Buy the Voice of God for Charity : Only $299!

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

Autism Speaks recently held a brilliant year-end fundraising campaign. They offered supporters the chance to buy custom-recorded messages from celebrities like Tom Hanks, Ed Asner, Will Ferrell, Carrie Fisher, Derek Jeter, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Betty White and Morgan Freeman.

One of the fastest selling items, according to Marc Sirkin, the charity’s chief digital marketing officer, was the Morgan Freeman recording, as his deep voice has earned him the nickname “Voice of God.” The campaign ran for the first week of December only, and anyone who wanted a voicemail greeting from a star could donate $299 to Autism Speaks. Each celebrity message was limited to 50 people. When a message was purchased, the fan was able to tailor a script for the celebrity to say, as long as it didn’t include any advertising. Each celebrity had final approval of the messages.

When the campaign ended, 346 of the possible 500 messages were sold. They raised $103,000 for Autism Speaks. Hear more from Austism Speaks about this campaign.

See more with their video for the campaign.

Celebrities Karaoke for UNICEF’s Schools for Africa

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By DouglasPosted In: EducationTagged: , , , , , ,

A recent celebrity karaoke night contributed more than just entertainment by raising funds and promoting awareness for UNICEF and its Schools for Africa project.

Tom Bergeron hosted the event, with the Ricky Minor Band performing backup for stars like Heidi Klum, Molly Sims, Tom Hanks and many others.

Lakers powerhouse Pau Gasol performed an emotional rendition of “How to Save a Life” by The Fray, while James Denton, Kyle Maclachlan and Doug Savant sang “R.O.C.K. in the USA.” Heidi Klum, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson sang “YMCA”, and Molly Sims gave Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” a whirl. Other performances included “Easy Lover” by Kristen Bell and Don Cheadle, “Regulate” by Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas.

UNICEF’s Schools for Africa is a philanthropic organization working to provide sub-Saharan children with an education despite the lack of schools as well as conflict, discrimination and poverty.

Along with its partners, UNICEF works to “build, rehabilitate and furnish schools; provide access to clean water and separate latrines for boys and girls; train teachers in child-friendly methods to improve education and basic life skill mentoring; supply students with school materials and recreation equipment.”

As of 2011, UNICEF is one of the most successful humanitarian foundations when it comes to saving the lives of children in more than 150 countries.