Alyssa Milano: I challenge any corporation to match my $50,000 donation to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Alyssa Milano
Actress
Posted: January 14, 2010 05:42 PM

My Tweet Challenge: Will A Corporation Match My Donation?

Last night, as I sat in the comfort of my living room, watching the news and obsessively checking my Twitter homepage for the latest developments, I felt completely helpless. I cried, and then I did the only thing I could do...I wrote a check to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for $50,000. But I woke up this morning feeling that this wasn't enough. As I sat in my bed trying to brainstorm how to raise more money...I turned to Twitter and tweeted the following:



I'm constantly amazed by the power of Twitter. For my Birthday, with the generosity of my followers, we were able to raise $92,568 for my charity:water campaign, bringing life-giving, clean water, to 4,628 people in Ethiopia. For two weeks, I tweeted about the campaign and was so overwhelmed by the result.

So... it's on! I challenge any corporation to match my $50,000 donation to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. 100% of every dollar will go directly to supplies that include tarpaulins, water-purification tablets, oral rehydration salts, family water kits, medical supplies, medical kits, food, shelter, and protection.

Who is up to this challenge? Will someone help me help the victims of this catastrophe?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alyssa-milano/my-tweet-challenge-will-a_b_423911.html

[Parker CA]

1. K&R

[Make7]

2. Hope that inspires people to give - although some companies already are.

Google gave $1 million to relief efforts. MicroSoft pledged $1.25 million and will also match any employee contributions up to $12,000. Lowe's, Coca-Cola, and Bank of America each gave $1 million to the American Red Cross for Haiti.

I'm sure there are more. And I hope others that haven't yet will join in. Every bit helps.
 
Edit to add:

Here's a link to a list of quite a few companies making donations to the relief efforts:

   http://www.uschamber.com/BCLC/Haiti_CorporateDonations
 

[kcass1954]

30. I work for a Cox subsidiary.

At the corporate level, they're doing:

A media commitment in donated PSA (Public Service Announcement) air time and ad space by Cox media companies. We will run ads developed by the Ad Council.

A $250,000 gift from the Cox Foundation split equally between the American Red Cross and CARE.


I'll be making my own donation this weekend after I pay the necessary bills. I'll be giving up my lunch money to increase my donation - I'm brown-bagging it this pay period!

[Juche]

3. Nice

I had no idea she was into charity like that.

I remember during the Tsunami some stores like Sears were doubling the donations of customers. I don't know if any are doing that this time, but I hope so.

[Vidar]

4. Good for Milano.

[avaistheone1]

5. Fantastic.

^5 Alyssa.

[old mark]

6. She is a very smart woman - I am glad to see this, hope she gets some

companies to donate.

mark

[Raine]

7. Two BIG thumbs up to her! nt

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[TheEuclideanOne]

21. She gets more than just two thumbs up for me.

if ya know what I mean }( }(

[ima_sinnic]

8. I didn't know about her charity in Ethiopia! fantastic! (nt)

[roguevalley]

36. there are a lot of celebrities who have charities they support that they

never tell anyone about. mosquito netting and water projects are among the many.

[HughBeaumont]

9. Donate the Bonuses.

Oh wait, that's only for people with a heart that's not blackened by greed.

Alyssa's all heart and class.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. That was my immediate reaction...

...imagine if they did that. Imagine the good that money would do, rather than one more Maserati, one more yacht, one more vacation.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Damned Hollywood Libruls!

:sarcasm: <---- in the extreme

[progressoid]

12. Maybe Rush will match it.

:eyes:

[frylock]

13. intelligent, beautiful, and charitable..

:drool:

[Scurrilous]

14. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Techn0Girl]

15. How wonderful that a Wealthy member of the Upper class can write a check for 50 Grand to help .....

You can't buy publicity like that for any price.

I'm guessing that her monthly dining out tab probably comes to a lot more than that.

There are a lot of wonderful people in the world who give without milking it for all it's worth.

[Lautremont]

17. Yeah, what a bitch!

That's sarcasm, if it needed to be said, seasoned with disgust.

[Gormy Cuss]

19. You're so right. It would be much better if she had just tweeted for others to cough up some dough

and kept her dining-out-money for herself.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

20. Yeah, fuck generosity!

:eyes:

[TheEuclideanOne]

22. Yeah, sure are alot of them that aren't giving anything

All I can say is.... Really? This is a problem for you? Okay, I'll play. Let's say for argument's sake that the sole reason she did this was for publicity's sake. So, she had this plan in the works for a year and was just hoping and praying for a natural disaster to put her $50k plan into action. Now the day has come and she is milking it for what it is worth. Now, shouldn't you be applauding her for being pretty damn smart? She spent $50K on helping people in need and got some great publicity from it. And, on top of it, she me end up getting companies to donate 10 or 20 times that amount. Pretty clever if you ask me and you should really applaud it.

Now, I have two questions for you.

1) Do you think that she really needs publicity? This is Alysa Milano after all.
2) HOW MUCH DID YOU GIVE? Unless you are rich, $100 for you might be the equivalent of $50K from her. Did you contribute $100 or are you just whining?

[Lorien]

27. Give me a break. Most actresses don't make that much in a year

I have several family members in the film industry; many of the well known but not "mega celebrity" actors and actresses barely make enough money to remain middle class. I'm sure Milano isn't quite in those straights, but if she's not on a popular series then that could be 1/4th her income.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

29. Yea, fuck that! Rich people shouldn't donate money to anything but the BMW dealership

Milano should stop payment on the check. What the FUCK was she thinking???

Plus, while we're at it, let's excoriate Bill Gates for donating billions of dollars. After all, if donating $50k is bad, then billions must make Gates the most evil person in the world.

:sarcasm:

Jesus H. Christ, give me a fucking break.

[Hannah Bell]

43. bill gates *is* evil.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

44. Oh bullshit

Hitler was evil. Dick Cheney was evil.

Bill Gates is a computer nerd who wrote a computer program that became ubiquitous and made a lot of money. If you think that someone who has donated billions of dollars to help the ill and less fortunate in the world is evil, then you are a rigid, lockstep ideologue.

[Hannah Bell]

51. he's not helping the ill or less fortunate. he's helping himself. you might investigate

beyond the PR releases.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

56. Beyond the press releases?

I can use Wikipedia as well as you:

Global Health Program

The President of the Global Health Program is Tachi Yamada. The Gates Foundation has quickly become a major influence upon global health; the approximately US$800 million that the foundation gives every year for global health approaches the annual budget of the United Nations World Health Organization (193 nations) and is comparable to the funds given to fight infectious disease by the United States Agency for International Development.<18> The Foundation currently provides 17% (US$86 million in 2006) of the world budget for the attempted eradication of poliomyelitis (polio).<19>

The Global Health Program's other significant grants include:

he Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
The foundation gave The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization a donation of US$750 million on January 25, 2005.<20><21>

Children's Vaccine Program
The Children's Vaccine Program, run by the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), received a donation of US$27 million to help vaccinate against Japanese encephalitis on December 9, 2003.<22>

University of Washington Department of Global Health
The foundation provided approximately US$30 million for the foundation of the new Department of Global Health at the University of Washington in Seattle. The donation promoted three of the Foundation's target areas: education, Pacific Northwest and global health. The foundation also lead a study to increase access to high education globally.

HIV Research
The foundation has donated a grand total of US$287 million to various HIV/AIDS researchers. The money was split between sixteen different research teams across the world, on the condition that they share their findings with one another.<23>

Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation
The foundation gave the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation more than US$280 million to develop and license an improved vaccine against tuberculosis for use in high burden countries.<24><25>

Visceral Leishmaniasis Research
The foundation awarded the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases a $5 million grant in 2009 for research into visceral leishmaniasis, an emerging parasitic disease in Ethiopia where it is frequently associated with HIV/AIDS, and a leading cause of adult illness and death. The project is a collaborative effort with Addis Ababa University and will gather data for analysis to identify the weak links in the transmission cycle and devise methods for control of the disease.<26>

The foundation has also given The Institute for OneWorld Health a donation of nearly US$10 million to support the organization's work on a drug for visceral leishmaniasis (VL).

Global Development Program

President Sylvia Mathews leads the Global Development Program, which combats extreme poverty through grants such as the following:
Financial Services for the Poor

Financial Access Initiative
A $5 million grant allows Financial Access Initiative to do field research and answer important questions about micro finance and financial access in impoverished countries around the world.

Pro Mujer
A $3.1 million grant to Pro Mujer, a leading microfinance network in Latin America, and a pioneer at combining financial services with healthcare for the poorest women entrepreneurs. The five-year grant will be used to research new opportunities for serving the very poorest segment of the Latin American microfinance market.

Grameen Foundation
A $1.5 million grant allows Grameen Foundation to make more microloans, to support Grameen's goal of helping five million additional families and successfully freeing 50 percent of those families from poverty within five years.<27>

Agricultural Development

Rice Research
Between November 2007 and October 2010, the gates foundation will offer $19.9 million to the International Rice Research Institution. The aid is intended to support the increasing demand the world has placed on rice. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation claims “To keep up with worldwide demand, the production of rice will have to increase by about 70 percent in the next two decades.”<28> Yielding higher grade crops will ensure local farmers get the best return out of their crop annually and be able to offer greater quantities.

The IRRI maintains that with the improvement of rice yields, not only will people reap the benefits of a more nutritious crop, advances in crop research will help sustain local economies. Rice that cost less to produce and yield greater amount makes the final product less expensive for consumers.<29>

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) (gasp! here's your connection to the Rockefellers!)
The Gates Foundation has partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation to enhance agricultural science and small-farm productivity in Africa, building on the Green Revolution which the Rockefeller Foundation spurred in the 1940s and 1960s. The Gates Foundation has made an initial $100 million investment in this effort, to which the Rockefeller foundation has contributed $50 million. Critics allege that the foundation has a preference to make grants which benefit multinational agribusiness, such as Monsanto,<30> which do not take into account many local needs in Africa<31>.

Global Libraries

Access to Learning Award
Each year an award of up to US$1 million is given to a public library or similar organization outside the United States that has an innovative program offering the public free access to information technology.

Official site: Part of CLIR.org

Global Special Initiatives

The Foundation's Special Initiatives include responses to catastrophes as well as learning grants, which are used to experiment with new areas of giving. Currently, the Foundation is exploring water, hygiene and sanitation as a new focus within Global Development.

Indian Ocean Earthquake
The foundation made total grant donations of US$3 million to various charities to help with the aid effort for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake. These charities include:

* CARE international
* International Rescue Committee
* Mercy Corps
* Save the Children
* World Vision

Kashmir Earthquake
The foundation made a donation of US$500,000 for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.<32>

Water, Hygiene and Sanitation
The Foundation is giving the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development US$1,200,000 over 3 years to find new, sustainable ways to make water, sanitation and hygiene services safer and more affordable.

United States Program

Under President Allan Golston, the United States Program has made grants such as the following:
U.S. Libraries

In 1997, the foundation introduced a U.S. Libraries initiative with a goal of "ensuring that if you can get to a public library, you can reach the Internet." The foundation has given grants, installed computers and software, and provided training and technical support in partnership with public libraries nationwide.

Most recently, the foundation gave a $12.2-million grant to the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET) to assist libraries in Louisiana and Mississippi on the Gulf Coast, many of which were damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Education

Smaller Schools
Smaller high schools have shown to be more advantageous than large overpopulated schools. The Gates foundation claims one in five students is unable to read and grasp the contents of what they just read and African American and Latino students are graduating with the skills of a middle school student.<33> These are the resulting affects within many American high schools where the ratio between student and teacher far exceeds the limit. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has invested more than $250 million in grants to create new small schools and to transform large high schools through the schools-within-a-school model.<33> This model will divide large over populated schools and create smaller institutions within them encouraging closer relationships between student and teacher.
Carnegie Mellon University
The Foundation gave US$20 million to the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science for a new Computer Science building which will be named the Gates Center for Computer Science.<34>

D.C. Achievers Scholarships
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced March 22, 2007 a $122 million initiative to send hundreds of the District of Columbia's poorest students to college.<35>

Gates Cambridge Scholarships
Donated US$210 million in October 2000 to help outstanding graduate students outside of the United Kingdom study at the University of Cambridge. Approximately 100 new students every year are funded.<36>

Gates Millennium Scholars
Administered by the United Negro College Fund the foundation donated US$1.5 billion for scholarships to high achieving minority students.<37>

NewSchools Venture Fund
The Foundation contributed US$30 million to help NewSchools to manage more charter schools, which aim to prepare students in historically underserved areas for college and careers.

Strong American Schools
On April 25, 2007, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation joined forces with the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation pledging a joint $60 million to create Strong American Schools, a nonprofit project responsible for running ED in 08, an initiative and information campaign aimed at encouraging 2008 presidential contenders to include education in their campaign policies.<38>

The Texas High School Project

The project was set out to increase and improve high school graduation rates across Texas. The Bill and Melinda gates foundation has committed US$84.6 million to the project, beginning in 2003. The THSP focuses its efforts on high-need schools and districts statewide, with an emphasis on urban areas and the Texas-Mexico border.<39>

University Scholars Program
Donated US$20 million in 1998 to endow a scholarship program at Melinda Gates' alma mater, Duke University.<40> The program provides full scholarships to about 10 members of each undergraduate class and one member in each class in each of the professional schools (Schools of Medicine, Business, Law, Divinity, Environment, and Nursing), as well as to students in the Graduate School pursuing doctoral degrees in any discipline. Graduate and professional school scholars serve as mentors to the undergraduate scholars, who are chosen on the basis of financial need and potential for interdisciplinary academic interests. Scholars are chosen each spring from new applicants to Duke University's undergraduate, graduate, and professional school programs. The program features seminars to bring these scholars together for interdisciplinary discussions and an annual spring symposium organized by the scholars.

Washington State Achievers Scholarship
The Washington State Achievers program encourages schools to create cultures of high academic achievement while providing scholarship support to select college-bound students.

William H. Gates Public Service Law Program
This program awards five full scholarships annually to the University of Washington School of Law. Scholars commit to working in relatively low-paying public service legal positions for at least the first five years following graduation.<41>

Pacific Northwest

Discovery Institute
Donated US$1 million in 2000 to the Discovery Institute and pledged US$9.35 million over 10 years in 2003, including US$50,000 of Bruce Chapman's US$141,000 annual salary. According to a Gates Foundation grant maker, this grant is "exclusive to the Cascadia project" on regional transportation, and it may not be used for the Institute's other activities, including promotion of intelligent design.

Rainier Scholars
Donated US$1 million

Computer History Museum
Donated US$15 million to the museum in October, 2005.<42>

Lifespan

In October 2006 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was split into two entities: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, which manages the endowment assets and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which "... conducts all operations and grantmaking work, and it is the entity from which all grants are made."<43><44> Also announced was the decision to "... spend all of resources within 50 years after Bill's and Melinda's deaths."<45><46><47><48> This would close the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and effectively end the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In the same announcement it was reiterated that Warren Buffett "... has stipulated that the proceeds from the Berkshire Hathaway shares he still owns at death are to be used for philanthropic purposes within 10 years after his estate has been settled."<45>

The plan to close the Foundation Trust is in contrast to most large charitable foundations that have no set closure date. This is intended to lower administrative costs over the years of the Foundation Trust's life and ensure that the Foundation Trust not fall into a situation where the vast majority of its expenditures are on administrative costs, including salaries, with only token amounts contributed to charitable causes.<46>

Oooh, nefarious! :sarcasm:

[Hannah Bell]

52. gates isn't just "some computer nerd", btw. he's scion of a family connected to the rockefeller

machine for four generations.

oh. & he didn't write ms-dos.

"MS-DOS was a renamed form of 86-DOS (informally known as the Quick-and-Dirty Operating System or Q-DOS)<2> owned by Seattle Computer Products, written by Tim Paterson.<2> Microsoft needed an operating system for the then-new Intel 8086 but it had none available, so it licensed 86-DOS and released a version of it as MS-DOS 1.0.<2> Development started in 1981, and MS-DOS 1.0 was released with the IBM PC in 1982.<2> Tim Paterson is considered the original author of DOS and he is called "The Father of DOS".<2>

Worried by possible legal problems, in June 1981 Microsoft made an offer to Rod Brock, the owner of Seattle Computer, to buy the rights for 86-DOS. An agreement to release all rights to the software was signed in June 1981. The total cost was $75,000.<3>"

so you pretty much know nothing about him. for example, how a 20-something comes up with $75K (around $100K in today's dollars).

[Blue-Jay]

31. How does idiocy feel?

Pretty good, or does it hurt?

Just wondering...

[Beartracks]

32. Rush? Is that you?

Sounds like how Rush claims Obama is milking the disaster simply to increase his support among blacks. 'Cause, you know, he wouldn't bother sending money to an impoverished, demolished nation if he couldn't win some votes. :eyes:

[hughee99]

33. Given the choices...

She could donate publicly and challenge others to do the same.
She could donate privately and listen to SOME people bitch about how "the rich" don't care about anything but themselves.
She could not donate at all.

The first option brings in the most money for those who need it.

[apocalypsehow]

34. You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding.

:thumbsdown:

[LeftishBrit]

53. Right at the moment, I don't care where the money for Haiti comes from, so long as it comes!

[pleah]

16. K&R

[tabasco]

18. I like her as an actress.

Nice to hear she's got a great heart.

[madmax]

23. The best people are Democrats and Liberals

Milano's challenge. Clooney is going to host a telethon to raise money for Haiti. I know there are so many more doing the what they can using their name and connections to help. They always do.

When the hell has Rush or O'Really or any of those clowns ever gotten their asses out of the studio to do anything for anyone. NEVER and never will.

[Locrian]

24. she's the real thing

Been doing it for awhile.


-------------------------------------------------------
Alyssa Milano
Charity biography

Alyssa has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2003. In 2004, she launched UNICEF’s Trick or Treat campaign.

Milano is the lead ambassador for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Disease Control. Her first action as ambassador was to donate $250,000 to the charity’s Drug Fund to be used to battle lymphatic filariasis (LF) in Myanmar.


-------------------------------------------------------

Alyssa Milano's Sweet Tweets for Charity

By Mark Dagostino | Wednesday, December 16, 2009 11:10 AM ET

alyssamilano.jpgWhen Alyssa Milano decided to raise money for charity: water instead of receiving birthday gifts this year, she set what she thought was a lofty goal: $25,000.

[Lorien]

25. The CEO of United American Healthcare makes more than that in half an hour

do you think that he'll take her up on her challenge?

[bigwillq]

26. Cool.

Good for her, and all the others who donate! :bounce:

[Fleshdancer]

28. I like the challenge aspect of her donation too

I would love to see every donating celebrity do the same.

[donheld]

35. k & R

[Taitertots]

37. She is acting like that is something corporations should be doing

That is something individuals are supposed to do.


The complaint that corporations are not giving out enough handouts is without merit.

[varelse]

38. How many people do you know who can donate 50k without robbing a bank first?

:wtf:

[Taitertots]

40. Still doesn't make it something corporations should be doing

I know 10 people would could easily afford $5,000. 50 that could afford $1,000.

And there is a nation with 200,000,000 who could afford $100.

[varelse]

41. Yeah you're right

We need corporations to save their money for the PAC's. My bad.

Edited to add: you and I are very unlikely to ever meet - I've never met anyone who could easily afford to donate 5,000, let alone 10 people.

[Taitertots]

42. So between you and everyone you know there isn't a person with $5,000 in the bank

Maybe "easily" isn't the word. The hard part would be parting with the money, not getting it.


Why are you hallucinating that I think corporations should be allowed to donate to PACs?

[varelse]

57. That's correct - most of the people I know are in debt

We don't, obviously, travel in the same circles, so to speak.

[Arugula Latte]

48. Why shouldn't corporations donate?

:shrug:

[lildreamer316]

49. Yes, why not? They're PEOPLE too.

Aha. Ha.
Sigh.

[LeftishBrit]

55. It's something that everyone who can afford it should be doing!

It's not individuals OR corporations. It's individuals AND corporations and charities and governments and everybody!

[LatteLibertine]

39. Good for her and it's free PR for them!

I've sent all I can afford to Artists for Peace and Justice, Yele Haiti and the Red Cross.

[Dave From Canada]

45. Considering Google and Microsoft have donated 45 million, Alyssa should probably just STFU, and do

her charity without broadcasting it to the world as if she's special.

[newspeak]

47. I see nothing wrong of her challenging corporations to match her donation

it's nothing new, MDA during telethon does it all of the time. I think some on this board just enjoy flaming-they do it so often.

[Dave From Canada]

50. I see it as a chance for her to say "Hey, look how great I am." One should do charity work for the

good of the work, not because you want others to know about it. People and/or corporations are going to donate money to help regardless of whether she gave money or not. And 99% of those who do, probably aren't even aware of her so-called challenge. I think she thinks she's a lot more important than she really is.

[newspeak]

54. well, that's what you think

on NBC they were reporting some of those (who might just want the attention) who have donated. Also, I'm sure you've seen the above post, where Milano has been working for UNICEF for awhile. I haven't heard her beating her chest before about her work with the organization. I haven't heard her on the media yelling "look at me, I'm a spokesperson for UNICEF." So, now she challenges others AFTER this disaster, and she's just seeking attention. Wow, go figure! :eyes:

[Viking12]

46. This thread will be much more impactful with pictures