Star Struck or Struck Out? The Pros and Cons of Celebrities and Nonprofits

For nonprofits looking to expand their charitable giving, a little star power can go a long way. But if not chosen carefully, the wrong celebrity – or the wrong cause – can have you and your organization seeing stars.

There’s been a lot of talk over whether or not an association with celebrities –from Justin Bieber to President Obama – help or hurt charitable organizations and their ability to raise money. On one hand, a celebrity’s star-status all but guarantees that their legions of fans will at least become familiar with your organization’s cause. Perhaps, with the proper mix of traditional and social media marketing, familiarity can grow into fundability? That seems to be the presumed thinking, at least.

Too often, however, nonprofits and celebrities find themselves in less-than-ideal marriages where a host of problems arise ranging from the cost of retaining a superstar. Think Oprah’s and Rosie O’Donnell’s charities, whose overhead costs were eating into donations. Or the ethics of accepting donations from a star like Mel Gibson whose light continues to dim following repeated alcohol-fueled anti-Semitic rants and rumors of domestic violence. Last summer Gibson reportedly gave $25,000 to a battered women’s shelter in Boston. While the organization ultimately accepted the donation, the shelter’s director said it was unlikely the board would accept another gift from Gibson any time soon. At least the “guilt money” was put to good use.

Overpriced and overexposed celebrities aside, earlier this summer Mashable.com, in its own look at the power and pitfalls of celebrities and nonprofits, praised teen idol Justin Bieber and his work with Pencils of Promise, an organization that builds schools and increases educational opportunities in the developing world. Well known for his millions of tween-tweeting followers, Bieber directed his fans to begin raising money in their schools to help bring educational equipment and tools to those regions. The school that raised the most money would win a visit from the Biebs himself. The bottom line, Bieber’s interest in the cause is genuine and that’s exactly what donors are looking for. Founded in 2008 by longtime Bieber friend Adam Braun, (his brother is Bieber’s manager) the pair envisioned their “Schools 4 all” campaign while rooming together on a trip to Africa.

Pencils of Promise also hasn’t oversold their mascot – a valuable lesson for any nonprofit. A click on Pencil’s homepage shows no immediate Bieber blast. In fact, I even had to re-Google the terms: “Bieber” and “Pencils of Promise” to confirm that he was really onboard. He is. In 2010 the charity raised $300,000 in donated goods and services.

Thankfully for nonprofits, social media savvy Bieber is not alone.

Beyond Bieber, President Barack Obama has gotten involved with The “It Gets Better Project,” founded in 2010 to help LGBT teens reach adulthood knowing they’re not alone in their personal identity struggles. The project gained notoriety when the President delivered a 3-minute video blog post from the White House website, discussing the tragedy of several teens who had taken their own lives. Also posted on YouTube, the video has been seen by some 1.5 million people.

It Gets Better has also recruited celebrities like Collin Farrell, Ellen DeGeneres, Sarah Silverman, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and even the quasi-celeb staffs of Facebook, The Gap, and Pixar to post web videos with the nonprofit’s main message: It does get better. Better than that, thousands of non-celebrities have been inspired to post their own unique messages and stories with the goal of helping other teens. If you thought the president’s video view count was impressive consider this: It Gets Better videos – some of which link to The Trevor Project, a related outreach nonprofit that works to prevent LGBT suicide – have been seen by some 30 million people.

The bottom line: For a campaign and their celebrity pairing to be a success the celebrity needs to:

• Genuinely care about the particular cause
• Physically attend events
• Not oversell or over market the nonprofit in question; the cause is the real star
• Articulate their passions without charging their parent charities an arm and a leg for their presence

And finally, make certain the cause you are promoting matches your celebrity. Like the case of Mel Gibson, mismatching the celebrity and the cause can appear at best disingenuous and at worst, financially disastrous.

Early fall is an ideal time for nonprofits to begin organizing their celebrity-hitched campaigns and causes. The holiday season is often nonprofit’s busiest time of year, with donations and sponsors peaking during the week between Christmas and New Years.

So with barely eight weeks until Black Friday – the season’s unofficial kickoff – the time to prepare is now.

Ready, set, celebrity, GO!