Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Michael Stars, Charitable Rockstar
Los Angeles-based clothing company Michael Stars continues tradition of outstanding support to charitable organizations.
I’ve always been a colossal fan of the women’s casual couture t-shirt pioneer, but what drew Hugbacker to noticing their philanthropic endeavors was a recent post on their Twitter page about their participation earlier this month in the Bowling For Buddies benefit at Lucky Strike Lanes in Los Angeles. Spotting the words Best Buddies, my heart gave a small leap, as it’s one of our absolute fave organizations. (Click here for a piece we wrote on this awesome group in the past).
Digging a little further, we found that Michael Stars is a consistent and generous contributor to a wide array of awesome causes, including Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation, Clothes The Deal, Partners In Health, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, and many others.
Rock on Michael Stars, and thank you…for giving us yet ANOTHER reason to love you!
By: LBC on February 27th, 2010, No Comments »
Portland Brewery Steps Up, Releases Benefit Beer
Laurelwood Public House & Brewery, a craft brewing company in Portland, Oregon, has smacked one outta the park with a new beer release that brews up a difference.
A portion of the sales from all bottles of the company’s new Prevale IPA will benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To kick off the release, Laurelwood held a release party September 2nd at their Portland pub.
Huge props to owner Mike De Kalb, head brewmaster Chad Kennedy, and all the folks at Laurelwood for hopping up awareness for a great cause. Cheers!
By: LBC on September 10th, 2009, No Comments »
Shoes + Love = TOMS
Every once in a while a giving-back story comes along that’s so cool, innovative, and cockles-of-the-heart warming, that ya just gotta say, “Now that’s how it’s done.”
Founder, president, and Chief Shoegiver of TOMS Shoes, Blake Mycoskie
You’ve probably seen the TV commercial for AT&T featuring Blake Mycoskie describing the necessity of reliable cell phone service for running his company, TOMS Shoes, which donates one pair of shoes for each one sold. Speaking of which, we may as well clear something up right off the bat: his name is not Tom, it’s Blake. TOMS is Mycoskie’s derivation of “shoes for tomorrow,” meaning “we sell a pair today, we give one away tomorrow.” Back to our story…
A former contestant on CBS’ The Amazing Race, (placing third with sis Paige), Mycoskie was vacationing in Argentina in 2006 when he met a group of social workers there to do a shoe drive. Mycoskie volunteered to tag along during the last week of his holiday, and was life-alteringly taken with the kids in the village who were in desperate need of good shoes, evidenced by the cuts, sores, and scabs from walking barefoot every day for miles. He then thought about the “it” shoe of the moment in Argentina, the rope-soled, slip-on, canvas alpargata. (Think no-lace espadrille). Mycoskie’s entrepreneurial brain began its natural brew, bubble, and churn process to devise a way to address the situation. Based on the One for One business model–sell one, give one away–TOMS Shoes was born. Check out this video of the Chief Shoegiver himself recounting how it all went down:
So why did the Southern Methodist University dropout decide to start a for-profit business instead of a full-fledged charity? Because he wanted something that would be sustainable; something for which he wouldn’t have to rely upon donations from others. Something that could allow the company to make the donations itself instead of depending on donors who may not be able to do so for whatever reason. (Case in point, the crappy economy took a tragic toll on charitable donations this year, yet TOMS continues to thrive. Woo-hoo!)
The thirty-two-year-old serial entrepreneur–TOMS is something like the fifth company Mycoskie has created–has been featured in everything from the L.A. Times to Huffington Post to Vogue. Not only was he invited to sit on a panel at this year’s Clinton Global Initiative Meeting, Mycoskie was introduced by the former president as “one of the most interesting entrepreneurs I’ve ever met.” Embraced by everyone from bohemians to fashionistas, TOMS Shoes now collaborates with retail giants such as Ralph Lauren (for their rugby line) and Whole Foods (eco-friendly footwear).
Having now given away over 150,000 pairs of shoes in Argentina, South Africa, and Ethiopia, TOMS is on a runaway train to touching lives all over the world. Check out this video of the company’s first-ever shoe drop to Argentina:
So how are they able to turn a profit without advertising? Simple, according to Mycoskie, who declares that everyone who sports a pair of TOMS becomes something of a marketer for the company. TOMS-wearers now have “the story” and are eager to pass it on. Hence, no million-dollar Super Bowl ads are on the horizon, funneling a would-be advertising budget into manufacturing more shoes to give away. (Shoes which, we should point out, are all brand new and correctly sized for the kids, as opposed to previously-loved, four sizes too big hand-me-downs).
Tiny TOMS
In case you’re imagining Mycoskie to live in a splurgiferous Beverly Hills mansion, think again. Although he does live in L.A., it’s hardly a mansion. Nor is it a house. Rather, the St. Nick of shoes makes his home on a boat. “I live a very simple life,” says the low-key, high-energy shoe dude. “After starting TOMS and traveling all over the world and seeing the environments that people are living in, I realized that you don’t need much to be happy. Some of the happiest people I’ve ever met live out in the jungle, in rural Argentina and South Africa. And so it’s really caused me to want to simplify my life. I have a very nice boat but it’s a boat and it’s small and it’s simple and I don’t keep many things on it.”
Mycoskie also notes that when you make a TOMS purchase, you’re not just buying shoes–you’re joining a movement. This highlights one of the supreme genius angles of TOMS: the community factor, which makes it ridiculously easy to help someone. The consumer gets something cool, and a child in need somewhere gets something even cooler. Rock on, TOMS!
Check out the TOMS website for shoes, t-shirts and other awesome goodies: www.tomshoes.com
Crosstown Rivals Wright and Jeter Wage Slugfest for Charity
Sure, competition is good for the soul. But what makes it even more scintillating is when there’s a little side action…and even better when it raises awareness for a great cause–wait–make that two great causes!
Mets superstar David Wright faces off against Yanks stud Derek Jeter in a batting average throwdown, a.k.a., The Delta Batting Challenge, and we’re thinkin’ it’s gonna be close. Thanks to generous sponsor Delta Air Lines, the two heroes’ charities, Wright’s David Wright Foundation and Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation, will both benefit from the duel, although one with double the payday. Delta has pledged a whopping $100,000 to the foundation of the athlete who finishes the regular season with the highest batting average–based on a minimum of 400 at-bats. The runner-up’s foundation will receive a not-too-shabby $50,000.
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty
The David Wright Foundation provides financial support and raises awareness for those in need, with a special focus on Multiple Sclerosis and children’s causes, especially in the New York City and Norfold, VA metropolitan areas.
Derek Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation creates programs and activities that motivate young people to turn away from drugs and alcohol and “Turn 2″ healthy lifestyles, by promoting and rewarding academic excellence, leadership, and positive behavior.
Batter up…it’s on!!
By: LBC on April 30th, 2009, No Comments »
Get Your Strike On With Jenny and Jim!
Grab your bowling ball, shoes, some friends, the coolest bowling shirt you can find, and get ready to knock down some pins for autism! On Sunday, April 19th, Generation Rescue presents STRIKE OUT AUTISM at participating AMF Bowling Centers…a day of fun on the lanes for the whole family.
Actress and superfierce autism awareness advocate Jenny McCarthy and beau Jim Carrey both proudly serve as board members for Generation Rescue, an international movement of scientists, physicians, and parent-volunteers researching the causes of and treatments for autism. Jenny’s story of her son Evan’s journey through autism can found here.
The Strike Out Autism event will be held at 12 different AMF locations–check out the list of participating centers here. As always, any and every effort that seeks to raise awareness and understanding of autism-related disorders is a WINNER in our book.
By: LBC on April 8th, 2009, No Comments »
ESPRIT GRAND OPENING BENEFITS RICHIE-MADDEN FOUNDATION
PHOTO: John Shearer
Hats off to fun-n-philanthropic couple Nicole Richie and Joel Madden, shown here at the April 2nd grand opening of Esprit Santa Monica. Ten percent of the day’s proceeds were donated to the duo’s Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation. Nicole, currently expecting baby number two, said, “We’re very humbled. Esprit has been around for so long. I was wearing Esprit when I was a kid. It’s just so amazing that someone like Esprit is supporting something that we started.”
The clothing and lifestyle brand of Esprit has always been committed to social responsibility, passionately rallying support for community and environment worldwide since their beginning. Yours truly can vouch, having worked at their San Francisco headquarters for two years right out of college. Good times…great company!
By: LBC on April 3rd, 2009, No Comments »
BILL GATES: “Bugging” VIPs To Make Point About Malaria
Last week at the annual TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference in Long Beach, CA, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates released a jar of mosquitoes into the crowd of high-powered businesspeople, celebs, and other bigwigs, stating, “There’s no reason only poor people should have the experience.”
The mega-philanthropist was delivering a presentation about one of his passions, malaria education and eradication. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last year announced it would provide $168.7 million to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to help develop a vaccine for the deadly disease, which infects 350-500 million people per year, and takes the lives of approximately one million, the majority of whom are young children.
Check out the video below. Pretty cool stunt, and one perhaps only Mr. Gates could get away with!
By: LBC on February 12th, 2009, No Comments »
IT’S ALL ABOUT SOUL: Jon Bon Jovi Teams Up With Hard Rock International To Create Rocked Out Design For Charity
Jon Bon Jovi, lead singer of the #1 touring act in the world, has become the most recent musician to partner with Hard Rock International’s Signature Series program, lending an original Bon Jovi design to the series to produce a limited edition t-shirt and pin.
PHOTO: AP
Hard Rock International, one of the most globally-recognizeable brands, developed the Signature Series concept in 1990, partnering with famous musicians and bands who create and donate designs for limited edition t-shirts to benefit the artist’s charity of choice. Bon Jovi, whose design is “Edition XXVI” in the series, follows in the footsteps of Bono, Eric Clapton, Green Day, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Sprinsteen, and others, who have also lent designs to the program, which has now donated millions of dollars to causes worldwide.
Proceeds from the Bon Jovi design will benefit the Philadelphia Soul Foundation, the charitable arm of Arena Football League team, the Philadelphia Soul (of which Mr. Bon Jovi is proud majority owner). The foundation focuses its efforts in the areas of poverty and homelessness, dedicated to helping improve lives “One Soul At A Time.”
The black t-shirt is available in both men’s and women’s sizes, and can be purchased on the Hard Rock website, as well as at Hard Rock Cafes, Hard Rock Shops, and Hard Rock Casinos.
In honor of his philanthropic contribution, Bon Jovi and his foundation received the Humanitarian Award at the 2008 Billboard Touring Awards. Rock on, Jon!
AT&T Joins Forces With Share Our Strength to Feed Hungry Kids
Last month, we posted a story about Food Network chefs supporting Share Our Strength, a national organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America.
With their brand new campaign, Operation No Kid Hungry, Share Our Strength is at it again, responding to President-Elect Obama’s call to end childhood hunger by 2015. Here’s how it works:
If you’re a texter (and who isn’t these days?), simply text the word “share” to 20222 on your mobile device to donate five dollars to Share Our Strength. The cool part: AT&T will match all text donations up to $100k! Details here.
If you’re more of a hands-on-the-donation than fingers-on-the-keypad person, another way to donate is to hold a food drive. Between Jan 19th and Jan 31st, organize a food drive in your area to help kids in need during the coldest months of the year. For tips on how to organize a successful one, as well as a list of the most-needed foods, click here.
What better way to usher in the new year than to make sure a hungry child has a meal!
Buttermilk Pancakes + Fat Tuesday = BIG BUCKS for a Great Cause
Buttered, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or drowned in maple syrup… no matter how you personally choose to dig in, the results are sure to be FAT for Children’s Miracle Network.
For the 4th year in a row, everybody’s favorite pancake house, IHOP, is celebrating National Pancake Day by offering a free “short stack” to patrons on Tuesday, February 24th (Mardi Gras!) between 7am and 10pm. What they ask in return is that you donate the amount you would’ve paid, or more, to Children’s Miracle Network, or to another charity. Last year the event raised $875,000: this year they’re going for a cool mil!
Each year the 170 Children’s Miracle Network hospitals treat kids with cancer, heart disease, pediatric AIDS, muscular dystrophy, and more. This is an awesome (and delicious) way to do something wonderful for children with serious medical conditions.
So be sure to put it on your calendar; in fact, paste this directly into your Outlook… February 24: EAT AT IHOP. And just in case you don’t know the location of the IHOP nearest you, click here. See ya there!
Vijay Singh: The BIG FIJIAN Sinks Eagles for the Kids at St. Jude
The Eagles For St. Jude program has a big ambassador…in more ways than one.
In 2007, Stanford Financial Group, title sponsor of the Stanford St. Jude Championship, created a program called Eagles For St. Jude, whereby they donated $1,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for every eagle made by a player on the PGA tour, providing a season-long fundraising element to the Memphis PGA tour stop. Ambassador of the program? Mr. Vijay Singh, a.k.a. “The Big Fijian,” who also pledged $1,000 for every eagle he personally sunk. He did so 12 times that year, but upon meeting a patient at St. Jude, upped his donation to $50,000.
Singh waits his turn at the '08 Stanford St. Jude Championship
PHOTO: Jim Weber / The Commercial Appeal
(Um, excuse us…how cool is that picture?)
Back to the facts. Fast forward to 2008, when the World Golf Hall of Famer raises the bar, pledging $5k to the program for each eagle he makes that year. He carded six. The math has him writing a check for $30,000. So what does the Big Fijian do? Adds a big fat zero to the mix, writing a personal check for $300,000 to Eagles for St. Jude, and giving a whole new perspective to the term “chipping in.”
Singh was quoted as describing St. Jude as “…the most wonderful place I’ve ever been.”
Check out this video made at the beginning of last year’s tour. Too cute of Vijay and the kids!
For the full story on the whopping $2.57million donation made to St. Jude for the Eagles For St. Jude program last month, click here.
By: LBC on January 7th, 2009, No Comments »
Chargers Owner Donates Six Pairs of Tickets to Super Bowl XLIII; Raffle Produces SUPER Results
Stockton, CA resident, developer, and owner of the San Diego Chargers, Alex Spanos, normally donates a pair of Super Bowl tickets from the team’s allotment so that a local charity can raffle them off as a fundraiser. This season, however, he upped the ante. According to The Record, a daily Stockton newspaper, in an effort to help out more organizations in the community, Spanos purchased six pairs of tix to the big game, and tossed in $2,000 with each pair to cover travel expenses to Tampa (sweet!) Forty different United Way organizations participated in the selling of $100 raffle tickets. With a goal of raising $250,000, the organizations were each allowed to keep 90 percent of the proceeds from their sales, with ten percent going to the United Way operations fund. Outcome? Over $291k was raised. Woo-hoo! Said Spanos’ daughter, Dea Spanos Berberian, “Dad has always donated tickets. Stockton is fortunate.” Congrats to the Tampa Bay-bound winners, and especially to the deserving charities!
Alex Spanos
PHOTO: AP Photo, Ben Margot
By: LBC on December 28th, 2008, No Comments »
49ers Mix & Mingle for PlumpJack
The PlumpJack Group, owners of a collection of food, wine, and hospitality businesses headquartered in San Francisco, rallied a group of 49ers to serve as celeb bartenders at Matrix in support of their “PlumpJack For Pink” campaign. The 7th annual event benefited the Northern California Cancer Center and had guests oohing and aahing over the array of high-ticket raffle prizes, packages, and bartending skills of their favorite Niners.
49er Linebacker Parys Haralson gets ready for the thirsty crowd
Hugbacker chatted with Hilary Newsom, PlumpJack’s Executive Vice President, about this event as well as other philanthropic efforts in which the Group is involved.
PlumpJack's Hilary Newsom with filmmaker husband Geoff Callan
Shaken, Stirred, and Sushi’d… Trendy RA Sushi’s 4th Annual Nicky’s Week Raises Over $132k for St. Jude
Hip-n-yummy RA Sushi Bar Restaurant held its 4th Annual “Nicky’s Week” fundraiser in late May, with all 19 locations participating. Created in memory of Nicholas “Nicky” Mailliard (nephew of one of RA’s founders, Rich Howland), the annual event benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where Nicky was a longtime patient. At RA’s Las Vegas location, where more than $5,500 was raised, pioneer celeb profiler Robin Leach was pitted against Mayor Oscar Goodman in a celebrity bartending competition. Music and cocktail shakers rocked as the duo battled it out, wowing the lively and generous Vegas patrons with their newfound skill set…though we presume both will keep their day jobs. Congrats on a great event!
Robin Leach and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman
Photo: Preferred Public Relations & Marketing
