The Entertainment Industry Foundation
The Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), as a leading charitable organization of the entertainment industry, harnesses the collective power of the entire industry to raise awareness and funds for critical health, educational and social issues in order to make a positive impact in our community and throughout the nation. Thanks to the commitment of an extraordinary number of people and companies, EIF is able to champion a wide variety of worthy causes. EIF’s national initiatives raise awareness and crucial funds to address leading health and social issues.
The Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) movement raises funds to hasten the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. Founded in May, 2008, by a group of media, entertainment and philanthropic leaders whose lives have been affected by cancer in significant ways, SU2C has raised more than $100 million, and provided funding to five Dream Teams comprised of over 200 exemplary scientists whose projects aim to produce results benefiting patients within the grants' three-year term, as well as 13 young investigators whose innovative, "high risk/high reward" research would not likely receive funding from conventional sources. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is Stand Up To Cancer’s partner, and is responsible for administering the grants, and -- in conjunction with the SU2C Scientific Advisory Committee, led by Nobel laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and David H. Koch Institute at MIT -- providing scientific oversight. For more information, visit www.standup2cancer.org .
EIF has mobilized the entire entertainment community around a multi- year service initiative, called iParticipate , designed to encourage more Americans to volunteer and serve in their communities. As part of its launch, the four major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – and other networks and cable channels, participated in an unprecedented, week-long television event from Oct 19-25, 2009, with more than 100 shows devoting programming, story lines and PSAs focused on volunteerism. As part of this groundbreaking effort, EIF launched a dedicated website to make it easier than ever before for millions of Americans to search for volunteer opportunities in their local communities. In addition to generating heightened awareness about the value of community service, EIF has awarded capacity-building grants to City Year Los Angeles, Regents of UCLA, EnCorps, The LEAGUE and ServiceNation. For more information, visit www.iparticipate.org .
EIF’s National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA) is dedicated to the eradication of colorectal cancer by promoting the importance of early medical screening and funding research to develop better tests, treatments, and ultimately a cure. The initiative was co-founded in March of 2000 by Katie Couric, Lilly Tartikoff, and EIF.
Through its Women’s Cancer Programs , the Entertainment Industry Foundation created and funds two distinct, cutting-edge research projects: one to develop an early detection blood test for breast cancer; and the other to fast-track more effective, less toxic treatments for breast cancer. Annually, EIF runs one of the largest single-day women’s cancer fundraisers in the country — EIF Revlon Run/Walk for Women .
EIF and Novo Nordisk joined forces to fight the growing burden of diabetes; an estimated 24 million Americans have diabetes, of which 6.2 million are undiagnosed. Through our Diabetes Aware campaign, we inform Americans about the importance of diabetes detection, monitoring and proper management of this progressive disease.
EIF and the Motion Picture & Television Fund, with support from the Motion Picture Industry Pension & Health Plan, operate the first-ever industry-led smoking cessation program. With a success rate twice the national average, more than 2,500 employees went through Picture Quitting in the first two years.
As part of our effort to combat the negative effects of smoking, EIF united the six major studios for an historic and unprecedented anti-smoking campaign. Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. agreed to place the highly successful public service announcements produced by the California Health and Human Services Agency on all youth-rated DVDs of motion pictures that include scenes with tobacco use. In 2009, the PSAs were featured on more than 66 million DVDs.
EIF is committed to helping members of the entertainment industry give of their time, talent and wealth to achieve a meaningful and lasting impact in the world. EIF advances thoughtful and effective philanthropy in the industry by offering high caliber professional charitable services. Some examples include:
• Christina Applegate’s Right Action for Women .
• Black Eyed Peas’ Peapod Foundation
• Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project
• John Legend's Show Me Campaign
EIF is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in Los Angeles and meets all 20 rigorous Better Business Bureau charity standards.
The Entertainment Industry Foundation is a member of the Council on Foundations, the nation's premier philanthropic association of more than 2,100 grant making foundations and corporations, with assets totaling more than $282 billion. The Council supports a vibrant, growing, and responsible philanthropic sector to advance the common good.
