Rosie's Theater Kids Joins Newman's Own Foundation $500K Holiday Challenge

Rosie's Theater Kids has joined the Newman's Own Foundation $500K Holiday Challenge, a fundraising competition on CrowdRise, the largest crowdfunding platform for good.

Newman's Own Foundation $500K Holiday Challenge is a friendly fundraising campaign for eligible US-based 501(c)3 charities. Participating organizations will compete for half of one million dollars in prize money.

Rosie's Theater Kids has joined the challenge on CrowdRise in hopes of raising money to support comprehensive musical theater training and academic support services for Title I NYC public school students through our PS BROADWAY and ACTE II (A Commitment to Excellence) programs.

Founded in 2003 by Rosie O'Donnell and Lori Klinger, Rosie's Theater Kids is a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of underserved students through the arts with both in-school and after-school programming. Its scholarship program, ACTE II (A Commitment to Excellence), serves students from Title 1 NYC public schools with free, conservatory-style training in musical theater from 6th through 12th grade after school at MARAVEL ARTS CENTER, RTKids' headquarters at 445 West 45th Street. The program's motto - "We're rehearsing for life" - is evident in its ACTE II offerings from performing arts instruction, to life skills development, academic tutoring and a home-away-from-home environment.

To date, Rosie's Theater Kids programs have impacted 65,000 NYC school students from grades pre-K through 12, many of whom have never had the opportunity to see a Broadway show or experience the thrill of seeing live performances. Its in-school program, PS BROADWAY reaches almost 1,300 fifth graders across 17 Title One public elementary schools annually, offering 15 weeks of introductory musical theater classes and tickets to a Broadway show. In 2015, Rosie's Theater Kids won the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award at The White House, recognizing the organization as one of the top creative youth development programs in the country.

"RTKids has always been a source of joy for me," says Rosie O'Donnell, "The holiday challenge is such a great way to help us spread the #celebratethejoy message so that these programs can continue year after year for these amazing kids."

The Newman's Own Foundation $500K Holiday Challenge launched on CrowdRise on November 21, 2017 at 12pm ET and runs through January 3, 2018 at 1:59pm ET. There are 10 grand prizes up for grabs with the team that raises the most online winning $150,000 and 10th place winning $2,500. Today, on #GivingTuesday, an additional $85,000 will be awarded to the top 3 charities. Plus, weekly Bonus Challenges enable charities to win up to another $115,000.

CrowdRise Challenges are innovative fundraising competitions for charitable organizations designed to build capacity, create massive engagement and leverage, and use the power of the crowd to provide new meaningful funding streams for organizations in every sector.

To help Rosie's Theater Kids win the Newman's Own Foundation $500K Holiday Challenge head to www.crowdrise.com/rtkidscelebratethejoy/fundraiser/rtkids.

Rosie's Theater Kids was founded in 2003 to address the dearth of arts education programming for underserved New York City public school students. RTKids serves students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to experience theater, positively changing the trajectory of their lives through comprehensive musical theater classes, thoughtful mentorship, and academic support services. Our goal is to inspire excellence, motivate learning, uplift the human spirit, build confidence, and spark a lifelong appreciation of the arts.

Newman's Own Foundation is celebrating 35 years of giving and $500 million to thousands of charities, helping millions of people. As Paul Newman would say, "giving back is just the right thing to do."

Newman's Own Foundation was founded by the late actor Paul Newman to continue his philanthropic legacy and help make the world a better place. The Foundation turns all net profits and royalties from the sale of Newman's Own food and beverage products into charitable donations. For more information, visit www.newmansownfoundation.org.

CrowdRise is the world's largest crowdfunding platform dedicated exclusively to charitable fundraising. Used by millions of individuals, tens of thousands of charities, hundreds of companies and many of the most famous artists and athletes in the world, CrowdRise enables people to creatively leverage their resources and networks to unlock the power of the crowd to support positive social missions and create massive impact.

Founded by actor Edward Norton, film producer Shauna Robertson and Robert and Jeffrey Wolfe, CrowdRise has conceived, implemented and powered campaigns that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to date. For more information visit www.CrowdRise.com. In January 2017, CrowdRise merged with GoFundMe to offer both people and organizations the best fundraising tools for any cause they care passionately about.