The new six degrees of Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon has teamed up with Network for Good to launch an interesting project that plays on the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” phenomenon from the 1990s. Back then, the idea was that in six steps or less, any film actor in history could be linked through their roles or relationships to Kevin Bacon.
Building on this meme, Bacon started SixDegrees.org, a portal where you can view the favourite charitable causes of various celebrities and support them through online giving. You can also start your own project and become your own “celebrity for a cause.” The idea is that the world is small and we’re all connected — Bacon’s video on the home page explains it well. Except for the celebrities, it reminds me a little of GiveMeaning.org — in that you can start your own projects, fundraise for them, and track progress through the site.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently reported on new research that celebrities are not a big draw for donors (although they undoubtedly help to draw attention to important issues). Here are the basics of some research conducted by Cone Inc.:
- 15% of Americans said they would be influenced by celebrities in deciding whether to support a charity
- That is far less than the percentage of respondents who said they would be influenced to support a cause by family members (77%), friends (64%), their place of worship (60%), co-workers (40%), or companies (30%)
- 76% of Americans said that word-of-mouth requests from family or friends were the most effective way for a charity to reach them — followed by newspaper and magazine articles (56%), events (51%), and advertising (50%)
Read the press release and more details here.
The photo above is from one of my favourite Kevin Bacon films: The Woodsman.
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