|
EIF SNAPSHOT – AUGUST 2021 |
|
FROM OUR PRESIDENT & CEO |
|
Dear Friends,
|
|
The work that we’ve done together during the last year has demonstrated our resilience in the face of a global crisis. Whether offering financial assistance to our colleagues in the entertainment industry who’ve faced hardship, supporting frontline workers whose heroic efforts continue to lift us up, promoting mental health strategies to combat anxiety and isolation, or addressing the need to keep women safe from violence in their homes, our approach to the unique needs that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed us to sharpen our focus and strategy around crisis response.
|
|
Recognizing the significance of the entertainment industry’s collective impact during a crisis, our friends at City National Bank stepped forward to serve as Defy:Disaster’s title sponsor. Their generous investment allows us to provide resources and critical information to the entertainment community during a time of crisis. Whether responding to the COVID-19 pandemic or the fires burning across the West, Defy:Disaster has become an important resource upon which our industry can rely to create meaningful impact when it's needed most.
|
|
We are grateful to our philanthropic partners, who never wavered from their mission over the last year, but instead, used the pandemic to accelerate their work and lend a hand to more people in need than ever before.
|
|
Thank you for your continued support of our programs and initiatives. We couldn’t do it without you.
|
|
-Nicole Sexton |
|
|
|
|
|
LIVE TELEVISED EVENT |
|
Stand Up To Cancer 2021 Telecast |
|
On Saturday, August 21, the entertainment community will come together for Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) and its seventh biennial roadblock televised fundraising special, supporting urgently needed research and new treatments for cancer.
|
|
This year’s show will air on Saturday, August 21 at 8 p.m. ET & PT / 7 p.m. CT. Academy Award®-winning actress Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth, a media industry entrepreneur and investor, will come on board as co-executive producers, working alongside the renowned live-event producing team Done + Dusted and Stand Up To Cancer’s production team. Anthony Anderson, Ken Jeong & Tran Ho, and Sofia Vergara will also join as cohosts. Common and Brittany Howard are the first of many to be announced as performers during the special evening. |
|
LEARN MORE...
|
|
|
|
|
Our Greatest Strengths Are Our Differences |
|
|
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT |
|
DELIVERING JOBS |
|
Delivering Jobs was created to forge one million employment and leadership opportunities by 2025 for the 81% of people with autism, intellectual and/or developmental differences who do not have a paying job. Our partnership with Autism Speaks, Best Buddies, and Special Olympics challenges all businesses to identify ways they can incorporate this untapped workforce into their diversity and inclusion plans and provides the tools for human resources professionals to invest in the long-term success of these, and all, employees.
|
|
As the nation’s workforce realigns this year, every business is offered an opportunity to change and improve hiring practices. Partnerships with Lee Container and the National Association of Manufacturing (NAM), which represents 14,000 companies across the U.S., have inspired other businesses in the manufacturing sector to pledge to hire more inclusively. Ambassadors including NBA player Ricky Rubio, of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Holly Robinson Peete, RJ Peete and the HollyRod Foundation, Joey Travolta and Inclusion Films and athlete and actress Caley Versfelt have lent their voices and reach to help promote change.
|
|
Our current Delivering Jobs broadcast PSA, in partnership with Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Holly Robinson Peete, vastly expanded our audience for this campaign, which now exceeds 2.5 billion.
|
|
Change is happening within our entertainment community as many have committed to more depictions and inclusive casting of people with disabilities. Please join us in hiring more inclusively through every sector of our industry.
|
|
LEARN MORE...
|
|
|
|
|
City National Bank Supports Defy:Disaster |
|
|
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT |
|
DEFY:DISASTER |
|
City National Bank pledged its commitment to support the entertainment industry’s disaster relief efforts with a $100,000 sponsorship of EIF’s Defy:Disaster program. Defy:Disaster serves as the entertainment community’s collective and immediate response to natural disasters, providing aid to survivors and communities affected by disasters to help them recover and rebuild. Serving as Defy:Disaster’s Title Sponsor, City National Bank’s funding will allow for growth of the program that provides guidance and infrastructure to the entertainment community during critical times of need.
|
|
Defy:Disaster has responded to more than 40 natural disasters, including the fires throughout California, the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricane relief. Last year, Defy:Disaster and its fund partners granted more than $10 million to beneficiaries, including providing living expenses to members of the entertainment community who lost income during the extended shutdown. In addition to funds for rent, groceries, and other bills for the unemployed, Defy:Disaster aided community health clinics, assisted with increased testing in underserved communities, and provided mental health services and training for frontline health workers.
|
|
Defy:Disaster is currently raising funds to ensure the safety of firefighters by securing helicopter helmets, bail-out kits used to rappel down the exterior of a building, and night vision goggles to identify hot spots in low light. |
|
LEARN MORE...
|
|
|
|
|
Jennifer Hudson's Hatch Day |
|
|
PHILANTHROPIC PARTNER SPOTLIGHT |
|
JULIAN D. KING GIFT FOUNDATION |
|
Jennifer Hudson and the Julian D. King Gift Foundation provides stability, support and positive experiences for children of all backgrounds to help enable them to grow to be productive, confident and happy adults. The foundation was named in honor of Jennifer’s nephew, Julian King.
|
|
Jennifer and her sister, Julia, founded Hatch Day to celebrate Julian’s birthday. He had a passion for learning and loved going to school. Hatch Day honors Julian’s memory by supporting Chicago students in need with school supplies to help prepare them for the year ahead.
|
|
Join us in supporting the 11th annual Hatch Day on August 14.
|
|
LEARN MORE...
|
|
|
|
|
|
HISTORIC RECOGNITION |
|
CDC Foundation Partnership |
|
The CDC Foundation recently recognized EIF for our partnership during the COVID-19 pandemic.
|
|
In February 2020, the EIF team initiated the placement of a national public service announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and the CDC Foundation to prepare Americans for the coronavirus crisis. Within two weeks of inception, a fully produced radio spot played nationwide on nearly two thousand stations to an audience of more than 396 million. The PSA was one of the very first about COVID-19, and the first for the CDC and the CDC Foundation.
|
|
Throughout the 12 months that this PSA aired, EIF ensured that it was updated to provide the most current information to the American public. In total, approximately $15 million in media was donated to disseminate this critical messaging. |
|
|
|
|
