A Rosie Outlook on Giving

TV host Rosie O’Donnell gives her all for her charity

Not long after The Rosie O’Donnell Show made its television debut, its host was dubbed one of the

“least kissable” people in America by the makers of Scope mouthwash.

Scope’s publicity stunt backfired, however, when rival Listerine mouthwash offered to donate $1,000 for each kiss Ms. O’Donnell received on her show toward the establishment of her new charity.

Warner-Lambert, Listerine’s manufacturer, ended up contributing $500,000 to Rosie’s For All Kids Foundation, as star after star planted kisses on Ms. O’Donnell during their appearances on her show. The company gained months of positive publicity from the Listerine Kiss-Off campaign, while Ms. O’Donnell got firsthand confirmation of what a powerful fund-raising tool television can be.

Five years later, the For All Kids Foundation, a national grant-making charity in Allendale, N.J., that supports child-care organizations, has raised a total of $50-million. And Ms. O’Donnell has helped dozens of other charities increase their budgets and visibility, while also prodding other celebrities to become more generous.

Much of the money raised by the For All Kids Foundation since its start can be traced back to Ms. O’Donnell, either through her personal donations, the promotional and other fees she declined that were donated, or other corporate gifts that she helped prompt. “The truth is, we wouldn’t have one penny if it weren’t for Rosie,” says Eileen Holden, the charity’s director of communications and development.

Raised in modest circumstances in New York, Ms. O’Donnell is considered by many observers in the entertainment industry, and in philanthropy, to be among the most charitable celebrities in the United States. Fortune magazine, which in September estimated Ms. O’Donnell’s worth at $115-million, labeled her “too generous,” noting that she might have made the publication’s list of the 40 wealthiest Americans under age 40 if she didn’t waive so much potential income. The No. 40 slot on the list went to Tiger Woods, whose worth was estimated at $160-million.

“I’ve been very good at making money, and I give it away very easily, which is very unnerving for my business manager,” says Ms. O’Donnell, who will turn 40 in March. “There’s a line there where you say, Is it compassion or is it compulsion? I don’t know. I just feel like it’s my responsibility.”

Ms. O’Donnell says she is committed to continuing her charitable role, even as she brings her show to a close in May. The adoptive mother of three young children and a foster parent to a fourth, Ms. O’Donnell says she is ending The Rosie O’Donnell Show so that she can spend more time with her kids and to possibly become a foster mother to more children.

“There’s no way I’ll be able to recapture that vast audience,” she concedes. “But I’m still going to be involved in children’s issues, to continue the foundation, and to raise money for it in any way that I can.”

Millions of Viewers

For the next six months, one of the most coveted opportunities for business and charity executives alike will continue to be the chance to make the opening announcement on Ms. O’Donnell’s show. The announcer introduces the day’s guests, and briefly chats with Ms. O’Donnell. For those connected with a charity, it is a chance to tell Ms. O’Donnell — and millions of viewers — about their work. Business executives get to promote their latest product, usually with the understanding that they will also announce a charitable donation.

“Getting mentioned on Rosie’s show is like being on Oprah’s book list,” says Elizabeth Woolfe, director of education at the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations, which provides information about the disease. Ms. O’Donnell, who has featured the group on her show, was 10 when her mother died of breast cancer. “Her effect on the general public is tremendous,” Ms. Woolfe says. “If she tells women to get a mammogram, they’ll get a mammogram. Her word is invaluable.”

On one recent show, the chief executive officer of LeapFrog, a company that makes computerized toys that help kids learn math, science, spelling, and other skills, showed off two new products, including a simple lap computer that teaches young children the alphabet. Then he announced that the company would donate 200 of the computers, as well as $50,000, to Toys for Tots, one of Ms. O’Donnell’s favorite charities.

“We’re basically being the Mafia, but for a good cause,” Ms. O’Donnell jokes.

After the show goes off the air, such promotional opportunities may also dry up.

Officials at the For All Kids charity, which distributes about $3-million a year in grants, say they are well prepared to deal with the change. Over the past five years, the organization has built a $33-million endowment, as well as an active advisory committee with several high-powered executives, including Michael Goldstein, the retired chief executive officer of Toys R Us, and Meg Whitman, president of eBay, the online auction company.

One advisory committee member, Brenda Barnes, former president of PepsiCola, North America, says that even after The Rosie O’Donnell Show ends, the charity’s biggest asset will continue to be Ms. O’Donnell herself. “I don’t think Rosie is the kind of person who will vanish from the face of the earth,” she says.

Adds Ms. O’Donnell, “There are lots of ways to raise money and awareness for charity.” In addition to promoting causes on her show, she also features the work of nonprofit groups in her monthly magazine, Rosie, and lists them on her Web site, http://www.rosieo.warnerbros.com. She also plans to donate to charity all profits from her autobiography, titled Find Me, which is due to be published by Warner Books next spring.

Rosie O’Doll

Outside of the salary she receives for her show, Ms. O’Donnell has almost always forgone fees, proceeds, and royalties from commercial ventures she is involved with, preferring that such money be given directly to charities instead. That has included money for her product endorsements and appearances on television shows such as Will & Grace and Hollywood Squares, and income from items such as her children’s books and compact disks.

A talking Rosie O’Doll, manufactured by Tyco, raised $3.8-million for the For All Kids Foundation. It was Tyco, which also manufactures the Tickle Me Elmo doll, that approached Ms. O’Donnell.

“Tyco felt that Rosie was at least partially responsible for the Elmo craze because Elmo has appeared on her show a lot,” Ms. Holden explains. “They wanted to give her a doll.” The Rosie O’Doll, which was introduced during the 1997 holiday shopping season, sold for $24.99, with $10 from each sale going to the foundation.

Since 1999, Ms. O’Donnell has also raised money for her charity through auctions on eBay. Guests on her show donate myriad items, such as coffee mugs, articles of clothing, or memorabilia, which are then put up for bid on her site. The auction page is maintained, free of charge, by eBay. The auctions, together with donations from eBay itself, have raised more than $2-million for the For All Kids Foundation, and continue to reap cash for the charity — a copy of the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, autographed by the cast of the movie, brought in more than $2,500, while a pair of autographed suede shoes from the actor Mel Gibson fetched $10,000.

Kmart, for whom Ms. O’Donnell made numerous television commercials for no pay, has donated $10-million to the For All Kids Foundation.

But not all donations are so hefty. The charity gets many small, unsolicited donations from individuals, says Ms. Holden. “We have donors sending in checks as birthday presents for their family members or because they happen to be a fan of Rosie,” says Ms. Holden.

$1-Million ‘Cover Charge’

Ms. O’Donnell’s own generosity stretches far beyond her own charity, though she is selective in the causes and organizations she supports.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, she donated $1-million to the American Red Cross’s relief efforts and $1-million to a fund to benefit the families of firefighters who were killed in the tragedy. Her annual White Rose fund-raising gala, which was held earlier this month in New York, raised an additional $2.2-million for families and children of emergency medical technicians, firefighters, and police officers who died in the attacks.

But Ms. O’Donnell declined to participate in the star-studded Tribute to Heroes telethon, which raised $150-million in pledges for the September 11th Telethon Fund. The reason: Telethon organizers did not meet her request that each participating celebrity be required to contribute a $1-million “cover charge” before going on the air to ask the public to give.

“To me, what a statement it would have made if they had been able to say, ‘We have $50-million to start,’” Ms. O’Donnell says. “I don’t understand why celebrities feel it’s philanthropic to simply show up, when it’s not, in my mind.”

Ms. O’Donnell holds the For All Kids charity she started to similarly high standards. Before awarding grants, particularly large ones, her For All Kids Foundation routinely requires charities to provide information on the socioeconomic composition of the neighborhood it serves; the group’s history; details on the management, staff, and board of directors; a financial history; audited tax statements; and tax filings.

“Then, we’ll go out and perform a site visit,” says Michael E. Smith, the executive director.

“It’s a lengthy courtship,” says Leslie Janes, director of development at the Carol Robertson Center for Learning, in Chicago, which received a $280,000 grant to help build and equip a new infant-toddler wing in its child-care facility as part of an effort to expand its services. She adds, “Laying our plan out on paper for the foundation helped us to think about how we were growing, and what it entailed to be a family resource center and to serve children that young.”

Daniel Langan, a former investigator with a charity watchdog group, says Ms. O’Donnell’s organization may be “unsurpassed among charities operated by celebrities when it comes to thoroughly investigating potential grantees.” He notes that the For All Kids Foundation ended its support of Hale House, a once-respected Harlem-based children’s charity, more than two years ago, long before a series of news articles reported numerous alleged financial improprieties at the organization. The For All Kids Foundation had given Hale House a $50,000 grant in 1998, based on the charity’s reputation, but Ms. O’Donnell says that a subsequent internal analysis raised red flags about possible misuse of funds.

“When I started the foundation, I knew of a lot of celebrity charities that were not run efficiently,” she says. “I knew we had to have a very rigorous vetting process.”

As with many celebrity organizations, the board of directors of the For All Kids Foundation is composed of people who are close to Ms. O’Donnell, including a sister, and her business manager, Daniel Crimmins. But the board works closely with the 11-member advisory committee, says Mr. Goldstein, who serves on the committee, and no one on either the board or the advisory committee is paid.

Gift ‘Clearinghouse’

Ms. O’Donnell says she started her charity with two simple goals in mind: to help kids and to help donors looking for a place to give.

“When the show started I would talk about different organizations and people would call and say, ‘Where do I give the money?’” she says. “I decided to make a foundation that was basically a clearinghouse to fund existing charities.”

The For All Kids Foundation has awarded 800 grants totaling $13.3-million over the last five years to grass-roots charities that provide child care, education, and other services to needy kids.

Unlike many grant-making organizations, the For All Kids Foundation welcomes unsolicited proposals, says Mr. Smith, the executive director. “We had 2,500 requests last year, and every single one was reviewed.” He says 200 grants were awarded, adding, “The only way you get bounced without consideration is if you have nothing to do with children.”

Most of the charity’s grants range in size from $5,000 to $20,000. But in 1999, the organization began expanding its support of charities that provide child care through its Child Care Collaborative program, which awards grants averaging $250,000 to organizations that operate day-care centers in inner cities. The money is used to renovate existing centers or build new ones. The large, “Cutie Patootie” grants are followed by smaller program grants, distributed over three years, to help ensure that the centers are able to continue to provide high-quality care and education.

Such a program was much needed, says Lenette Azzi-Lessing, executive director of Children’s Friend and Service, in Providence, R.I., which runs a day-care center for 50 infants and toddlers. The group received a $150,000 capital grant from For All Kids to help build a new state-of-the-art center that includes special equipment for handicapped children, as well as developmentally appropriate toys.

“Facilities are one of the biggest barriers to child care,” Ms. Azzi-Lessing says, “especially in low-income communities, where there isn’t a lot of housing that can be renovated because of issues of asbestos, fire safety, and handicap accessibility.”

She adds, “You can have the best program in the world, but if you don’t have a facility that can pass licensing regulations and is warm and inviting and safe for children, it really doesn’t matter.”

Another way in which the For All Kids Foundation differs from other grant-making charities is that it does not try to foist its own vision or project on its grantees, says Corinne M. Mohrmann, the executive director of St. Vincent’s Day Home, in Oakland, Calif., which received a $265,000 Cutie Patootie grant from Ms. O’Donnell’s organization.

“Most foundations want sexy programs; they want bigger and better,” Ms. Mohrmann says. “The people at For All Kids are not philosophical about what they want their money to do. They’re very practical. They want to make sure you’re capable of doing what you do best, and of taking your own project forward.”

Once selected as a For All Kids grant recipient, unexpected perks often follow, says Elaine Draeger, executive director of Sheltering Arms, an Atlanta charity that has provided child-care services to struggling working families since 1888.

The charity has received numerous grants from the For All Kids Foundation, including $40,000 to pay for a minibus and $240,000 to expand its child-care facilities, but the benefits didn’t end there.

“The folks from her show called one day and said, ‘Rosie’s going to have Mr. Whipple on today, and there’s going to be some Charmin donated. Can you guys use some?’” Ms. Draeger recalls. “The next thing we know, there’s an 18-wheeler pulling up loaded with toilet paper. We were distributing Charmin all over metro Atlanta. And still to this day she is sending little boxes of wonderful things every once in a while.”

Fame for Good

For her part, Ms. O’Donnell says she believes her desire to help groups such as Sheltering Arms stems from a childhood yearning to help her own ailing mother.

“My mom loved Barbra Streisand, and when my mom got sick with cancer I remember thinking, If this were Barbra Streisand’s mother, Barbra Streisand would go on the Johnny Carson show and everybody would send in a dollar to help cure her mother,” Ms. O’Donnell says. “I knew there was power and money in fame, and I innately knew that it could be used for good.”

Even as her show ends, Ms. O’Donnell says, she will continue to be a vocal advocate for children. She plans to move with her four kids to a home she owns in Miami, where she says she hopes to become more involved in finding ways to improve Florida’s foster-care system.

“I think I’m a social worker at heart,” Ms. O’Donnell says. “I just got sidetracked into show business.”

ROSIE’S FOR ALL KIDS FOUNDATION

History: Established in 1997 by Rosie O’Donnell as a grant-making charity to assist grass-roots groups that provide day care, education, and a safe environment to needy children.

Grants: The foundation expects to distribute $3-million in 2002.

Assets: $33-million.

Key officials: Rosie O’Donnell, president; Michael E. Smith, executive director.

Application procedures: The organization accepts unsolicited proposals from charities that serve children, with a priority given to groups that provide child-care services to infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children. Organizations may not receive more than one grant per year.

Address: P.O. Box 225, Allendale, N.J. 07401; (201) 934-5567

World-Wide Web site: http://rosieo.warnerbros.com/rosieo/allkids/allkids.htm

ROSIE O’DONNELL PRODUCTS THAT HAVE SUPPORTED CHARITY

GRANTS AWARDED BY ROSIE’S FOR ALL KIDS FOUNDATION IN 2001: A SAMPLING