SixDegrees.org is a charity led by actor, musician, and philanthropist Kevin Bacon. Launched on January 18, 2007, the organization builds on the popularity of the " small world phenomenon" by enabling people to become "celebrities for their own causes" by donating to or raising money for any charity in the United States. In March 2014, the organization celebrated the 20th anniversary of the

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon or Bacon's Law is a parlor game where players challenge each other to arbitrarily choose an actor and then connect them to another actor via a film that both actors have appeared in together, repeating this process to t ...

game by announcing plans to connect local changemakers with recognized celebrities through "drop-ins" and "shout-outs". Grassroots causes can submit events directly through the site and celebrities can contact the organization for help finding a cause anywhere in the world.

History

To launch SixDegrees.org, Bacon attended the opening weekend of the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...

, where he and other celebrities encouraged charitable giving.January 18, 2007, press release fro
Network for GoodAbout Network for Good/
By 2010, when Bacon was honored for his charitable activities by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, SixDegrees.org had raised nearly $3 million. Speaking at a

Make a Difference Day ''USA Weekend'' was an American weekend newspaper magazine owned by the Gannett Company. Structured as a sister publication to Gannett's flagship newspaper ''USA Today'' and distributed in the Sunday editions of participating local newspapers, ...

appearance in 2012, Bacon explained that he had initially disliked the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game when it first became popular, but later decided that he should make use of its popularity for something positive that would carry his personal brand, and he joked: "I didn't really like the sound of The

Footloose Footloose may refer to: * ''Footloose'' (1984 film), a musical film ** ''Footloose'' (1984 soundtrack) ** "Footloose" (song), performed by Kenny Loggins * ''Footloose'' (2011 film), a remake of the 1984 film ** ''Footloose'' (2011 soundtrack) ...

Foundation." Bacon headquartered SixDegrees.org in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

. During the first three weeks, more than 87,000 dollars in donations were generated on the site.Kevin Bacon launches SixDegrees.org
''Grist'', June 10, 2017.

Business model

Bacon was influenced to start SixDegrees.org because of a game called

. This game was made up to link Kevin Bacon to another arbitrarily-chosen actor. In this game an actor is selected at random and in six connections or less this actor is linked to Kevin Bacon. Bacon realized he could do the same thing with charitable organizations. He used this ideology of linking celebrities to charities to create the business model of SixDegrees.org. The mission of SixDegrees.org is social networking with social consciousness. The goal of SixDegrees.org is to use celebrities pre-existing social media platforms to gain exposure on charitable organizations within their communities. Kevin Bacon's goal is to encourage everyone to be a celebrity and start their own movement.

Success stories

Bacon matched the top six non-celebrity fundraisers with 10,000 dollars during SixDegrees.org's first year. Other companies began to take notice of this generosity. The clothing company

Hanes Hanes (founded in 1900) and Hanes Her Way (founded in 1985) is a brand of clothing. History Hanes was founded in 1900 by John Wesley Hanes (one of Winston-Salem's wealthiest and most influential business men) at Winston, North Carolina under th ...

provided a 10,000-dollar grant to six charitable organizations that they found inspiring. These include Saving Georgia Dogs, Dachshund Rescue of North America Inc, Saving Shelter Pets Incorporated, Kat5 Animal Rescue Inc, Animal Action Rescue, and

Maine People's Resource Center Maine People's Resource Center (MPRC) is a liberal 501(c)(3) organization, formed in 1984. Its mission is to teach everyday people the skills necessary to participate in the political process, with the overall mission of advancing progressive polici ...

.SixDegrees Blogspot
June 14, 2017.

Notable projects

References

External links