Nonprofit Group Puts Charities in Touch With ‘Cause Celebrities’

Lois Lee, founder of an agency for homeless teen-agers, and actor Gregory Harrison are among the people brought together by their dedication to Celebrity Outreach Foundation, a recently established charity service.

The foundation is a nonprofit agency designed to help small charitable groups find celebrities to enhance their visibility. There are other celebrity-finding organizations that charge fees, but foundation president Robert Oettinger says this is the only no-cost group. Oettinger is a former fund-raiser for the American Diabetes Assn. and the Motion Picture and Television Fund.

The foundation assists nonprofit organizations with annual budgets of less than $2 million.

Harrison is an active foundation spokesman for many causes that are important to him, and Lee has often used the foundation’s services for her own organization, Children of the Night, and has joined the group’s board of directors.

She explains: “Unless you know celebrities or their managers it’s virtually impossible for small organizations to get their help. A lot of groups doing good work die on the vine because they can’t make that link, and (the foundation) provides a very needed service for them.”

The foundation functions by matching up celebrities with clients planning fund-raising events, public service announcements and other promotional projects. Oettinger uses a list of about 2,500 celebrities.

“We try to find the right person based on event, location and cause,” he says, “and the celebs agree to work with us for various reasons. Some have favorite causes or activities, and some are looking for visibility. It’s easiest to work with people on their way up or down, because they need to be seen.”

So far, according to Oettinger, the foundation has filled celebrity requests from clients ranging from the American Cancer Society (Jack Carter did a local television interview to promote a Cancer Society golf tournament) to the Mid-Valley Baseball Assn. in Encino. For the latter group, Los Angeles Raider Steve Duchesne and Josie Davis, of TV’s “Charles in Charge,” played in a softball game.

In other appearances arranged by the foundation, Cesar Romero attended a fund-raising event for the Special Olympics and actress Christina Pickles presented an award at a fund-raiser for the Center for Population Options.

A telethon on Wednesday for two local groups, the Greater Los Angeles Partnership for the Homeless and the Shelter Partnership, featured actors Jim Sikking and Charles Haid, Bob Golic of the Los Angeles Raiders and the cast of “The Ann Jillian Show,” all appearing live or in taped segments.

Further afield, the agency arranged for actor Charles Durning to preside at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the San Diego Theater League. An AIDS project in North Carolina honored Sharon Wyatt of TV’s “General Hospital” at a fund-raising dinner. Tim Reid and Daphne Maxwell Reid will shortly tape a public service announcement promoting volunteerism in the Bay Area for a San Francisco television station.

Actor Harrison says: “I’m thrilled that (the foundation) exists. It’s a necessary function in my industry--we needed an agent that could put us together with charities and causes.”

One enthusiastic user of the foundation’s services is Entertainment Industry Referral and Assistance Center, which helps actors and others in the industry with cocaine problems. Harrison has become a spokesman for the group through the foundation.

The center’s program director, Dae Medman, says: “It was a perfect match for us and a long time coming. We deal with above- and below-the-line entertainment industry people, and we needed someone with Gregory’s kind of background and intelligence that everyone could relate to.

“One of the reasons (the foundation) is so important these days is because of the concern about the drug problem. People really do look to Hollywood and the media to provide education.”

Says Harrison: “So often celebrities are asked to get in over their heads on projects they don’t have time to understand--they’re just figureheads. (The center) was perfect for what I wanted to do because they work with people like me, in the industry. They wanted me, I wanted them and we’ve hit it off. “

Oettinger and his co-workers, Lori Birdsong and Mark Robert, take no regular salary. They stay in business, he says, “through donations, funding events and begging.

“As a new organization that doesn’t have a widespread reputation yet, it’s a real financial struggle for us. We’ve done some incredible things, considering we’ve been around less than a year; we’ve helped 35 to 40 organizations that represent every cause you can imagine.”

The board, composed mainly of publicists and celebrity managers, is helpful, but the foundation must deal with the reality of delivering busy celebrities as requested by clients.

“There are obvious advantages to using celebs to help promote causes,” Oettinger says, “but a disadvantage is that there’s always the chance that you’ll lose the person to a paying job--it goes with the territory and it’s not within anyone’s control. You really need standby people in this business and there are never any guarantees. We cross our fingers and hope the person is able to show up, and we always try to have a contingency plan.”

Oettinger estimates that 80% of the foundation’s work has been in California, but with increasing requests from out of state, the group’s scope is widening. Upcoming clients include Ronald McDonald House, National Federation of the Blind, the Arthritis Foundation and Grandmothers for Peace.

In 1990, the U.S. Census Bureau is counting on the foundation to provide black, Latino and American Indian celebrities for public service announcements aimed at minority population groups.

“We’d like to be active in all 50 states and Canada, and when the foundation reaches its full potential we can help millions of people every year through our services,” Oettinger says. “All that’s holding us back is money.”