| Find Your Own Celebrity to Champion Your Cause!
By Jennifer Lawton
Seems like these days every celebrity is promoting a charitable cause. Celebrities are even partnering together on projects like the ONE Campaign, American Idol Gives Back and SixDegrees.org.
While celebrity promotion of charities looks like a new trend, it’s really something that many non profit organizations have done for many years. From large to small local groups, many causes can benefit from having a celebrity as a champion.
Now when you hear the word celebrity you might think of movie stars… but entertainers are just one kind of celebrity endorser. A local non profit or school can partner with local business leaders, the mayor, minor league sports players or anyone of interest or influence in your area.
Here are several ways to partner with celebrities to boost your cause:
1. Honorees - Choose a person to honor at a banquet or dinner. Friends of the honoree will want to attend the event and those who don’t know the honoree may want to come to get a chance to meet someone they ordinarily would not.
2. Spokesperson – A spokesperson serves as the public face for a non profit organization and/or cause. They often will endorse fundraising letters, television commercials or PSA’s and attend events to support the cause.
3. Special Events – Ever notice how many celebrities ride the floats at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Sometimes just having celebrities in attendance at a special event will boost the profile of the event.
4. Celebrity Auction Items – Having items donated by celebrities or related to celebrities can boost interest and bids in silent, live or online auctions.
5. Meet & Greet - Give attendees at your event a structured way to meet celebrities such as an autograph line and/or photo opportunity. Major or minor league athletes, politicians, and musicians are good choices. Kids like to meet costumed characters…the Easter bunny, Power Rangers, and even McGruff the Crime Dog are celebrities to them!
So as you can see there’s a variety of ways that your group can use the power of celebrity involvement to gain publicity and funds. Talk to your immediate circle of supporters to find out who in your community supports your cause and would be willing to help out in some way. You might be surprised what the outcome will be!
Jennifer Lawton is a contributor at SuperFundraiser.com. With its unique Fundraising Matchmaker system, schools sports teams and youth groups can save time and raise more funds.
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