star Growing Hair Long for Locks of Love

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , , , ,

Football playes aren’t always rough and tumble. Take 305 pound senior starting guard for the Western Michigan football team, John Deyo. Deyo is growing out his hair right now – not as a fashion statement and not for his own good looks – but to donate to “Locks of Love,” a non-profit that makes wigs for kids who have lost their hair.

Both Deyo’s mom and grandmother have survived breast cancer. As Deyo said, “When my mom was diagnosed and started going through the chemo process, she was losing her hair. Myself and some of my friends, we shaved our heads completely bald too to kind of help support her. Once she was clean and clear, I decided I was going to grow my hair out and donate it, because my mom, she wore a wig for a little bit.”

As Deyo’s mom, Pam, explained, “There’s so many people that can’t afford wigs, or are going through cancer and have other expenses. Losing hair is a big deal to a lot of people, even when it’s something that’s gone temporarily. Johnny has seen that and decided he would like to help.”

Some of Deyo’s teammaters plan to join with him as well. WMU’s Alex Carder, Eric Monette, Justin Currie and Dann O’Neill all plan to donate their hair to ‘Locks of Love’ with him. As Deyo said, “It’s really great to see other guys on the team doing it. I don’t know, it gets me choked up really to think about it.”

George Clooney Helps Aspiring Actor with Cerebral Palsy

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George Clooney is known to have a big heart – and he showed it during the 26th Anniversary Carousel of Hope Ball in Beverly Hills on October 20th, 2012. During the event, Clooney met Cody La Scala, a 25 year old actor with cerebral palsy. La Scala is hoping to find work in the industry and he was thrilled to meet such a star.

Clooney went so far as to offer to help La Scala to find work after La Scala told him what an admirer he is of Clooney’s acting. As a source told RadarOnline, “George was so touched. It was so cute. He hugged Cody and introduced him to Stacy (Kiebler). They chatted for a bit and George encouraged him to follow his dream, took down his number and promised to make some calls!”

PUMA’s Project Pink Teams with Aimee Teegarden & Others

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , , , , , ,

On October 13th, both professional athletes and celebrities came together for a unique soccer match that benefited the PUMA Project Pink initiative. This is PUMA’s breast cancer awareness and fundraising initiative which focuses on women’s soccer and works to empower young women.

Celebrities who came to the match included Jessica Stroup, Matt Lanter, Aimee Teegarden, Josh Bowman, Johnny Westin and many others. Athletes who were present included Amy Rodrigues, Alexi Lalas, Julie Foudy, Matt Reis and Karina LeBlanc, among others.

All of the profits from the ticket sales went to the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. In addition, Project Pink contributed another $100,000 from previous programming that they’ve done.

Louis Mariette Climbing Kilimanjaro for Charity

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Now here’s a story for the record books. Some people talk about charity work – some celebrities fork over the cash. But few are willing to sweat and work in such an intense way to help to benefit others.

Louis Mariette, a celebrity fashion designer, has set his sights on Mount Kilimanjaro, pledging to conquer the 5,896 mile mountain for The Children’s Trust. He is vice-president of the organization and has taken on the challenge with eight other trekkers. While not climbing one of the highest mountains in the world, Louis makes headpieces for the likes of Rihanna, Kate Moss and Lady Gaga.

As he said, “I know this will be a challenge, but nothing like the brave children, family, friends and team at the Trust experience every day, so I hope I can do them justice. I know that each step I take on this adventurous mountain will be towards a great cause, especially the more challenging higher segments with steeper parts, snow and altitude.”

The Children’s Trust is a British charity that provides care for severely disabled children. They also have rehabilitation facilities for children with acquired brain injury.

Louis explained a bit more about his goals. As he said,

“Trekking the magnificent mountain will be a dream come true. I am even more excited as I want the flora and fauna of nature to inspire me and on my return to the UK I will specially customize a hat and donate to the Trust to be auctioned. Being born in Malawi, living in Swaziland, Botswana throughout my childhood and going back to Africa to Tanzania will touch my soul and will be an emotional uplifting experience.”

Edward Norton Raises Money with “Words with Friends”

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , , , , ,

If you love playing “Words with Friends” then you just might enjoy doing so for charity. Today, you’ll find celebrities like Edward Norton, Jonah Hill and Snoop Dogg enjoying Zynga’s word-building game online.

As Travis Boatman, senior vice president of mobile at Zynga Inc. explained, “We had the idea to do a celebrity tournament some time ago when it became apparent that the game was a hit among celebrities. It seems like everyone from Katie Couric to Snoop Lion is into the game. It’s really inspirational for the team to see how ‘Words With Friends’ has become part of the cultural mainstream, and I think it has struck a chord because it’s not just a game, it’s a way for people to connect and keep in touch with each other.”

Norton will be playing for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Fund and will be competing against such celebrities as Eva Longoria, Kristen Bell and John Legend. They are each going to be aiming for the $500,000 in prize money given by American Express.

Regular people can join in the fun with the celebrities, playing with their favorite star’s team during the competition called the “Words With Friends Celebrity Challenge.”

Taylor Swift Performs New Single at Stand Up to Cancer Telecast

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , , ,

Friday night saw the 2012 Stand Up To Cancer telecast take place at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. This star-studded event included Sofia Vergara, Chelsea Handler, Eric Stonestreet, Ty Burrell and many others.

One of the most moving tributes given during the event was Taylor Swift’s performance of her new song, Ronan. The song was inspired after Swift read a blog last year about four year old Ronan who was battled cancer, and who died. As the lyrics said, “You were my best four years. I remember your bare feet down the hallway, I love you to the move and back.”

The ultimate goal of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is to “bring together the best and the brightest in the cancer community, encouraging collaboration instead of competition.” They encourage collaboration, offering financing to multi-disciplinary research teams across the country.

They explain on their website that, “’Dream Teams’ of cancer researchers are already hard at work because of Stand Up To Cancer’s support. A portion of our funds also go to innovative, high-risk, high-reward cancer research being done by individual investigators and their lab teams. This work, which is often not supported by conventional funding sources, has the potential to dramatically improve the lives of cancer patients.”