Organizers for the all-star "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon say the event raised $57 million - and counting.
"The public has set a new standard of giving for a relief telethon with 'Hope for Haiti Now,' and the donations continue to come in," Lisa Paulsen, president and CEO of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, said in a statement released Saturday. The group is helping to oversee the funds gathered from the event.
The two-hour telethon aired Friday night on the major networks and dozens of other channels, including MTV, Bravo, and PBS, and was also streamed live online. Stars like Brad Pitt, Beyoncé, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and more used their presence to encourage donations for Haiti, following a Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people.
The total released Saturday includes money raised by phone, text and the Web. It does not include donations by corporations or via iTunes, where people are able to buy performances of the event for 99 cents each, or the entire album for $7.99. Those funds also go to Haiti relief.
The "Hope for Haiti Now" CD is the biggest one-day pre-order in the site's history and the new song "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" by Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bono and The Edge, debuted during the telethon, is the No. 1 single on iTunes.
People can donate via text, phone or through the "Hope for Haiti" Web site for the next six months. Among the organizations who will receive funds from the telethon include Oxfam America, UNICEF, and the Clinton-Bush Haiti Foundation.