Seth McFarlane Is Making Your ‘Reading Rainbow’ Donation Worth Twice As Much
After expectations and raising more than $1 million in less than a day, the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter campaign is still going strong with five more days to go and more than $4 million raised — plus as much as an additional $1 million from Seth McFarlane.
Actor and “Family Guy” creator Seth McFarlane has pledged to match every dollar after the $4 million mark, up to $1 million, in a pledge that Levar Burton called a “stupendous offer.”
Burton made the announcement in a video update on the Reading Rainbow campaign page, thoroughly expressing his excitement and gratitude toward his pal andencouraging Reading Rainbow supporters to Tweet the actor a personal thanks.
Seth, this donation is going to help us ensure that this generation is indeed a generation that loves to read — and that’s no small thing,” Burton tells McFarlane in the video. “You’ve got deep pockets, baby. But you’ve got an even bigger heart.”
Every bit of the money, Burton says, is going to fund Reading Rainbow for schools — a detail he feels isn’t always clearly communicated to the public.
Now, let me be clear because some of the news outlets aren’t getting their facts straight,” Burton says in the new video. “The money that Seth has pledged is FOR SCHOOLS. Every dollar we’re raising right now gives us the ability to give the Reading Rainbow product away to more schools in need.”
Once the Kickstarter campaign reaches its $5 million mark, Burton says the money will be used to meet the program’s original goals of bringing Reading Rainbow to more platforms and putting it in 7,500 classrooms free of charge. If supporters can bring up the funds to $5 million before McFarlane’s $1 million pledge, the total of $6 million will fund the program for 5,000 more classrooms.
More than 85,900 people have pledged funds to the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter campaign. The project will close on July 2 at 3:00 EST.