When you’re as big a star as Beyonce, you can pick and choose your gigs, and that includes what causes you lend your money (and fame) to. 

The star's latest philanthropic engagement is with Goodwill. The charity will collect donations at stops on Beyonce's Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, with proceeds from the sale of the items going towards Goodwill efforts to help unfortunate individuals find jobs. In further collaboration with CharityBuzz.com, ticket packages to the tour will be auctioned, with all proceeds going to Goodwill. 

Earlier this month, Bey partnered with mom Tina Knowles and sister Solange for an initiative called "Miss A Meal," where the family called on others to miss a meal and donate the money to charity. In February, Beyonce joined Salma Hayek Pinault and Frida Giannini to promote Chime For Change, an organization founded by Gucci to promote education, health and justice for girls and women around the world.

In the past, Beyonce has co-founded the Survivor Foundation to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, holding food drives during her 2006 tour. In 2005, her ambassadorship for World Children’s Day led to the release of “Stand Up For Love,” the anthem for the annual event to raise awareness and funds for children’s causes. She has supported 23 charities and foundations in all.Continue reading...

Want to help out a U.S. Veteran? PepsiCo does, and they’ve just announced their second $500,000 donation to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), through Dream Machine recycling kiosks, as seen above.

The national program offers career training, education and job creation for post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities, powered by you.Continue reading...

U-Haul was founded by World War II Navy vet L.S. "Sam" Shoen and his wife Anna Mary Carty Shoen. Even if there have been some major family troubles along the way, the company has never forgotten its roots.

The company will sponsor today’s Veterans Day Parade in New York City. It has “designed and dedicated five vibrant military SuperGraphics (to put on its parade trucks) to honor the five branches of the military — Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard, and to show our support for the men and women who have served and are still proudly serving in the armed services,” according to a company release.

The company will also pay tribute to those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, as well during the course of the parade. Spectators along the route will also receive small flags as well as “Support Our Troops” ribbon magnets, the release states.Continue reading...

There are many good reasons that Aflac this week dismissed Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of the Aflac duck for his remarks about the crisis in Japan. And they merely started with the insensitivity of his comments.

Another reason is that Japan is where it does the bulk of its business, making the nation the most important market for Aflac’s life and health insurance policies — much more so than the company’s other market, the United States. While Gottfried was not the voice of the Aflac duck in Japan, the Columbus, Georgia-based company needed to be especially sensitive to any harm his remarks might have caused in that beleaguered country.

As its website notes, "Aflac is the number one insurance company in Japan in terms of individual policies in force and the largest foreign insurer in Japan in terms of premium income. Aflac Japan also ranks first in the number of individual policies in force among all of Japan's life insurers and is the fifth most profitable foreign company in any industry in Japan."Continue reading...

A new video effort is seeking to bring relief to Haitians, but not of the We are the World variety produced in February to spur global support for earthquake disaster relief.

An original soap opera is now being produced with United Nations funding for Haitians living in the sprawling Port-au-Prince camps. The TV series aims to educate and entertain the displaced masses who have no access to TV or radio, and to fill huge gaps in communication from the Haitian government.

Under the Sky, billed as a comedic soap opera, follows a fictional family of five forced to move into the camps after losing their home.Continue reading...

When you consider the devastating environmental impact of the oil spill off the Louisiana coast, branding isn't the first thing that comes to mind. But, as we noted previously, the damage it is doing to BP's brand image is potentially equally disastrous.

On the other hand, the brand image of Dawn, Procter and Gamble's dishwashing liquid, is sure to be buoyed by the calamity.

P&G is now producing more bottles of Dawn and rushing it from a Kansas City plant to the Gulf region. The reason: For thirty years, Dawn has been used to help save wildlife from the toxic effects of oil, as we reported in a brand profile late last year.

The International Bird Rescue Research Center is involved in the clean-up operation, helping to run a BP-funded wildlife rehabilitation center in the area.

Jay Holcomb, IBRRC's executive director, tells Audubon, "IBRRC has conducted research on most of the commonly available cleaning agents and 'Dawn' meets all the criteria we have established for appropriate cleaning agents."Continue reading...