Events

Hundreds of brave swimmers across the country plunged into the new year with an icy dip for charity Sunday.

From the Atlantic Ocean in Coney Island to Chicago's Lake Michigan, members of the Polar Bear Club stripped down to their bathing gear for a cool swim and some committed the event to raising money for a range of noteworthy cause, including Camp Sunshine and the Special Recreation Services of Northern Lake County.

The first annual Hilarity for Charity will be Jan. 13 in Los Angeles. As co-hosts of the evening, Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller along with friends will bring together stand up, sketch comedy, musical performances, food trucks and a chance to buy your way into heaven — all in the name of Alzheimer’s research and awareness.

In an astounding demonstration of support for Colorado nonprofits, donors from across the state contributed $12 million as part of Community First Foundation’s Colorado Gives Day 2011 — an increase of more than 40 percent compared to Colorado Gives Day 2010, which raised $8.4 million.

Individual contributions were received over an extended 36-hour period — 12 a.m. Dec. 6 until noon Dec. 7 — at GivingFirst.org. Donations ranged from $10 to $500,000. Almost half of all donations made were either $50 or $100.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation raised $1.77 million for scholarships, research and charitable activities from 114 benefactors at the public health nonprofit organization’s 13th Annual Dinner held Nov. 29 in New York City.

Funds generated by the dinner support improving patients’ health and quality of life by fostering understanding of prescription medicines, promoting medication adherence, enhancing patient care services at neighborhood pharmacies and educating future healthcare professionals.

NewTek, a portable live production and 3D animation systems company, announced that the NewTek TriCaster™ portable live production system will be used to produce and live stream the Transforming the World Through Comedy (TWTComedy) inaugural event.

The comedy fundraiser will benefit Haiti through local projects such as building schools for orphaned children, and micro-financing support for small businesses. In addition, funds will also benefit the Empowered Youth Initiative in the United States through Off the Mat into the World.

The Big Give lived up to its name. The Columbus Foundation says that more than $8.7 million was raised for local nonprofit organizations during a 24-hour, online charitable event in Ohio. It took just minutes on Thursday for donors to surpass the first $1 million.

The foundation launched the event to give the central Ohio nonprofit community an economic boost. To encourage the giving, the foundation and its donors put up $1 million in matching money.

Ten ways you can gather feedback, before your next event, while your event is still taking place and after it's all over.

School of Rock and Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) teamed up for an inspiring summer tour that brought 50 Years of Rock n Roll to 22 cities across the country and raised a combined total of more than $23,000 for local RMHC Chapters. The “Rock The House” tour featured the School of Rock AllStars, which represent the top tier talent coming out of School of Rock’s national music program.

Known for his heroic character in three Transformers blockbusters, actor Josh Duhamel will be honored for his real-life heroism as a children’s advocate when he accepts the “Ribbon of Dreams” award during the 18th annual Dream Halloween® Los Angeles. Also receiving this year’s award will be philanthropist Jake Kloberdanz, Founder/CEO of the ONEHOPE Foundation and ONEHOPE Wine.

Youth, I.N.C. (Improving Nonprofits for Children) announced that Piper Jaffray, a leading global middle market investment bank and institutional securities firm, will sponsor Trading Day for Kids for a third consecutive year.