When the NHL playoffs get started, there have traditionally been a number of players who give up on shaving until their team gets knocked out of contention. The hope is that they will emerge a month or so after the postseason begins looking like Grizzly Adams and holding the Stanley Cup aloft.

Three seasons ago, some teams that made it into the playoffs began to get their own fans involved in the beard-growing fun, hosting Beard-a-Thons to raise money for local charities. So far, more than $1 million has been raised without any push from a national promotion. It was only a matter of time for a marketer to see an opportunity.

Now comes word that Just For Men Mustache & Beard has become the national sponsor of the program (though they go out of their way to say that women and nonbeard growers can get involved as well). As a result, the Beard-a-Thon will be integrated into Just For Men’s advertising on NBC during the playoffs, according to the release.

For those who can’t (or don’t want to) grow a beard, there is, of course, an app for that.Continue reading...

Two words — "Homeless Hotspots" — are causing an uproar in Austin, Texas. Billed as “a charitable experiment” by BBH, it's not part of the official South by Southwest Interactive agenda, but it's getting mixed reviews and lots of attention.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty's BBHLabs skunkworks unit partnered with Front Steps Shelter to equip homeless people with 4G MiFi devices to serve as walking hotspots or pay-per-use Wi-Fi purveyors for attendees at the SXSW Interactive conference now taking place in Austin, TX.

The experiment was to see how much SXSWi attendees would donate (suggested donation: $2 per 15 minutes) — assuming attendees didn't oppose the notion of fundraising via hotspots (vs., say, hot meals) for the homeless.Continue reading...

MasterCard is once again sponsoring the UN's Project Inspire 2012: 5 Minutes to Change the World, following the success of last year's campaign. 

Joined by the Singapore National Committee for UN Women and academic partner INSEAD, Project Inspire offers 18-35 year-olds a 5-minute platform to pitch an idea and win a $25,000 grant supporting an existing women’s empowerment program in Asia/Pacific, the Middle East or Africa, helping women and girls sustain livelihood through entrepreneurship.Continue reading...

As announced last month, Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, today launched the Born This Way Foundation, "a movement to celebrate individuality and empower young people," in a kick-off event at Harvard University. The event was streamed live with guests including Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra.

While more programs and partnerships are yet to be announced, one piece revealed was on-campus for the announcement: the "Born to be Brave" bus (at top) which will take the foundation's message across the U.S., including serving as a tailgating-like focal point for fans at Gaga's shows and "to serve as a place where youth can go to feel connected and learn about civic engagement opportunities."Continue reading...

IHOP celebrates its seventh annual National Pancake Day across the U.S. today, hoping to raise up to $3 million for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and other local charities. Laura Kaeppeler, the 2012 Miss America, is one of the celebrities (with NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young) helping to give away a short stack of Buttermilk Pancakes in one of America's biggest annual customer appreciation and corporate philanthropic efforts. 

Children's Miracle Network showed its appreciation for IHOP's fundraising efforts (nearly $8 million raised since 2006) on its blog today, where it comments that "we always hear about the warm feeling IHOP visitors get when they make a donation to our U.S. hospitals before heading back out for their day."

IHOP also is giving kids free seeds as part of its sponsorship of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, which is likely to be the new #1 movie after this weekend:Continue reading...

While the world’s best sprinters, hurdlers, and hammer throwers are fine-tuning themselves for this summer’s Olympic Games in London, there is a small army of big fluffy beasts that are doing the same.

But it’s for a totally different 100-meter race than the one that will find the world’s speediest man and woman wearing gold medals. This one is for charity mascots.Continue reading...

AP is reporting that Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world's leading breast-cancer organization, has accepted the resignation of Karen Handel, its SVP for public policy since April who was at the center of a firestorm after the Dallas-based non-profit pulled funding for breast-cancer screening to Planned Parenthood centers.

Handel, who's reportedly declining a severance package, was behind the pink-ribboned organization's recent policy to not give grants to any group under government investigation, a move that singled out Planned Parenthood — which is undergoing a Congressional inquiry into whether federal funds intended for reproductive education were being used for abortions. Komen last week reversed its decision and retinstated funding to Planned Parenthood, but still faced a backlash from breast cancer activists and others outraged at the politicizing of its brand.

Below, read Handel's resignation letter to Nancy Brinker, the founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which is named after her sister, in which she accepts responsibility for the defunding — but adds that it was in the works long before she joined Komen. Handel writes that "the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization."Continue reading...

Causes.com, founded in 2007 by Napster creator and Facebook co-founder Sean Parker and advisor Joe Green, has raised more than $40 million for over 500,000 causes in the last four years.

The concept is simple and social: individuals create grassroots communities called “causes,” focused on specific issues or non-profit organizations. By leveraging Facebook, Causes maximizes the potential of collective action, and has become the world’s largest online platform for activism and philanthropy.

One high-profile example of what Causes.com can do to boost brands' corporate citizenship efforts is how AT&T last month launched Connect For Good with Causes to spur action around three issues: texting and driving, recycling cell phones and the dramatic decline of high school graduation rates.Continue reading...