It can even get so that publicists treat nonprofits as icing on their clients' cake. The head of one very well-established relief organization tells a story about getting a call from a now-famous young actor's agent.

"About 10 years ago, I got a call from someone saying, 'I'm so-and-so's agent, and I've got him on 'The Tonight Show' tonight, and he wants to talk about the charitable work that he does. We'd like to say that he's doing stuff for you. Can we say that and I'll get a commitment from him to do something for you later?' So I said, 'Why don't you have a check from him brought over to the office before he goes and tapes the show this afternoon, and then he's more than welcome to say that he supports international relief, because it'll be true. But to have him show up at an event, where he won't even help sell tickets? No!' And the guy couldn't believe I was saying no."

Still, regardless of what a celebrity's motivation for getting involved is, matchmakers and nonprofits agree that a philanthropic organization, no matter how big, has more to gain from a famous supporter than a celebrity does from the nonprofit. In the cutthroat world of nonprofit fundraising, star endorsement is critical to visibility, and nonprofits are willing to pay for it.

According to Bennet Weiner, of the Better Business Bureau's Philanthropic Advisory Board Council, there are 715,000 tax-exempt charities in the United States, and about 30,000 or more new organizations get tax-exempt status each year. "With that continuing growth," he says, "there's a lot of competition for the charitable dollar and also a lot of competition for attention. And I think it's no mystery that organizations seek out famous names to help them achieve that." That politicians and donors are swayed by famous lobbyists and pitchmen is all but impossible to dispute.

"You don't want to be the director of the one major charity in the country that said, 'Oh, I'm not going to have a celebrity. Screw the celebrities,'" says Greenberg. "You have them, you tolerate them and you use them to the extent that you want to use them."

But charities can sometimes be naive about the negative side of working with celebrities. For one thing, it can be expensive. It's very rare, for instance, for a celebrity to cover the expense of his or her appearance at a fundraising event. Furthermore, if a singer, say, agrees to perform for free, the nonprofit will be expected to pay the backup musicians, the lighting people, the sound people and all of the technicians, as well as cover the cost of rentals. First-class travel and accommodations are also expected to be provided by the charity. All told, a "free" celebrity performance can wind up costing $50,000. In some cases, a charity may lose money instead of raising it.

Some celebrity involvement can cost a nonprofit even more. Ed Haines of the World Literacy Crusade (a grass-roots literacy drive in Compton, Calif.) claims his organization has had "90 percent good experiences" with celebrities who participate in events for free or for reduced rates. "But some experiences that have started off as a gesture of a charitable nature become more and more expensive as time goes on, and we start spending money on things that, in our view, are not really necessary. So it cuts into the whole purpose of doing the event, which is fundraising."

"In one particular incident," he says, "we were working with an airline that was donating about $25,000 worth of tickets to bring in this performing group. And because it was an in-kind donation, there were certain requirements in terms of getting the tickets handled within a certain amount of time. The group was constantly changing the flight information, which created a major problem. Then they threatened not to come, but we'd already promoted the event. It finally worked out, but it's just the aggravation and the attitudes that you have to deal with. And also the destruction of the relationship with another supporter, the airline."

"What the organizations don't understand," Greenberg replies when asked about the expense involved in using celebrities for fundraising, "is that you must have an organization that is functioning and successful. And then you add the celebrities as a cherry on top of this sundae. You don't start out and say, 'Let's begin with a celebrity.' The organizations that I have no use for and no pity for are those organizations that are trying to succeed on the pull of a big name."

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