Betty White, Fran Drescher, Donny and Marie Osmond, Magic Johnson, Gary Sinise, Kristin Bauer, and Kathy Buckley Join Paul Mitchell Schools’ 2012 “FUNraising” Campaign

For the ninth consecutive year, the nationwide network of Paul Mitchell beauty schools will spend the months of February through April raising money for charitable organizations. Their goal: An all-time high of $2 million. Their partners: A host of superstar celebrities representing nine spectacular charities.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Betty White, Donny and Marie Osmond, Fran Drescher, and Kathy Buckley back again this year,” said Paul Mitchell Schools Dean and Cofounder Winn Claybaugh, “and we are so excited to add Gary Sinise, Magic Johnson, and Kristin Bauer to our ‘FUNraising’ family. Each of these incredible individuals will play an active role in motivating and encouraging our 16,000 future professionals as they take part in thousands of grassroots events, from cut-a-thons and car washes to fashion shows and charity balls. They’ve also joined an elite group of wonderful celebrities who’ve supported us in the past, including Dolly Parton, Larry King, Vidal Sassoon, and Leeza Gibbons.”

In 2011, the schools raised a record-breaking $1.7 million, bringing their eight-year total to over $6 million. This year, they’ve set their sights on hitting the $2 million mark for nine organizations.

• Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, represented by Donny and Marie Osmond
• Morris Animal Foundation, represented by Betty White
• Fran Drescher’s Cancer Schmancer Foundation
• Magic Johnson Foundation, represented by Earvin “Magic” Johnson
• Gary Sinise Foundation, represented by Gary Sinise
• Best Friends Animal Society, represented by Kristin Bauer
• No Limits, represented by comedian/motivational speaker Kathy Buckley
• Food 4 Africa, represented by John Paul DeJoria
• Andrew Gomez Dream Foundation, the schools’ own nonprofit organization
   

Returning to the campaign for their third year, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals founders Donny and Marie Osmond said, “We all have a responsibility to give back and help others. The way they’ve reached out locally to the 170-plus Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals with their love, service, and passion, Paul Mitchell Schools have shown that giving back is not just about raising money.”

Emmy-award winning TV star and animal activist Betty White has served on the Morris Animal Foundation board of trustees since 1971. Since its inception in 1948, the foundation has funded more than 1,600 humane animal health studies. Today, its funding supports more than 200 animal health and welfare research studies each year at the world’s most respected research institutions, colleges of veterinary medicine, and zoos. Betty is the organization’s president emeritus and she has sponsored nearly 30 health studies for the foundation. “Partnering with Paul Mitchell Schools is such a wonderful opportunity to help advance the health and well-being of our animal friends,” she said. “On behalf of Morris Animal Foundation, thank you.”

Fran Drescher, TV’s “The Nanny,” participated in the 2009 campaign on behalf of her Cancer Schmancer Movement, which she founded to help ensure that women’s cancers be diagnosed while in stage 1, when they are most curable. “I’m so happy to be part of the Paul Mitchell fundraising effort,” she said. “Together, through education, prevention, and policy change, we are going to see a healthier tomorrow. And thanks to you guys, it will be a more beautiful one, too.”

Actor Gary Sinise, known as Forrest Gump’s Lieutenant Dan and CSI: NY’s Detective Mac Taylor, said, “I'm very grateful to the Paul Mitchell Schools for their commitment to the Gary Sinise Foundation’s mission. Together, we will help to ensure that the incredible sacrifices of our nation’s defenders and their families are always honored and appreciated. We’re proud to begin what is certain to be a productive partnership on their FUNraising campaign.” 

Basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, founder of the Magic Johnson Foundation, adds, “No one person wins championships; it takes a team effort. This has always been my motto. ‘Team effort’ is what the Paul Mitchell Schools represent to me, so I’m really excited to be a part of their FUNraising campaign’s Championship Team!”

Deaf comedian and motivational speaker Kathy Buckley has long been a friend to Paul Mitchell Schools, appearing at their annual Las Vegas Caper educational retreat for the past few years and speaking at numerous schools throughout the country. “The Paul Mitchell schools are about building confidence and self-esteem in their Future Professionals, and now they have extended that same gift to our deaf children at No Limits. Our children and families are forever grateful. Who says there can’t be a heaven on earth?”

The FUNraising Gala dinner, the highlight of the annual campaign, takes place on May 7, 2012, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. This year’s gala will be co-hosted by Winn Claybaugh, John Paul Mitchell Systems CEO John Paul DeJoria, Paul Mitchell co-owner Angus Mitchell, with additional support from Betty White, Fran Drescher, Donny and Marie Osmond, and representatives of the other supported charities. The event celebrates all of the participating schools while raising additional money.

Paul Mitchell Schools proudly report that the cost incurred in raising the $6 million has been just $107,255—an amazingly low 1.78%, especially compared to the national average of 25%. “At our Paul Mitchell Schools’ family, we are very proud of our commitment to raising money and awareness for a variety of causes and organizations,” Winn Claybaugh says. “We do not spend $300,000 to raise $1 million. Last year, our Paul Mitchell future professionals raised $1.7 million, and we gave $1.7 million to our beneficiaries.”

Some of the top beneficiaries to date include:

Visit www.paulmitchellschoolsFUNraising.org for more information.

About Paul Mitchell Schools

At Paul Mitchell Schools, we believe that education is an adventure and the learning experience needs to be fun. Our instructors—we call them “learning leaders”—are trained to draw out the artist in every student and prepare them to compete in the real world. Through our annual “FUNraising” campaign, we’ve raised and donated millions of dollars in support of many charitable causes. We’ve built homes with Habitat for Humanity, fed thousands of African orphans, and supported the victims of AIDS, breast cancer, homelessness, abuse, and hundreds of other causes.

Established 30 years ago, the Paul Mitchell network is nearly 100,000 salons strong and in 81 countries worldwide; every professional hairdresser knows the Paul Mitchell name. Now, with the arrival of Paul Mitchell Schools, we’ve taken the world of cosmetology education by storm! Visit www.paulmitchell.edu to learn more.
 

About the Supported Charities

CHILDREN’S MIRACLE NETWORK HOSPITALS create miracles by funding medical care, research, and education that saves and improves the lives of 17 million children each year. Countless individuals, organizations, and media partners unite with the 170 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals to help sick and injured kids in local communities.

MORRIS ANIMAL FOUNDATION helps animals enjoy longer, healthier lives. We advance health and welfare research that protects, treats, and cures companion animals, horses, and wildlife worldwide.

THE MAGIC JOHNSON FOUNDATION supports educational empowerment through HIV/AIDS awareness, college access, and digital literacy.

THE GARY SINISE FOUNDATION helps build custom-designed “smart homes” for our nation’s most severely wounded warriors while supporting active duty service members, veterans, first responders, and the children and families of our fallen.

CANCER SCHMANCER MOVEMENT, founded by Fran Drescher, is an education and advocacy organization dedicated to saving lives through prevention and early detection of cancer. By empowering ourselves and the people we love to become medical consumers, listen to our bodies, ask the right questions of our doctors, and seek second opinions, we can prevent cancer and, if we still end up with it, detect cancer in its earliest stages.

NO LIMITS offers a one-of-a-kind national theatre group and an after-school educational program that enhance the confidence and communication skills for low-income deaf children, as well as provides underserved deaf children with the leadership and academic skills to be college ready.

BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY helps with animal rescue, disaster response, and public education, working with humane groups, individuals, and communities to set up spay/neuter, shelter, foster, and adoption programs.

FOOD 4 AFRICA is committed to supplying at least one vitamin- and mineral-enriched meal each day to the children of South Africa, where the HIV/AIDS epidemic has left countless numbers of orphaned children and more than a million preschool children do not receive sufficient food.

THE ANDREW GOMEZ DREAM FOUNDATION was founded to honor a successful Paul Mitchell School graduate whose struggle against mental illness ended tragically in suicide. The foundation helps disadvantaged or hard-hit cosmetologists and cosmetology-related enterprises. Funds have provided educational opportunities, hurricane relief, and support in the fights against breast cancer, domestic violence, and other destroyers of self-esteem.