Cantor Fitzgerald benefits more than 130 organizations in one-day effort

An annual event to commemorate friends, family, and colleagues lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center raised about $12 million for charity this year and earned Cantor Fitzgerald and its affiliate BGC Partners top honors in the Best Cause-Related Marketing category of Ragan’s 2013 PR Daily Awards.

The global financial services firm says the success of its Charity Day and the number of charitable organizations helped increase every year, with $89 million raised in more than eight years. 

The event draws upon support from employees, clients, charities, celebrities, media, and the public to raise funds for charities—more than 130 this year. 

Internal messaging inspired employees, and communication to clients encouraged them to make trades on Charity Day. Organizations that benefited focus on curing cancer, diabetes awareness, mental health issues, children’s causes, veterans’ concerns, and Sept. 11 education.

A strong presence on Facebook and Twitter helped spread the word.

If $12 million raised in a single day to benefit 130 charities isn’t enough to impress you, take a look at some of these names and numbers: 

• Celebrities participating in the event included actors Susan Sarandon, Michael J. Fox, and more; musician 50 Cent; Rudy Giuliani; sports stars Coach Mike Woodson, Eli Manning, John McEnroe, Venus Williams, and more; model Kate Upton; astronaut Buzz Aldrin; and many others.
• The event made 352 national, regional, broadcast, and online outlets.
• Among the celebrity Twitter followers was Sarah Ferguson.
• Facebook likes of the charity pages increased 56 percent, with more than 106,000 reached through the venue from Sept. 9-15, 2012. 

We congratulate the team that collaborated on the winning effort: Robert Hubbell, Hannah Sloane, Sheryl Lee, Gauri Mundkur, Amanda Zapp, Sarah Laufer, and Teddy Chamorro, who worked closely on the effort with select vendors.

Learn more here.

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