Following Time Magazine’s look at whether movies can make a difference, The New York Times Magazine explored the power of celebrity this Sunday. In their “money issue” they look at how celebrities can be essential in non-profits and other organizations getting money to help their causes:
In 2004, Natalie Portman, then a 22-year-old fresh from college, went to Capitol Hill to talk to Congress on behalf of the Foundation for International Community Assistance, or Finca, a microfinance organization for which she served as “ambassador.” She found herself wondering what she was doing there, but her colleagues assured her: “We got the meetings because of you.” For lawmakers, Natalie Portman was not simply a young woman ” she was the beautiful Padmé from “Star Wars.” “And I was like, “ËœThat seems totally nuts to me,’ ” Portman told me recently. It’s the way it works, I guess. I’m not particularly proud that in our country I can get a meeting with a representative more easily than the head of a nonprofit can.” [NY TIMES]
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