November/December 1998 Issue

Cause Celeb

Can star power create social change?

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Celeb: Michael Bolton

Cause: Michael Bolton Foundation, formed to assist “children and women at risk…broaden horizons and expand opportunities for youth across socioeconomic and multicultural lines”

What he’s done: Started the foundation, appeared at fundraising events

What celeb gets: A chance to atone for his musical sins?

What cause gets: An annual celebrity softball game, Bolton’s singing…and some money

Connection between celeb and cause: None detectable

Chance celeb will humiliate cause: It’s already happened. Late filings of paperwork with the state of Connecticut led to press accounts of the foundation’s sad percentage of giveaways compared to income: a paltry 15 percent in 1995, and only 30 percent from 1993 to 1996 overall.

What good came of this? The miniscandal has not “dampened my spirit or commitment,” Bolton vows. In 1996 the foundation did distribute $863,000 to various shelter and social service programs for troubled kids, mostly in Connecticut and New York.

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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