Cause Celeb
Can star power create social change?
Celeb: Michael Bolton
Cause: Michael Bolton Foundation, formed to assist "children and women at risk...broaden horizons and expand opportunities for youth across socioeconomic and multicultural lines"
What he's done: Started the foundation, appeared at fundraising events
What celeb gets: A chance to atone for his musical sins?
What cause gets: An annual celebrity softball game, Bolton's singing…and some money
Connection between celeb and cause: None detectable
Chance celeb will humiliate cause: It's already happened. Late filings of paperwork with the state of Connecticut led to press accounts of the foundation's sad percentage of giveaways compared to income: a paltry 15 percent in 1995, and only 30 percent from 1993 to 1996 overall.
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What good came of this? The miniscandal has not "dampened my spirit or commitment," Bolton vows. In 1996 the foundation did distribute $863,000 to various shelter and social service programs for troubled kids, mostly in Connecticut and New York.
