Celeb Charity Fundraising: OMG Unites Stars, Super Fans, Social

aNewDomain — Actor J.W.Cortes is fighting suicide among US military veterans, and he’s come up with an innovative way to do it.

“I’ve participated in several fundraising projects for veteran causes,” Cortes told aNewDomain this week. “My OMG campaign to fight veteran suicide is different because it offers my social media followers an incentive to participate. It has a personal feel to it.”

For his social-backed fundraising efforts, which will benefit the Spartan Alliance and its StopVetSuicides.us initiative, the US Marine combat veteran and “Gotham” star is utilizing a new fundraising platform called OhMyGood (OMG).

What’s OMG? Think of it as a charity fundraising engine on steroids, says Bob Jones, who is the founder of Give.Mobi LLC and one of OMG’s creators.

OMG “generates high-profile social media campaigns for non-profit organizations and the celebrities who back them,” Jones added. “Combining celebrities, plus sweepstakes, mobile engagement and social media fanbases to create “hyper effective fundraising mechanism for charities,” he added.

“It’s a recipe that blows away traditional charity/cause fundraising. because it takes advantage of the dynamic between a celebrity and his or her social media fan base, at no cost to them and all for a good cause, said Jones. For their part, participating fans get the opportunity to personally engage with a favorite celeb, which is “a beautiful and compelling trade-off,” he added.

Typically, an OMG campaign encourages celeb fans to “enter to win” a personal live video chat with the designated celebrity at the conclusion of the campaign.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver recently led a four-day OMG campaign, in which his Phoenix-based fans were offered chances to win game tickets and a signed jersey via Facebook and Twitter. They responded generously, giving more than $6,000 to Fitzgerald’s charity of choice, his own First Down Fund.

Retired NBA star Tracy Mc Grady is also in on the act. McGrady’s OMG campaign is to raise $105 million to help black colleges and universities (HCBUs) provide more scholarships to would-be students. On behalf of the official HBCU GIVE 105 Initiative, TMac hopes to launch several additional OMG campaigns featuring celebrity alumni of such institutions.

“We’re looking for fundraising challenges far more creative and far-reaching than what traditional charity raising banquets and golf tournaments can accommodate,” says OMG cofounder, Ron Siegenthaler, who also is Give.Mobi LLC’s chairman.

As for Cortes, he’s hoping other celebs who have also served in the military will take notice. His online OMG campaign will continue until Nov. 15.

For aNewDomain, I’m Gina Smith.

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