State Champ Radio philanthropy
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This year’s edition of the long-running Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine, a fund-raiser for the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF), will be a tribute to comedian Bob Saget, who was a long-time SRF board member and co-host of this event.
Saget died in January 2022 at age 65 after suffering blunt head trauma from an accidental blow to the back of his head.
The event will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Edison Ballroom in New York City as part of the 19th annual New York Comedy Festival. Adam Duritz and David Immerglück of Counting Crows are scheduled to perform.
Comedian Jeff Ross will host the event, which will also feature comedians Michael Che and Nikki Glaser. Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine is co-chaired by celebrity chef Susan Feniger, actress Regina Hall (whose mother was diagnosed with the disease in 2006), and Saget’s widow, Kelly Rizzo.
“I am honored to continue the legacy that Bob built, by working with his closest friends to create an unforgettable night with the same goal that Bob had—to raise as much money as possible for scleroderma research,” Rizzo said in a statement. “Laughter was at the heart of everything Bob did, and Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine is no exception. We look forward to filling the room full of laughter, all in the spirit of finding a cure.”
At this year’s event, the SRF will debut the Bob Saget Legacy Award, which will honor individuals who have followed in his footsteps by helping raise awareness about scleroderma and funds to find a cure. The inaugural award will be presented to Caroline Hirsch, founder and owner of Carolines and the New York Comedy Festival.
Saget championed the SRF since losing his sister Gay to the disease in 1994. He joined the organization’s board of directors in 2003. However, his involvement actually began in 1991 through the SRF’s annual signature event, Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine — as an attendee, then the next year as a performer, and ultimately as a key figure in organizing and producing the event.
The SRF has presented Cool Comedy • Hot Cuisine since 1987. The event has been a cornerstone of the SRF’s fundraising efforts, raising more than $29 million to fund research.
Sponsorships starting at $1,000 are now available. A limited number of individual tickets at $750 are also available. For more information, visit www.srfcure.org/cchc.
The Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF), a 501(c)(3) organization, was established in 1987. Scleroderma is a rare and often life-threatening autoimmune disease that can cause fibrosis in the skin and other vital organs.
Launched in 2004, The New York Comedy Festival is the largest comedy festival in the U.S. This year’s edition will take place from Nov. 3 to 12.
David Foster is set to host and perform at the 37th annual Carousel Ball on Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Hyatt Regency Denver. Counting Crows and Foster’s wife, singer Katharine McPhee, are also set to perform. Foster is a 16-time Grammy winner, including three wins for producer of the year, non-classical. He also won a […]
Jewel is set to perform at the Angel Awards Gala on Saturday, Sept. 23. The event will be held in the parking lot at Project Angel Food’s Hollywood kitchen, which will be transformed into a “ballroom under the stars.” Project Angel Food prepares and delivers more than 1.5 million meals each year to more than 4,000 individuals living with a wide range of critical illnesses in Los Angeles County.
Jewel, who has reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with six albums, is a singer-songwriter, actress, author and long-time mental health advocate. For 21 years, her Inspiring Children Foundation and Jewel Inc. have been bringing mental health programs to at-risk youth and to corporations. Jewel also created SELLA, a language arts curriculum for schools that incorporates social and emotional learning and mental health practices. She recently co-founded the virtual mental health platform Inner.world.
Jewel may be best known for her double-sided smash “Foolish Games”/“You Were Meant for Me,” which rode the Billboard Hot 100 for 65 weeks in 1996-97, peaking at No. 2. Her other hits include “Who Will Save Your Soul” and “Hands.” Jewel has received four Grammy nominations.
Sheryl Lee Ralph will receive the inaugural Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award. Ralph won a Primetime Emmy last year for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Abbott Elementary. She is nominated in that category again this year. She received a Tony nomination for best actress in a musical in 1982 for Dreamgirls.
Ralph’s commitment to Project Angel Food spans three decades. In a statement, Project Angel Food CEO Richard Ayoub explained why the organization created the Legacy award that will bear Ralph’s name in perpetuity. “When no one and I mean NO ONE would stand up for people living with AIDS, Sheryl Lee Ralph risked her career and her livelihood to do what was right. She had seen too much suffering and wanted to help. That commitment to those in need has not wavered in 34 years! This new Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award is long overdue.”
AIDS activist, artist and author Mary Fisher will receive the 2023 Angel Award, a distinction previously bestowed on Judith Light, Elizabeth Taylor, George Michael, Sharon Stone and Whoopi Goldberg, among others. Fisher may be best known for a pair of bridge-building speeches she delivered at the Republican National Conventions in Houston in 1992 and San Diego in 1996. Fisher serves on Project Angel Food’s board of directors.
The Angel Awards are presented by naming sponsor Wells Fargo, with Glamazon L.A., Amazon’s LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, joining as a principal sponsor.
When Nicole Avant and her brother Alex were growing up, they watched their late mother, Jacqueline, devote her time and efforts to various charities and underserved communities — especially focusing on children and the Watts/Willowbrook neighborhood in South Los Angeles.
“My mom would go back home to Beverly Hills and bring people from there to Watts,” recalls Nicole. “She’d say, ‘Listen, these are our neighbors. And we have a moral obligation as human beings to do the right thing in as many places as we can.’ That was her whole motto.”
That motto comes full circle with the formal dedication of The Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center today (April 28). The opening of the brand-new facility — the first of its kind in South L.A. — comes nearly two years after the December 2021 murder of the philanthropist and wife of music industry legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honoree Clarence Avant, aka the “Godfather of Black Music.”
Ahead of the ceremony, Nicole gave Billboard a tour of the center (1741 E. 120th Street, Willowbrook, Calif.). Working in association with the MLK Health and Wellness Community Development Corp., the three-floor center houses the MLK Pediatric Clinic. With its first floor already in operation, the center plans to serve 4,000 children and teens annually by providing medical and mental health evaluations for those who have been exposed to violence, and primary pediatric care for children in the foster care system. Enhanced outpatient clinical services for at-risk pediatric and adolescent patients and their families will also be provided.
Nicole Avant and Jacqueline Avant
Courtesy of the Avant family
Slated to open at the end of this year, the second floor will offer family-focused services including an autism wellness center run by the Special Needs Network and a clinic run by Saint John Well Child Center. The third floor, opening next year, will focus on youth mental health services.
The center’s cream-colored walls and warm accent colors, like blue-green, also play a role in creating a comforting and nurturing environment for patients. As do three vibrant paintings by L.A. artist Floyd Strickland, titled The Believers, The Teacher and The Dreamers. Commissioned by the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the portraits and the wallpaper mural behind the artwork celebrate the rich culture and history of South L.A.’s Watts/Willowbrook community. Floyd collaborated with the neighborhood’s current residents, using family photos dating back to the 1940s as source material.
“It feels safe and healing,” says Nicole who also sits on the board of the after-foster care organization A Sense of Home. “My mom’s whole thing was about physical, emotional and spiritual healing; she really believed in the power of art. And the art here is full of joy with a sense of family and friendship, which is very good for children because that’s the first thing they should see.”
Prior to the dedication ceremony, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, representing the Second District, noted in an email to Billboard, “I am honored to celebrate the unveiling of the Jacqueline Avant Children and Family Center. The center is a meaningful addition to our community and will provide hope and a multitude of health and mental health services to children and their families in South Los Angeles.”
Nicole credits longtime Avant family friend and Jacqueline’s fellow community outreach devotee Candace Bond McKeever for playing a key role in bringing the center to fruition. Prior to Jacqueline’s death, the two would drive and walk around the Watts/Willowbrook neighborhood — home also to the neighboring Martin Luther King, Jr. Outpatient Center and MLK Medical Campus — with Jacqueline visualizing that one day she would raise enough money to build a center to help children.
Jacqueline Avant Center
Greg Baker, the CBRE Facilities Director
“We’d begun raising money and were making progress,” says Nicole. “Then after my mom didn’t make it, people were asking where and what they could donate to honor her. I called Candace and said, ‘It’s got to be at MLK; that’s what she wanted. And Candace said let’s do it.’ It’s a crazy twist of fate, but here we are with exactly what mom visualized.”
At the time of this interview, her dad Clarence had only seen photos of his wife’s dream fulfilled. Asked his reaction, Nicole says, “It was emotional but he was also like ‘Wow, this is amazing. Finally, the world gets to see what Jackie’s been doing this whole time.’”
As for her mom’s reaction, Nicole says, ‘I can feel that she’s very happy. She wasn’t just a collector of art and other things. She was a collector of souls who wanted to make sure everyone got the chance to fly.”
The T.J. Martell Foundation for Cancer Research, which is in the midst of rebuilding after the organization’s former executive vp/GM Melissa Goodwin was found to have embezzled $4 million from the music industry-supported charity, has named Warner Music Group chairman emeritus John “Espo” Esposito the new chairman of the board of trustees.
“We got the double whammy of the COVID pandemic and somebody being a bad actor,” says Esposito, who stepped down as chairman/CEO of Warner Music Nashville on Dec. 31 and wanted to devote some of his newfound time to good works. “I felt qualified with my knowledge of the organization and passion for them to do what I could to help get us back on track.”
Esposito’s initial term is for two years. He succeeds Universal Music Group general counsel and executive vp Jeffrey Harleston, who will now serve as executive chairman.
Esposito, who has served as a T.J. Martell Foundation trustee since 2006 but has supported the organization since 1997, adds, “Obviously, I’m not going to do that single-handedly, but I felt like I could use my leadership skills to help us in so many ways.”
Former consultant Lynn-Anne Huck, who took over as acting CEO in 2020 after initially conducting the review that unearthed Goodwin’s improprieties, is now the permanent CEO of the Nashville-based organization.
Courtesy of T.J. Martell Foundation
Formed by record executive Tony Martell in 1975 following the death of his son, T.J., from leukemia, T.J. Martell holds multiple annual charitable events, auctions and campaigns in tandem with the music community in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Miami and other cities. It has raised more than $280 million in support of medical research grants at leading U.S. institutions and helped secure more than $1 billion in additional research funding.
T.J. Martell is additionally preparing for its 45th annual New York Honors Gala, the organization’s first since 2019. Held at Cipriani 42nd Street, the June 13 event will honor Warner Records co-chairman and CEO Tom Corson with the Lifetime Music Industry award, Def Jam Recordings chief creative officer and executive vp Archie Davis with the Rising Music Superstar Award and songwriter Shane McAnally with the Spirit of Music Award.
Esposito takes over a charity that was roiled by Goodwin’s actions. According to federal charging documents, from July 2018 to April 2020, she used a company credit card to purchase approximately $3.96 million in concert and sporting event tickets, including for Lady Gaga, Celine Dion and the Super Bowl. She also bought plane tickets, alcohol and hotel stays. Goodwin turned some of the items over to the owner of a charity auction business to resell but kept the money instead of turning it over to the charity.
Prosecutors also say she falsified credit card statements, created fake expense reports and replaced the ticket expenses with other vendor names to make the charges appear to be legitimate foundation expenses. Goodwin, who cooperated with federal prosecutors, pled guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to four years in prison in August. The Foundation is the plaintiff in four other suits relating to Goodwin’s malfeasance — including one against its former accounting firm — that are all in the discovery stage.
Under Harleston and Huck, the organization put safeguards in place to assure supporters and donors that what happened under Goodwin won’t happen again. “Lynn-Anne created a 28-page policies and procedures manual for financial transactions,” Esposito says. “We’re probably going above and beyond on a consistent basis.”
“If you go to our website,” Huck says, “you’re going to find more information than almost any other non-profit. We are absolutely transparent with everything.” The website includes IRS 990 Forms going back to 2017, as well as independent audit reports.
According to its latest 990 form, T.J. Martell, a registered 501 (c) corporation, ended 2021 with net assets of $1.045 million. Like many organizations, it took a hit during the pandemic; its net assets on its 2019 990 form were listed as $3.35 million. Despite that drop as well as Goodwin’s actions, Huck says the organization was able to fulfill all of its 2019 promised grants going into 2020 before the pandemic hit. It will resume grant-giving this year.
Esposito, Huck and the trustees have also done outreach to rebuild trust brick by brick. “To get people back in the boat, every quarter I had a list of about 250 donors and friends, and either myself or [other key T.J. Martell board members] would just get on the phone and answer questions,” Huck says. “’What are we doing?’ ‘How are we going to make sure this never happens again?’ So by the time [Goodwin] was charged last year, everybody knew. We kept them in the light all along.”
T.J. Martell’s first event in 2023 occurred during Grammy Week in Los Angeles when it held its Best Cellars dinner. Similar events to be held in Nashville, Napa, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, D.C. and Cleveland this year will pair a four-course gourmet meal with wines provided by some of the country’s most distinguished wine collectors. The Los Angeles event, which was held Feb. 2, netted $600,000 for the organization, far beyond its original budget of a “few hundred thousand,” Esposito says.
“The love in that room and the enthusiasm in that room, it was like we were back in 1999. It was a great feeling,” Esposito says. “So, I’m feeling very confident that as long as we take all the right steps, we’re going to build this thing to a really good place.”
The organization is also looking at ways to broaden its outreach by spreading into other areas — part of a strategy to cut down on the number of events it holds each year. In 2018, T.J. Martell held 32 events that raised over $4 million. With this year’s seven Best Cellars dinners, it hopes to raise $3 million. Ideas include creating marathon teams that raise money for T.J. Martell, as well as increasing planned giving by individuals and estates and increasing branding and sponsorship possibilities. “It’s tapping into cash that makes the events far more productive and our not being so dependent on 30 events in a year,” Esposito says.
By relying less on staff-intensive events, Esposito and Huck hope to keep their personnel numbers down. In 2019, T.J. Martell had 25 full-time employees but now has only three. As the organization revs back up, they say they will judiciously hire more staffers based on need.
As Esposito delves into his role, he says the two words he uses to sum up T.J. Martell 2.0 are “transparency and enthusiasm… I yearn for us to be transparent on a profound level. And every philanthropic organization relies on enthusiasm, and 2023 is the year we’re building enthusiasm back and I’m thrilled that I’m already feeling it,” he says. “I can only imagine as we start getting events like the gala under our belt that people will be saying, ‘They’re back and better than ever.’”
Loud And Live, the Miami-based entertainment, marketing, media and live events company, has committed to making a $1 million dollar donation to the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, the company tells Billboard.
Marking the largest single donation in the foundation’s history, the money will be donated over the next five years to advance the foundation’s mission to further international awareness and appreciation of the contributions of Latin music and its makers to global culture via college scholarships, grants and educational programs, according to a press release.
The donation builds on Loud And Live’s culture of giving and philanthropic commitment.
“We’ve been fortunate to have great success in this industry, and for us, we feel it’s an obligation to give back to the community that we’re a part of,” said Loud And Live CEO Nelson Albareda. “Our history partnering with the Latin Recording Academy goes back to 2003, and we can’t think of a better partner to channel and make a meaningful impact with this donation, than the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation.”
For nearly two decades, Loud And Live has supported the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation by donating time, services and resources, including a private fundraising event that featured an intimate conversation with Cuban-American superstar Pitbull. Most recently, the foundation has benefited from various tours produced by Loud And Live, including those by Camilo and Carlos Vives, both of whom pledged to donate $1 from each ticket sale on their respective tours to the foundation.
“We are grateful for the generous donation of Loud And Live, a longtime partner of the Foundation,” added Becky Villaescusa, vp of strategic planning & corporate development at the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation. “Together we have the ability to continue creating opportunities, have a positive impact on our communities, and preserve the legacy of Latin music and Latin music creators.”
