American Idols giving back to the world
JUST about anyone who has tuned to American Idol this season has seen video clips of Randy Jackson, Paula
Abdul and Simon Cowell touring slums in Africa or working with victims of poverty in the United States as part of the programme’s Idol Gives Back charity.
Ryan Seacrest, the show’s host, has repeatedly extolled the charity for the R592million (76m) it raised last year.
But even as American Idol and Fox Broadcasting prepare for their second annual star-studded Idol Gives Back appeal today, officials at the charity have declined to release a formal account- ing of last year’s effort.
A spokesperson for the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund, the organisation that oversaw the fundraising and distribution, said its financial statements were being audited and would be released by the federal financial reporting deadline for charities in May.
That does little, however, to help individuals and corporations that, while considering further contributions, might wonder what happened to the money they gave last year.
But interviews with officials involved in the charities that received money as well as people associated with the fundraising effort show that most of what was raised last year has been given or pledged to organisations fighting poverty in the United States and Africa. Some R39m of last year’s proceeds and interest remains undistributed.
About R429m was contributed by individuals who called in during last year’s Idol Gives Back, and corporations contributed roughly R109m more, according to interviews with officials involved in the effort.
An additional R55m came from corporations and foundations that made direct or matching grants to the charities designated to receive money.
Roughly R530m of the R592m raised last year has been pledged to nine charities that seek to reduce poverty in the United States and Africa.
Because that money was designated to be given to the charities over two years, a little more than half of it has been distributed so far, officials at the charities said.
About R39m of the total was used for administrative costs, including paying for the telephone lines to accept the contributions and the legal and other costs associated with making sure that the recipients had good plans for the money.
Overall, officials at the nine charities that received the money said they were pleased with the efforts of the Idol Gives Back charity, particularly with officials’ rigour in vetting potential uses of the money.
Last year’s money was raised and distributed through the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund, which was co-founded by Richard Curtis, a British screenwriter and film director who was also a founder of the Comic Relief charity events and who helped organise the Live Aid concerts.
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Abdul and Simon Cowell touring slums in Africa or working with victims of poverty in the United States as part of the programme’s Idol Gives Back charity.
Ryan Seacrest, the show’s host, has repeatedly extolled the charity for the R592million (76m) it raised last year.
But even as American Idol and Fox Broadcasting prepare for their second annual star-studded Idol Gives Back appeal today, officials at the charity have declined to release a formal account- ing of last year’s effort.
A spokesperson for the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund, the organisation that oversaw the fundraising and distribution, said its financial statements were being audited and would be released by the federal financial reporting deadline for charities in May.
That does little, however, to help individuals and corporations that, while considering further contributions, might wonder what happened to the money they gave last year.
But interviews with officials involved in the charities that received money as well as people associated with the fundraising effort show that most of what was raised last year has been given or pledged to organisations fighting poverty in the United States and Africa. Some R39m of last year’s proceeds and interest remains undistributed.
About R429m was contributed by individuals who called in during last year’s Idol Gives Back, and corporations contributed roughly R109m more, according to interviews with officials involved in the effort.
An additional R55m came from corporations and foundations that made direct or matching grants to the charities designated to receive money.
Roughly R530m of the R592m raised last year has been pledged to nine charities that seek to reduce poverty in the United States and Africa.
Because that money was designated to be given to the charities over two years, a little more than half of it has been distributed so far, officials at the charities said.
About R39m of the total was used for administrative costs, including paying for the telephone lines to accept the contributions and the legal and other costs associated with making sure that the recipients had good plans for the money.
Overall, officials at the nine charities that received the money said they were pleased with the efforts of the Idol Gives Back charity, particularly with officials’ rigour in vetting potential uses of the money.
Last year’s money was raised and distributed through the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund, which was co-founded by Richard Curtis, a British screenwriter and film director who was also a founder of the Comic Relief charity events and who helped organise the Live Aid concerts.
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