Madonna in tears after huge donation offered
US pop star Madonna broke into tears when Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista announced that he would donate $7 million for her welfare projects, a media report said.
During a dinner at Batista's home Thursday, the tycoon asked the singer how much money she collected and how much more she needed. When she answered that she had $3 million and needed to raise $10 million, the billionaire announced his readiness to complete the sum.
It was at that moment that Madonna was moved to tears, the Folha de Sao Paulo daily reported.
At the dinner were Rio de Janeiro State Governor Sergio Cabral and Mayor Eduardo Paes.
The singer left Brazil Friday after a five-day visit seeking investments for a number of social projects that she wants to launch.
On Thursday before the dinner, the artist made a quick trip to Sao Paulo to meet a group of poor women, with whom she spoke about the positive values contained in the Hebrew doctrine of the Kabbalah, of which she herself is a follower.
The mayor told the media that the singer had accepted his offer for her to perform at the next New Year's festival, for which some two million people would gather on the Copacabana beach.



Madonna raises $11 million for Raising Malawi
Madonna has raised $11 million from Brazilian millionaires for her Raising Malawi Foundation, the daily Rio O Dia reported on Monday.
The US pop star, who visited Brazil to stroke the country's wealthy into giving, notably won an unspecified pledge from the country's richest man, mining magnate Ike Batista, who has an estimated fortune of 7.5 billion dollars.
Madonna, 51, was accompanied during her fund-raising by 22-year-old Brazilian model Jesus de Luz, whom US and British gossip pages have referred to as her 'toy boy'.
Her Raising Malawi Foundation, started in 2006, finances humanitarian projects in Malawi, the southern African country where Madonna has adopted two children.
From AFP Via Yahoo! News



Press Pictures: Madonna's visit to Morro Dona Marta
Here are a selection of press pictures from Madonna's visit to the Morro Dona Marta slum in Rio de Janeiro on Friday 13 November.






Madonna visits the slums of Rio de Janeiro

Pop veteran Madonna has paid a visit to a Rio de Janeiro slum as part of an ongoing crusade to establish social projects in the impoverished region.
Joined by Rio's Governor Sergio Cabral, Madonna toured the favela and also visited social projects run by local NGOs.
During her week-long visit, Madonna met with local business people and officials in Brazil to collect donations for her.
Local residents admitted visits from celebrities like Madonna helped their cause.
'Her visit is very special to us, because like Michael Jackson and other artists who have visited the slum, for us it is always a great feeling to see artists here in the favela because many people outside discriminate us, while an artist, a governor, or a mayor don't discriminate us.' Michel Luz da Silva, a Dona Marta Favella resident said.
Report from Sky News Australia - Picture from O Globo







Madonna to sing on Copacabana beach?

According to the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, Madonna has accepted the offer to perform at the 2010/11 New Years Eve celebration on Copacabana beach which can infront of about 2 million people. Madonna accepted the invitation yesterday night during dinner with the Mayor.
The Mayor also tried to get Madonna to agree that she would sing at the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro - this she did not confirm.
To read the full report visit http://musica.uol.com.br

yay madge using her fame for some good work!

that's nice
[Edited 11/16/09 21:18pm]

No matter what goes on with her, for some good reason I admire the lady. Another childhood hero.

But who is this Santa Evita?

NoVideo said:

apparently she's Madonna!




and say what they will about the woman, none of her charity work is ever or has ever been contrived. she's not really even trying to promote "Celebration". but then again does she need to?
no new music, no movie or tour. just doing something great. be it Madonna or not, it's refreshing to read stories about people especially of her status doing things like this. may not be a hot topic or a popular way to get publicity these days but much more respectable and longer lasting affects.

CHIC0 said:

hopefully this will be a lesson for *her* to dig deep herself. the scrooge only donated 400K last year...she's at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to donating among the entertainers in her "pay" bracket.

sosgemini said:

are you her accountant or something?

errant said:

nope, huffington post wrote up an article about entertainers and their contributions...you got a problem with my contribution to this thread?

sosgemini said:

not at all. just wonder how one comes across that information. huffington post included.

errant said:

tax filings..also of note...to curb terrorism, any monies transferred over 100K from one entity to another at one time in the US must be reported...i'm sure the UK has the same requirements...so, unless she is giving small change every other minute, the reports accurate.

also of note, most wealthy individuals or celebrities have a staff person or trust who take care of contributions (non-profit or political) so these things get reported one way or another.

oh oh oh, one other things...i also believe non-profit charities have to disclose their contributions over $500---so like i said, the info gets out. one way or another.
[Edited 11/16/09 22:12pm]

Madonna was shocked by donation response
Michael Berg, the co-founder of Raising Malawi has sent out this message about Madonna's reaction to donations to the charity so far:
Madonna and I just got back from an emotionally charged trip to Malawi.
It wasn't the poverty or hardship in Malawi that shocked Madonna - it was your response to it. When Madonna pledged to match $100,000 in your donations to Raising Malawi, she never dreamt that you'd crush that goal in just a few days!
After the news of your generosity set in, Madonna looked around and said, 'We must do more!' Madonna has upped the stakes and pledged to match an additional $150,000 in donations made in the next week.
Will you make a donation to Raising Malawi? Madonna will match your donation today at
www.raisingmalawi.org/doubletheimpact




Madonna leaves Malawi after week's charity tour
Madonna has left Malawi after a nearly weeklong visit with her family, airport and charity officials said Saturday.
Officials said Madonna flew out of the southern African country on Friday. The 51-year-old celebrity arrived in the impoverished country on Sunday accompanied by her four children - daughters Lourdes and Mercy, and sons Rocco and David. Mercy and David were adopted from Malawi.
While in Malawi, she broke ground for her $15 million Raising Malawi Academy for Girls and visited the orphanage that cared for her son David before she adopted him.
Madonna's Raising Malawi, a charity founded in 2006 when she first visited the country, helps feed, educate and provide medical care for some of Malawi's orphans.
Malawi, a nation of 12 million, is one of the poorest countries in the world. About 500,000 children have lost a parent to AIDS.
From AP Via Yahoo! News

im sorry but if madonna needs $7 million, she can just put in her pin number. it's a drop in the bucket to that woman. but good for her for moving others to help...whether she gives $25.00 or $25 million, at least she is out there promoting something other than herself, and something that can help folks...i guess...

...then again, i just want body of evidence and bad girl madonna back...

as some one who spends 100s of hours a year on fundraising and outreach the time spent on these efforts is nothing to scuff out no matter how much she ends up giving her publicity is more important than anything else she can give.

SoulAlive said:

Ditto

She´s looking very young, fresh and energetic even though these pictures are obviusly not staged or altered.

I admire her for her efforts but what I don´t really get is ....are 7 million dollars really a lot of money in her world? I mean, I often read about her income from concerts or that of other A-list celebrities who make 10 to 25 million dollars per movie, and I often wonder what they do with all that money? So,why are 7 million dollars such a huge sum all of a sudden...to the point where she starts crying?

ehuffnsd said:

until this, her own charity, madge had a huge gap in her charity work...not since her heyday with aids work has she been publicly involved in bringing attention to causes...says someone who does non-profit/political fundraising for a living (are any of us more qualified to share our opinions? gee)...anyhoo, i'm not downing her for her work here btw...i just think it's a tad hypocritical that she's getting all emotional over someone else throwing down 7 million when she could have easily done it herself...just saying.

KoolEaze said:

I suspect a mere gesture of this sort is just a really humbling validation by another of one's efforts. She's a big star with a healthy ego, no doubt, but people crap on everything she does in this vein. They wanna know why isn't doing more; they wanna know why third-world nations rather than inner-city Detroit; they wanna know if this all is just to keep her in the spotlight... On some level, this must be a nice respite from all that.

I'd also think that philanthropy is a lot tougher to mobilize people around than buying CDs and concert tix, so being able to get this level of response for a project of this sort specifically must be really rewarding.
[Edited 11/17/09 6:38am]

Lammastide said:

Oh, far be it from me to criticize what she´s doing. I admire people who help other people and of course one can always ask "Why didn´t she rather support poor areas in Detroit?" or "Why didn´t she donate more money when she was in her prime?" etc. but that´s not my intention. I was just wondering if 7 million dollars are still a lot of money in her world. I mean, some actors receive double digit millions for starring in ONE movie, so...I don´t know....what do they do with all that money?

sosgemini said:

and the Huffington Post is poring over every tax filing of every global chairty?

I'm not saying one way or the other whether she's a big contributor or stingy. But these kinds of numbers are impossible to get accurate. And most of the data you're mentioning is not publicly available. And the amount of raw data involved would be impossible to calculate by anyone looking for a needle in a haystack, which is what an individual's contributions to a particular charity is.

errant said:

Yeah but when the average is high six figures in contributions and madge only donated something like 4k annually...it was pathetic...i gotta try to dig up the article so you can see the huge disparity...gotta run right now that. late.

KoolEaze said:

I'd never assume you're second guessing what she's doing; I'm just suggesting a lot of people do. So this has got to be a good moment for her.

As to $7 million in her world? I can only imagine she's dropped as much for homes in which she's probably scarcely lived. But I suspect stuff like this is relative. I mean, I'm gonna assume $700 isn't a lot given the money you or I have made -- and wasted -- in our lives. Yet what if we received a $700 PAY NOW!! collection notice for something we'd forgotten in the mail today!?

...Now imagine some friend of ours announced they'd pick up the tab just because they appreciate what we do for the world. I can't speak for you, but heck I'd cry, too.
[Edited 11/17/09 7:27am]

Lammastide said:

I´d never take advantage of my friendships or acquaintances but I have often thought about all the good things I could do if I didn´t have to worry about my own financial situation...if someone like, say, Bill Gates gave me a couple of millions so I wouldn´t have to worry about my expenses and just focus on my job and helping the people I work with and work for.
My life and their lives would change drastically if I had enough money. And enough money means soooo much money that you don´t have to worry about stupid, wordly stuff like rent, electricity, food, travel, whatever.

Lammastide said:

I don't see anything wrong with this, but this is the org they going to nit pick everything. This is a really good cause and all you guys can think of is how many houses she has had or what she didnt do in the past; get a life.

KoolEaze said:

Yeah, I think about that too. If I wasn't broke as hell, I'd be a BEAST!

The good news, though, is that we still can do a decent chuck of good even with our limited time and resources. Sometimes merely circulating the energy or spirit of service can spark others to do far more than we ever could.
[Edited 11/17/09 8:15am]

paisleypark4 said: