Every Time a Shopper in Times Square Uses Their MasterCard, MasterCard Worldwide Will Donate $1 to Stand Up To CancerPromotion Runs from Nov. 26 through Dec. 31 at Midnight
December 1, 2010 – MasterCard, the official payment card of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration, will make a donation of $1 per transaction, up to $1.5 million total, to Stand Up To Cancer every time a visitor to Times Square uses their MasterCard at any of the 90 participating businesses in the Times Square-area between November 26, 2010 and December 31, 2010 at midnight.
During this period, any time a visitor to Times Square uses their MasterCard to book a hotel room, buy tickets to a Broadway show, dines out, goes holiday shopping, or just simply buys a toothbrush at any of these 90 participating businesses, MasterCard will make a $1 donation per
transaction. A full list of the 90 participating business is available online at www.TimesSquareNYC.org.
This effort by Times Square New Year’s Eve (co-produced by Times Square Alliance and countdown Entertainment), MasterCard Worldwide and Stand Up To Cancer is being promoted at New York City airports, on taxi cabs, in print publications, and online.
Additionally, public service announcements promoting this fundraising drive will run on nearly half-a-dozen of the world- renowned electronic billboards in Times Square during the month of December, including American Eagle Outfitters, MTV, NASDAQ, Reuters, and TSQ Digital.
Public service announcements, interviews, and celebrity content about Stand Up To Cancer’s efforts also will be seen around the world during the Times Square New Year’s Eve Worldwide Webcast.
“We are thrilled that so many of our businesses at the Crossroads of the World have chosen to join this first-of-its-kind charitable partnership with Stand Up To Cancer spread hope for the New Year,” said Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins. “On New Year’s Eve, we all wish for a brighter future for ourselves and others. With every dollar
MasterCard donates to Stand Up To Cancer for research, we can bring hope to millions of people around the world.”
“Extending our support for Stand Up To Cancer allows MasterCard to leverage the power of our brand to continue to help raise funds for cancer research during the holiday season and leading up to the New Year’s Eve celebration,” said Alfredo Gangotena, Chief Marketing Office, MasterCard Worldwide. “Stand Up To Cancer’s mission to find a cure and improve the lives of millions of people around the world resonates deeply with our employees, cardholders and merchants, and we are proud to align ourselves with this effort.”
Every day, cancer kills 1,500 Americans – one person every minute. This year, more than 560,000 Americans and almost 8 million people worldwide will succumb to cancer. Stand Up To Cancer raises funds for groundbreaking translational cancer research to accelerate the delivery of new therapies to patients, getting them from the “bench to the bedside” as quickly as possible. While one in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime, twelve million Americans are currently surviving with cancer. Stand Up To Cancer has brought together researchers to work collaboratively—rather than competitively—at a critical time in the field of cancer research where scientists are poised to push the disease from one that takes far too many lives to a survivable and, ultimately, curable one.
“The concept of ‘collaboration’ is key to Stand Up To Cancer and is evident in all we do – the teamwork of our grant recipients, the unprecedented cooperation of the broadcast networks and cable providers who aired our fundraising specials, and the celebrity
ambassadors who come together to raise awareness for our efforts,” said Rusty Robertson and Sue Schwartz, two founding members of Stand up To Cancer and partners in the Robertson Schwartz Agency. “We are grateful to the participating Times Square businesses in support of a future without cancer.”
SU2C’s INNOVATIVE RESEARCH MODEL
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) was established in 2008 by leaders from the film and media industries who utilize the resources of those businesses in unique ways to get the public involved in supporting a new model of cancer research. The group produced two major televised events, in 2008 and 2010, that raised funds for teams of scientists collaborating on research that will get new therapies to patients quickly in order to save lives now. More than 100 celebrities participated in each program, conveying how cancer connects us all, and telling the stories both of people who survived the disease, as well as those taken by it. All of the major U.S. TV networks donated airtime for the broadcasts, which ran in more than 175 countries and raised millions of dollars for research. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and a Scientific Advisory Committee led by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D. selected the teams of researchers to be funded with these monies through a rigorous, competitive process. More than 200 scientists from 50 institutions around the world are currently involved in SU2C research projects. To date, $83.4 million worth of grants have been made.
About the Entertainment Industry Foundation
Stand Up To Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), the 501(c)(3)
not-for-profit organization that serves as the collective philanthropy for the television and film businesses. EIF has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to support programs addressing critical health, education and social issues. For more information, visit www.eifoundation.org.
About New Year’s Eve in Times Square / Times Square Alliance
Times Square New Year’s Eve is the largest celebration of its kind in the world, attracting one million people to New York City’s Times Square and 100 billion television viewers from across the world. It is produced by the Times Square Alliance and Countdown Production. The Times Square Alliance works to enhance and promote Times Square, including providing safety and sanitation services, managing the City’s Tourism Center, and advocating on behalf of its constituents on public policy, planning and quality of life issues. More information about the Times Square Alliance is available at www.TimesSquareNYC.org.
About MasterCard Worldwide
As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2009, $2.5 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 22 billion transactions each year, has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPassTM and MasterCard inControlTM. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews.
Media Contacts:
For Stand Up To Cancer & Times Square New Year’s Eve:
Peter Foley, Rubenstein Communications
Tel: 212-843-8308 / Cell 917-748-0069
E-mail: pfoley@rubenstein.com
Kristen Bothwell, Rubenstein Communications
Tel: 212-843-9227
E-mail:
<ahref=”mailto:kbothwell@rubenstein.com”>
Participating Businesses
as of November 15
|
|
</ahref=”mailto:kbothwell@rubenstein.com”>