Charlize Theron Among Stars Joining Today's '#GivingTuesday Movement'

Charlize Theron and the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) are teaming up with the Center for Living Peace to raise funds for CTAOP's mission to keep African youth safe from HIV.  Every donation made to CTAOP on #GivingTuesday will be matched by the Center for Living Peace (up to $10,000).

Grammy Award winning band, Linkin Park, and Music for Relief are premiering a new video cut to one of their song to help tell the story of energy poverty and are asking their fans to be a part of the solution. The band is asking fans to share the video with friends and to make a donation as a unique holiday gift to friends and family this season to provide clean energy solutions for people who have no access to electricity.

Marie Osmond, co-founder of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, is the face of the charity's new holiday fundraising program: GiveMiracles.org. Marie will be talking up #GivingTuesday during a number of confirmed media interviews promoting the Donny and Marie Christmas Show on Monday, November 26. She'll explain how for as little as $10 or as much as $12 million, #GivingTuesday do-gooders can choose the perfect pediatric gift for their local Children's Miracle Network Hospital on GiveMiracles.org.

Steve Nash,  Los Angeles Lakers point guard is urging fans and friends of the Steve Nash Foundation, which helps children to access critical health and education resources, to support the United Nations Foundation's Nothing But Netscampaign this #GivingTuesday.

Victoria Justice will announce a GirlRaiser challenge for Girl Up on Social Media and via a Huffington Post Impact blog that will run on November 21.  This GirlRaiser will have a goal of raising $20,000 for Girl Up in order to provide girls abroad with the tools they need to go to school, be healthy, stay safe, and become leaders. To further incentivize participation, a new single and music video "Girl Up," will be released when the goal is met.

Susan Sarandon will be featured by MSN on its Causes page on Nov. 27, #GivingTuesday, as part of her support for Heifer International. The Q&A with the Academy Award-winning actress delves into her reasons for giving to Heifer International, as well as her own gift-giving traditions. MSN Causes enables easy ways to give and shares inspiring stories about people who have changed the world through their generosity.

Penelope Cruz and La Tienda's Campaign For Spain are raising much needed funds for the Federation of Spanish Food Banks. The organization is asking everyone to be a part of #GivingTuesday and remember those in need.

Oxfam America will be enlisting the help of a few key celebrity ambassadors to promote #GivingTuesday and Oxfam's gift-giving program, Oxfam Unwrapped. Actors Kristin Davis, Djimon Hounsou, and Minnie Driver, among others, will be spreading the word about #GivingTuesday by sharing the message of "You are what you give."

Entertainment giant WWE, which recently formed an alliance with Nothing But Nets to smackdown malaria in Africa, will be tweeting about #GivingTuesday across its Twitter channels. WWE's social media platforms reach more than 115 million fans and followers worldwide.
Ethan Zohn, winner of CBS's Survivor: Africa and co-host of ABC's Everyday Health will be supporting the #GivingTuesday campaign of Grassroot Soccer, the organization he helped co-found. Grassroot Soccer uses the power of soccer, the world's most popular sport, to educate, inspire, and mobilize young people and communities against HIV and AIDS. Zohn helped found the organization in 2002 after playing professional soccer in Zimbabwe and seeing firsthand the devastating effects of the disease. For #GivingTuesday, Zohn will be using the power of social media to promote a one-day special donation blitz on behalf of the organization.

Kevin Bacon, Ryan Reynolds, Cee Lo Green, Danny DeVito, and other celebrities are teaming up to make the Celebrity Bookends famous. A random set of bookends are traveling the world to meet famous people and do famous things in an attempt to give them enough celebrity status to help benefit schoolchildren in Guatemala. Along with the awareness that celebrity icons can garner for their cause, these Celebrity Bookends and their team will attempt to monetize their someday celebrity status and be sold for one million dollars for #GivingTuesday partner Cooperative for Education.

Toni Collette partnered with Concern Worldwide U.S. in a campaign to make hunger history. The campaign, Concern for Hunger, asks people to support Concern's work to treat and prevent malnutrition in the world's poorest countries. You can watch Toni Collette's PSA against hunger here. Toni Collette has contributed an exclusive blog on the fight against hunger and a call to action for #GivingTuesday and the holiday season to the Huffington Post. It might also be worth noting thatToni Collette is part of the all-star cast of Hitchcock, which is set to release on November 23.

Mike Farrell, the actor and longtime human rights activist, is supporting Just Detention International's Words of Hope Holiday campaign, which will launch on #GivingTuesday. Now in its third year, Words of Hope invites people to reach out directly to some of the most marginalized and forgotten people in our society: survivors of prisoner rape. Mike Farrell will himself send a card to a survivor behind bars and will lend his name and voice to encourage others to do so as well.

Andres Levin, American/Venezuelan Grammy Winner, composer, producer and philanthropist, joins Arcangeles as an Ambassador for our cause spreading the word on empowering vulnerable communities, especially those living with a disability. Levin, along with his Non Profit 'Music Has No Enemies', will usher the entertainment industry toward the widespread promotion of philanthropy and the importance of giving to communities living in conditions of exclusion.

Award-winning actor of stage and screen Joe Mantegna has been a longtime advocate for U.S servicemen and women, veterans and his Italian heritage. This is one reason he has supported the good work of the Sons of Italy Foundation (SIF) for many years. The SIF raises money for cultural preservation programs and veteran's/wounded warrior organizations, among other causes. Active year-round lending support to causes that are dear to him, Joe will tweet for the Sons of Italy Foundation on #GivingTuesday, encouraging charitable giving among his many followers.

For a complete list of #GivingTuesday partners, please visit www.givingtuesday.org.

How #GivingTuesday was Born: Seeing an opportunity to channel the generous spirit of the holiday season to inspire action around charitable giving, a group of friends, partners and philanthropy experts, led by the 92nd Street Y, came together to find ways to promote and celebrate the great American tradition of giving. Thought leaders in philanthropy, social media and grassroots organizing joined with 92nd Street Y to explore what is working in modern philanthropy and how to expand these innovations throughout the philanthropic sector. The concept gained steam, and by bringing together a group of founding partners—including the United Nations Foundation, DonorsChoose.org, Mashable, Blackbaud, charity: water, GlobalGiving, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Kiva, Darden Restaurant Group, Groupon, Unilever, the Case Foundation, United Way and VentureThree Capital—a nationwide series of discussions helped inform the #GivingTuesday approach and built the movement. Each week over the Summer and Fall of 2012, new organizations joined the movement and offered creative ways people could embrace #GivingTuesday and collaborate in giving efforts to create more meaningful results.

A team of influencers has been advising #GivingTuesday organizers to discuss the innovative ways that people are approaching giving during challenging economic times, along with how Americans can give smarter and use new media to encourage positive change in their communities. Currently, more than 1,000 corporate and nonprofit organizations have committed to participate in the initiative. #GivingTuesday is endorsed by Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, Dorothy A. Johnson Center on Philanthropy, Giving Institute, Giving USA Foundation and InterAction. Charity Navigator and GuideStar are serving as Charity Advisors. VolunteerMatch is a volunteer advisor to #GivingTuesday.    

About #GivingTuesday
#GivingTuesday is a movement to celebrate giving and provide incentives to give. It will begin with a national day of giving on November 27, 2012. This first-of-its-kind effort harnesses the collective power of a unique blend of partners—charities, families, businesses and individuals—to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season.  

#GivingTuesday is inspiring people to take collaborative action to improve their local communities, to give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they celebrate and to help create a better world. #GivingTuesday is harnessing the power of social media to create a national moment around the holidays that is dedicated to giving, similar to the way Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become days that are synonymous with holiday shopping.

A team of recognized experts and influencers, initially convened by leaders of 92nd Street Y and supported by a core group of founding partners, are spearheading this effort. Founding partners include United Nations Foundation, Case Foundation, DonorsChoose.org, Mashable, Blackbaud, charity: water, GlobalGiving, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Kiva, Darden Restaurant Group, Groupon, Unilever and VentureThree Capital. Leaders in philanthropy, social media, innovative giving, grassroots organizing, marketing and communications are providing counsel and resources to help build this movement.