Celebrity Services/Endorsements

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has formed the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles. Bryant will hold a news conference Tuesday at My Friend's Place, a nonprofit resource center that offers free emergency services to about 1,600 homeless people a year, according to its website.

Etsy is partnering with pop singer-songwriter Lady Gaga to raise money for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation. Lady Gaga commissioned three Etsy artists to design limited-edition posters inspired by her album "Born This Way." She signed some of the posters, on sale in the Etsy Store.

After 45 years promoting treatment and a cure for children he calls “my kids,” comedian Jerry Lewis announced Monday he is retiring as host of the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon that has become synonymous with his name. Lewis, 85, issued a statement through the association calling it “time for an all new Telethon era.”

Princess Diana used her celebrity to draw attention to difficult social causes. Now her son William and his bride, Kate Middleton, appear to be maintaining the tradition, potentially delivering a multimillion-pound windfall to a handful of mostly little-known and unfashionable charities.

The couple asked wedding guests and the public to support 26 organisations that comprise the couple's charitable gift fund, covering a range of causes such as mentally ill ex-servicemen, young offenders, former gang members, bullied youngsters, refugee students, homeless people, teenage drug addicts and children in care.

Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, a charity that raises funds for 170 children's hospitals across North America, announced a new partnership with 2010 PGA TOUR Player of the Year Jim Furyk. Furyk has named Children's Miracle Network Hospitals as his charity of choice for the next two years.

To kick off the partnership, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and Furyk are launching Miracle Birdies, a new fundraising program in which individuals, groups and sponsors can make a monetary pledge for each time Furyk makes a birdie during his tournament play in 2011.

Bo Jackson will be hosting the 3rd Annual Celebrity Charity Golf Classic Friday, June 24, at Old Oaks Country Club in Homer Glen, Ill. The event will benefit the Give Me A Chance Foundation, dedicated to guiding disadvantaged youth toward personal and professional growth.

All proceeds will go toward the development and support of the many athletic/educational programs offered by the foundation.

Sandra Lee, the Food Network personality and best-selling author, was surrounded by butter-cream-frosted cupcakes and mini-pecan pies, poised to kick off what she had billed as “the world’s largest bake sale” to raise $50,000 for the Food Bank for New York City. Ms. Lee, an advocate for ending childhood hunger, attracted 30 New York restaurants and food shops to Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal on Tuesday morning.

What to get the couple who has everything? How about a donation to a rhino sanctuary — or an offer of help for earthquake victims in New Zealand. Prince William and Kate Middleton on Wednesday became Britain’s first royal couple to request charitable gifts in lieu of presents Wednesday, seeking to pre-empt the tide of extravagant — and unusual — offerings that typically flood in for a royal engagement.

Justin Bieber, teenage heart throb, social media fanatic, and one-time possessor of the world's most confounding bowl cut has announced that he's dedicating his 17th birthday to charity. In lieu of birthday presents, the teen idol is seeking to raise at least $17,000 for Charity:Water.

So far, Bieber has almost reached his goal, with $16,697 raised from 705 donations.

Four years after she performed at a private concert for Libya's Gaddafi family, singer Nelly Furtado has announced that she will donate the $1m (£615,500) fee to charity. Furtado's decision has intensified the spotlight on other pop stars, including Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Usher, who performed at parties for the sons of Muammar Gaddafi.