Kevin Bacon's Nonprofit
Love 'em or hate 'em, celebrities draw attention. And now Kevin Bacon is trying to get more of them involved in charitable work. (We're convinced Liam Neeson's entire career has been a PSA for an anti-daughter stealing nonprofit.)
SixDegrees.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based nonprofit started by Kevin in 2007, launched an initiative this month to connect celebrities to charitable events and causes. Celebrities can browse an online database of nonprofit events and volunteer opportunities and they can pop in to show support, roll up their sleeves to volunteer, or give the organization a shout-out through social media. President Dan McCabe says the celebrity appearance is a huge morale boost to the staff and volunteers and brings awareness to the cause by attracting more people and the media.
Kevin, whose nonprofit originally started as a crowdfunding site for charities, recently popped in on a 5K race for veterans, and the selfie that he took with the crowd got the most Facebook likes of any photo he’s posted this year. (Close to 39,000 at last check.) Kevin’s appearance at the race is an example of how Dan hopes other celebrity appearances occur: Kevin was at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and had an hour to spare before press interviews. SixDegrees.org was able to locate a 5K race benefiting women vets and Kevin popped in to thank the troops and race winners. He also gave out “good cards,” which are pre-loaded donation cards that people can give to a charity of their choice.
Dan says a celebrity can range from famous actors to the community’s mayor or star athlete. The organization has a list of celebrities to start recruiting and others will be contacted directly by Kevin, here with his wife Kyra Sedgwick volunteering at a food bank. Dan says one of the biggest challenges is managing more organizations requesting a celebrity appearance than there are celebrities. Already over 100 nonprofits have put in requests. SixDegrees.org is also allowing people to suggest tweets that make it easy for a celebrity to get the word out about causes. Dan says celebrities don’t want to be limited to just galas, and once a few of them start participating, it will help recruit others.
