You’ve got Edward Norton, an actor best known for his dark roles in Fight Club and American History X, and then we have his volunteer/charity organization Crowdrise, with the slogan, “If You Don’t Give Back No One Will Like You”. So, what exactly is their goal? I think I’ve figured it out: making fundraising and volunteering fun.

It’s a simple idea, and based off of the website (with phrasings like, “Please only read all this if you’re super bored or you’re writing a paper on ways to give back and you’re looking for something to plagiarize”), and their newest campaign,the Crowdrise Holiday Fundraiser Thing (CHFT), their target audience is young people. It should come as no surprise then that in order to motivate the social media oriented youth culture that Crowdrise so relies on, they’ve recruited an all-star celeb roster of participants for the CHFT; Ashton Kutcher, Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Kristen Bell, Paul Rudd, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Sophia Bush, Jason Bateman, Patricia Arquette, Russell Brand, John Legend, to name a few.


Crowdrise recently partnered with the New York Road Runners to help raise over $30 million for the ING New York City Marathon, and they’re hoping for an even bigger turnout with the CHFT campaign.

Just how are they going to do that? Well, they’re making it simple, accessible, and tempting users with the promise that you can actually help a celebrity, side-by-side, to raise donations for their chosen charity. In a way, it’s genius because our culture drools at the opportunity to be closer to celebrities, so perhaps their idea just might work.

The press release stated that, “Crowdrise is encouraging, and really peer pressuring, the rest of the world to get involved in a few different ways”. Which includes joining a celebrity’s fundraising team to help them raise money for their cause (i.e. you can join Paul Rudd and the American Cancer Society by reaching out to friends and family and asking everyone to donate). Or you can start your own personal fundraising team, and for extra incentive Judd Apatow is donating $3k to the top three non-celebrity fundraising campaigns. And lastly you can donate to any charity and send a holiday e-card to the person you’re donating on behalf of.

Edward Norton recently said, “People like to do nice things for each other and have fun around the holidays so we put this together in that spirit. And, hey, if you can get a guy with a 3rd degree black belt and a reputation for fierce, dark action films like Judd Apatow to bring out his funnier, goofy and generous side, you’ve got to be doing something right.”

In addition to celeb partnerships, Crowdrise is offering amazing prizes and contests for those “slightly self-interested” folks who donate and fundraise. Included in these is a cowbell signed by Will Ferrell, a signed Ashton Kutcher poster for the movie No Strings Attached (which isn’t even out yet), and a Live Chat with Paul Rudd.

Crowdrise said that they’re hoping their campaign will “result in the whole world embracing and French-kissing each other like mad come New Year’s Eve.” Hey, we’re all for it.

You’ve got Edward Norton, an actor best known for his dark roles in Fight Club and American History X, and then we have his volunteer/charity organization Crowdrise, with the slogan, “If You Don’t Give Back No One Will Like You”. So, what exactly is their goal? I think I’ve figured it out: making fundraising and volunteering fun.

It’s a simple idea, and based off of the website (with phrasings like, “Please only read all this if you’re super bored or you’re writing a paper on ways to give back and you’re looking for something to plagiarize”), and their newest campaign,the Crowdrise Holiday Fundraiser Thing (CHFT), their target audience is young people. It should come as no surprise then that in order to motivate the social media oriented youth culture that Crowdrise so relies on, they’ve recruited an all-star celeb roster of participants for the CHFT; Ashton Kutcher, Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Kristen Bell, Paul Rudd, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Sophia Bush, Jason Bateman, Patricia Arquette, Russell Brand, John Legend, to name a few.


Crowdrise recently partnered with the New York Road Runners to help raise over $30 million for the ING New York City Marathon, and they’re hoping for an even bigger turnout with the CHFT campaign.

Just how are they going to do that? Well, they’re making it simple, accessible, and tempting users with the promise that you can actually help a celebrity, side-by-side, to raise donations for their chosen charity. In a way, it’s genius because our culture drools at the opportunity to be closer to celebrities, so perhaps their idea just might work.

The press release stated that, “Crowdrise is encouraging, and really peer pressuring, the rest of the world to get involved in a few different ways”. Which includes joining a celebrity’s fundraising team to help them raise money for their cause (i.e. you can join Paul Rudd and the American Cancer Society by reaching out to friends and family and asking everyone to donate). Or you can start your own personal fundraising team, and for extra incentive Judd Apatow is donating $3k to the top three non-celebrity fundraising campaigns. And lastly you can donate to any charity and send a holiday e-card to the person you’re donating on behalf of.

Edward Norton recently said, “People like to do nice things for each other and have fun around the holidays so we put this together in that spirit. And, hey, if you can get a guy with a 3rd degree black belt and a reputation for fierce, dark action films like Judd Apatow to bring out his funnier, goofy and generous side, you’ve got to be doing something right.”

In addition to celeb partnerships, Crowdrise is offering amazing prizes and contests for those “slightly self-interested” folks who donate and fundraise. Included in these is a cowbell signed by Will Ferrell, a signed Ashton Kutcher poster for the movie No Strings Attached (which isn’t even out yet), and a Live Chat with Paul Rudd.

Crowdrise said that they’re hoping their campaign will “result in the whole world embracing and French-kissing each other like mad come New Year’s Eve.” Hey, we’re all for it.

In a talk last night at the Graduate School of Design, actor and philanthropist Edward H. Norton emphasized that young people have the tools to change the world.

The lecture, “Social Entrepreneurship and the Built Environment—James Rouse and His Legacy,” discussed advocacy for sustainable urban development by the late James Rouse, Norton’s grandfather.

During the talk, Norton discussed Rouse’s legacy as an urban planner with Jonathan F. P. Rose, who founded an urban development firm. Rouse designed Norton’s hometown of Columbia, Md. and Faneuil Hall in Boston.

“He was very ahead of his time in social ethics,” Norton said of his grandfather.

Rose added that Rouse’s greatest strength was that “he had a holistic view of developing...he could see the whole.”

This “holistic view” was presented as the need to consider all aspects of the urban society, including education, infrastructure and the environment when developing a city.

“A city isn’t just a dense bunch of buildings,” Rose said. “[They] will not work unless people have a connection with nature.”

In spite of the economic downturn, Norton thinks his grandfather would still be optimistic about the future of urban sustainability. “I think he believed recessions are drivers of change,” he said. “He would say ‘go at the hardest things because no problem is insoluble.”

Although the overall message was hopeful, Rose and Norton noted the U.S. cannot always take its position in the world for granted.

In terms of infrastructure, “the U.S. is left behind,” Rose said, citing China’s rapid development as an example.

“I think more young people need to start embracing that we’re not number one,” Norton said.

Attendees said they felt inspired by the messages of Norton, Rose, and, by extension, Rouse.

“Usually at these lectures you get people with great end results but don’t know how to get there,” Allen J. MacLeod ’14 said. “However, they were able to cite examples of what has worked and it was very well conceived.”

Norton himself said he still feels the influence of Rouse.

“He remains a very active presence and inspiration,” Norton said.

In a talk last night at the Graduate School of Design, actor and philanthropist Edward H. Norton emphasized that young people have the tools to change the world.

The lecture, “Social Entrepreneurship and the Built Environment—James Rouse and His Legacy,” discussed advocacy for sustainable urban development by the late James Rouse, Norton’s grandfather.

During the talk, Norton discussed Rouse’s legacy as an urban planner with Jonathan F. P. Rose, who founded an urban development firm. Rouse designed Norton’s hometown of Columbia, Md. and Faneuil Hall in Boston.

“He was very ahead of his time in social ethics,” Norton said of his grandfather.

Rose added that Rouse’s greatest strength was that “he had a holistic view of developing...he could see the whole.”

This “holistic view” was presented as the need to consider all aspects of the urban society, including education, infrastructure and the environment when developing a city.

“A city isn’t just a dense bunch of buildings,” Rose said. “[They] will not work unless people have a connection with nature.”

In spite of the economic downturn, Norton thinks his grandfather would still be optimistic about the future of urban sustainability. “I think he believed recessions are drivers of change,” he said. “He would say ‘go at the hardest things because no problem is insoluble.”

Although the overall message was hopeful, Rose and Norton noted the U.S. cannot always take its position in the world for granted.

In terms of infrastructure, “the U.S. is left behind,” Rose said, citing China’s rapid development as an example.

“I think more young people need to start embracing that we’re not number one,” Norton said.

Attendees said they felt inspired by the messages of Norton, Rose, and, by extension, Rouse.

“Usually at these lectures you get people with great end results but don’t know how to get there,” Allen J. MacLeod ’14 said. “However, they were able to cite examples of what has worked and it was very well conceived.”

Norton himself said he still feels the influence of Rouse.

“He remains a very active presence and inspiration,” Norton said.

Edward Woodward cemented his iconic status when he starred in British movie The Wicker Man, which has gone on to gain cult status over the years.

But at the age of seventy nine the actor has passed away from a series of illnesses, including pneumonia.

A young Woodward always dreamed of being an actor and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). In 1946 he began his acting career on the stage, mainly as a Shakespearean actor up and down the country.

In 1955 he made his debut in London and went on to work on the likes of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet in the West End.

He would go onto tread the boards on Broadway and down under in Australia.

By the mid fifties he was also juggling movie roles, making his debut in 1955 in Where There's A Will, an adaptation of R.F. Delderfields' play.

He appeared in the likes of Becket, Sitting Target and Hunted over the coming years but it's his 1973 role as devout Christian Police Sergeant Neil Howie for which he best remembered.

Sergeant Howie, a naive young police officer sent to Summerisle, a secluded island off the coast of Scotland, to investigate the disappearance of a young girl named Rowan. When he arrives there, he finds a very tight-knit community that is mistrustful and hostile to outsiders.

No one is willing to even acknowledge Rowan's disappearance. Soon, Howie begins to realize that the town might, in fact, be a strange pagan cult, one given to unbridled sexuality and possible human sacrifice.

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Seeking an audience with the oddly civilized Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), Howie hopes to get to the bottom of the mystery, but instead he finds something more shocking than he could have ever imagined.

But when it was released the movie only enjoyed mediocre success and it only the years since then that it has become the critical hit that it now is, today it is considered one of the best British horror movies of all time.

Other movie performances include Australian movie Breaker Morant, his performance brought the movie to worldwide recognition. And more recently he appeared in Hot Fuzz.

As well as making a name for himself on both the stage and the big screen Woodward also moved into television and during his career appearing in 2000 projects for the small screen.

He worked on the likes of American show The Equalizer, which followed a British former intelligence operative, running for four years in the eighties.

The actor has suffered two heart attacks and underwent a triple bypass surgery in 1996. In 2003 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The actor died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro earlier today at the age of seventy nine. he is survived by wife Michele Dotrice and three children; Tim Woodward, Peter Woodward and Emily Beth.

Edward Woodward cemented his iconic status when he starred in British movie The Wicker Man, which has gone on to gain cult status over the years.

But at the age of seventy nine the actor has passed away from a series of illnesses, including pneumonia.

A young Woodward always dreamed of being an actor and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). In 1946 he began his acting career on the stage, mainly as a Shakespearean actor up and down the country.

In 1955 he made his debut in London and went on to work on the likes of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet in the West End.

He would go onto tread the boards on Broadway and down under in Australia.

By the mid fifties he was also juggling movie roles, making his debut in 1955 in Where There's A Will, an adaptation of R.F. Delderfields' play.

He appeared in the likes of Becket, Sitting Target and Hunted over the coming years but it's his 1973 role as devout Christian Police Sergeant Neil Howie for which he best remembered.

Sergeant Howie, a naive young police officer sent to Summerisle, a secluded island off the coast of Scotland, to investigate the disappearance of a young girl named Rowan. When he arrives there, he finds a very tight-knit community that is mistrustful and hostile to outsiders.

No one is willing to even acknowledge Rowan's disappearance. Soon, Howie begins to realize that the town might, in fact, be a strange pagan cult, one given to unbridled sexuality and possible human sacrifice.

Comment on this Article
Seeking an audience with the oddly civilized Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), Howie hopes to get to the bottom of the mystery, but instead he finds something more shocking than he could have ever imagined.

But when it was released the movie only enjoyed mediocre success and it only the years since then that it has become the critical hit that it now is, today it is considered one of the best British horror movies of all time.

Other movie performances include Australian movie Breaker Morant, his performance brought the movie to worldwide recognition. And more recently he appeared in Hot Fuzz.

As well as making a name for himself on both the stage and the big screen Woodward also moved into television and during his career appearing in 2000 projects for the small screen.

He worked on the likes of American show The Equalizer, which followed a British former intelligence operative, running for four years in the eighties.

The actor has suffered two heart attacks and underwent a triple bypass surgery in 1996. In 2003 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The actor died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro earlier today at the age of seventy nine. he is survived by wife Michele Dotrice and three children; Tim Woodward, Peter Woodward and Emily Beth.