ANIMAL PLANET AND GLOBALGIVING JOIN FORCES TO MAXIMIZE FUNDRAISING FOR THE NETWORK’S CHARITABLE GIVING INITIATIVE – R.O.A.R.
New Partnership Gives Consumers and Viewers the Opportunity to Support Leading Animal Organizations and Their Key Programs
April 4, 2011
(Silver Spring, MD) - Animal Planet and GlobalGiving are working together to increase fundraising opportunities for participants in the network's non-profit initiative, R.O.A.R., which stands for Reach Out. Act. Respond. This new partnership allows participating R.O.A.R. charities to raise additional funds online from consumers while also continuing to receive donations through the sale of Animal Planet's consumer products. Participating organizations include: American Humane Association, Earthwatch Institute, the Jane Goodall Institute, National Wildlife Federation, the Petfinder.com Foundation, South Shore Natural Science Center, Villalobos Rescue Center and Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors Worldwide. Beginning this fall, Animal Planet will enhance its partnership with GlobalGiving by developing a matching campaign during which consumer donations will be matched dollar for dollar from the sale of Animal Planet licensed products. To donate to R.O.A.R. charities and read more about the specific projects, consumers can visit www.globalgiving.org/ROAR. To read more about the initiative, consumers can visit www.animalplanet.com/roar.
The R.O.A.R. partners benefitting from this new donation platform help wild and domestic animals in the U.S. and abroad. Consumers will have the opportunity to donate to the R.O.A.R. Fund, which will be divided evenly among all of the R.O.A.R. partners, or contribute to projects individually. Projects range from helping homeless dogs, to protecting wild chimpanzees, to supporting animal emergency responders, to adopting a wildlife acre. The partnership will also allow Animal Planet to mobilize its supporters around timely issues impacting animals and the environment such as the crisis in Japan. Consumers interested in helping animals affected by this recent disaster can donate to the American Humane Association's Red Star Animal Emergency Services Program.
"Animal Planet is excited that our partnership with GlobalGiving gives us a chance to engage and activate our viewers to act on behalf of animals in a direct and meaningful way," says Victoria Lowell, senior vice president of marketing and operations for Animal Planet Media. "Our hope is that together with consumers we will help R.O.A.R. charities meet their goals and further the great work they are doing to improve the world for animals."
Established in 2006, Animal Planet's R.O.A.R, is a key Discovery Impact nonprofit initiative dedicated to improving the lives of animals in our communities and in the wild. The campaign aligns Animal Planet with a powerful roster of leading animal and environmental organizations. Animal Planet licensees contribute a portion of their sales to R.O.A.R with the intention of giving something back to the animals that the network celebrates daily. The Animal Planet consumer products program includes pet products and lifestyle products from apparel to toys to home décor. Products span across all channels of distribution from mass to specialty. To see some of the Animal Planet R.O.A.R. products, consumers can visit http://animal.discovery.com/in-stores-now/ and look for the R.O.A.R. Contributor notation.
About Animal Planet Media Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 97 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.
About Discovery Impact Through its Discovery Impact programs, Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCAB, DISCK) leverages the power of its brands, businesses and employees to give back to the world. From programming that inspires and educates to annual events that make a direct impact on the communities in which we live and work, Discovery strives to celebrate, support and sustain the majesty of the earth's people, animals and natural beauty. For more information about how Discovery is making an impact, please visit: http://impact.discovery.com.
About GlobalGiving GlobalGiving (www.globalgiving.org) enables individuals and organizations to find and direct funds to high-impact, grassroots projects. By aggregating many donors, GlobalGiving is creating a new source of funding for people with innovative solutions to challenging world issues. Corporate partners include Pepsi, Discovery Communications, Gap, Inc., Ford Motor Company, and Nike, among others. In addition, major funding partners include Omidyar Network, the Hewlett Foundation, and Sall Family Foundation. To date the GlobalGiving community has made over $40 million in contributions to more than 3,800 projects around the world.
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