Fundraising Efforts
The USOC asks for contributions from time to time using public service announcements and other direct solicitations. Also, some proceeds from sales in its online store benefit the committee.
Unlike some other organizations, it does not have telethons or other prominent fundraising events. The only known telethon in USOC history was Olympa-Thon '79, which took place on NBC from primetime on April 21 through late night on April 22 in 1979. Participants included the reunited duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, O.J. Simpson and various Olympians. NBC used the event not only to raise funds to the USOC, but to promote its coverage of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Of course, the USOC then boycotted the Games and NBC aired only a few hours of coverage on an ad hoc basis. In addition, WBZ-TV in Boston and KYW-TV in Philadelphia chose to air a series of documentaries about the Olympics by filmmaker Bud Greenspan in lieu of the telethon. Both stations frequently pre-empted network shows in those days, as did most Westinghouse-owned TV stations prior to their switch to CBS in 1995.
Read more about this topic: United States Olympic Committee
Famous quotes containing the word efforts:
“With all the efforts made by modern society to nurture and educate the young, how stupid it is to permit the mothers of young children to spend themselves in the coarser work of the world!”
—Jane Addams (1860–1935)