As a result of Idol Gives Back, a two-night, prime-time fundraising TV special in April 2007 Save the Children will receive $13.5 million to assist children in need in six African countries and more than 25 impoverished communities across the United States. In partnership with FOX Broadcasting Company and TV's American Idol, the public and corporations donated more than $75 million during Idol Gives Back. The funds are being distributed by Charity Projects Entertainment Fund (CPEF), an organization established to raise money and awareness to help combat extreme poverty in the U.S. and throughout the world, particularly in Africa. CPEF selected Save the Children on the basis of its excellent track record on issues related to extreme poverty.

Among the eight recipients of funds raised by Idol Gives Back, Save the Children is the only organization to receive funding for programs in both the U.S. and Africa. In the U.S., Save the Children will use the donations to expand its programming in areas of persistent poverty in Appalachia, the Southwest and the Gulf Coast.  The project will reach children and their families at their earliest and most critical years to build strong foundations for parenting and school readiness. The funding will also be used to increase literacy and prevent childhood obesity, and to provide materials to address the unique needs of children during disasters.  In Africa, Save the Children will use this funding to help provide basic health and early childhood development services to 400,000 children in Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Mozambique, Sudan and Uganda.

The funding also will support programs to educate and protect children in areas impacted by war and conflict.  More than half of the CPEF funding in Africa will enable Save the Children to expand greatly the number of children it currently reaches with basic health interventions that combat major killers of children under age 5 including diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia and malnutrition. Save the Children is grateful to the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund and to the creators of  Idol Gives Back – and to the American public, which has responded in a powerful way to the needs of children.