Half Mil from A-Rod and Ogilvy is signed on to help.

I plucked the first part of this story from the SFGate: Daily Dish. VERY GREAT!


Madonna's friendship with baseball player Alex Rodriguez has reportedly helped her land a $500,000 charity donation from the star.

Rodriguez is alleged to have made the contribution to Madonna's charity, Raising Malawi, which helps the African nation's one million orphans gain access to food, education and medical care.

A source tells the New York Daily News: "They've asked him for a million dollars, and I hear he's agreed to give at least $500,000.

The sportsman's generosity comes just a month after rampant speculation he was engaged in an affair with Madonna.

The singer has since denied the allegations, insisting she and husband Guy Ritchie remain happily married.

Raising Malawi director Philippe van den Bossche says, "Obviously when you're talking about donors, these are private things. I would never reveal information about any donor."

Bossche denies claims that Madonna's plans to build a girls' school with the funding will include a Kabbalah-based curriculum.

He adds, "We're building a girls' school, which will bring the best resources from around the world with a specific focus on medicine, education and the law.

"It will be based on the British system -- as is taught in private schools Madonna's children Lourdes and Rocco attend. ... We want programs that can be copied in developing countries throughout the world. Not just a celebrity one-off."

A spokesperson for Rodriguez has not returned calls for comment.

(xxx)

I have no idea if the $500,000 donation is true or not, but sounds feasible and wonderful.

As the new volunteer fundraising coordinator for Raising Malawi, I can tell you that Philippe has been briefing me on a couple of great projects they have going on, one of them being this Leadership Academy for Girls. It's beyond brilliant. But they need funding and they need it now.

I'm a strategic planner at Ogilvy & Mather, one of the best advertising agencies in the world. Perhaps you've read the book?

Until now, I've always tried to keep my personal and professional lives separate. But learning about this concept, I can't not bring my worlds together. We need to get the word out about this amazing Academy so we can fund it right --meaning, the concept can be replicated around the world. As Philippe explained to me, for this model to work, we cannot solely rely on celebrities and big checks. It's going to come down to each one of us who can appreciate what's possible in the world when we empower girls.

I'll say more about it next week, but here's the AMAZING news from me this week. I presented this opportunity to Dan Burrier, the Co-President of Ogilvy West (LA/SF), who immediately said YES and promised we'll do something big in a big way - "this is an amazing opportunity for the girls of Malawi--have you read, 'Three Cups of Tea,' btw"?

I work for Dan and brown-nosing is totally not my style, but I'll just say, he gets it and it's great. He and his wife Lauri are very active with The Hunger Project (also brilliant) and Rwanda, Uganda; Africa in general. He identified a creative DREAM TEAM this week and we'll get briefed by Philippe next Tuesday.

You know how I'm always saying, 'I'm going to raise $101K by Christmas, but I don't know how'? It just became clear to me. It's only a short matter of time, now.