Livestrong, or the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the cancer advocacy and awareness organization started by the megastar athlete, is likely to suffer a decline in revenue this year of between 10 and 20 percent. LAF pulled in about $50 million a year in 2009 and 2010, despite a sluggish economy.  The estimate came by way of a statement from Doug White, the academic director of New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy & Fundraising. It’s based on past examples of other charities that have faced scandal.

Public scrutiny intensified recently when former teammate and known doper Tyler Hamilton appeared on 60 Minutes to finally cop to using performance enhancing drugs for much of his professional career, and to reveal some very damaging things about Armstrong, the leadership of the U.S. Postal team, as well as details about how the drugs are doled out and when (before competition, not during).  The bombshell was Hamilton’s assertion that Armstrong has indeed tested positive, but worked with race organizers to cover it up.  If you look closely at Armstrong’s quotes in the media, they are always variations on never-tested-positive rather than never-doped.

Immediately after the interview, Lance’s camp went on the defensive with a terse, lawyerly letter to CBS EP Jeff Fager calling the story “recklessly presented.”
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Madonna with her Malawian son David Banda in 2007.

Madonna has run into some major problems with her charitable organization Raising Malawi, and she’s brought in some big-time PR help to fix them.

Madge’s organization, which works to help children affected by AIDS, was meant to open a school in the African nation, but is now facing accusations that £2.4million intended for the effort has been wasted.

Madonna has dumped the board (The Daily Mail notes that no one on the board has been accused of wrongdoing) and hired “The Masters of Disasters,” publicists Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane, to help turn around the organization’s image.

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Seven time Tour de France winner and cancer awareness juggernaut Lance Armstrong has veteran crisis guru Mark Fabiani on his team to help deal with doping accusations, according to ESPN.com. The accusations reached new levels recently when former teammate Floyd Landis dropped extensive details of systematic abuse during his time with the U.S. Postal team.

Fabiani has a long history with bare knuckle media brawls, most recently on behalf of Goldman Sachs in the spring. Newsweek named him the “Master of Distaster” when he was handling the Clintons during the Whitewater scandal in the 90s.

Landis was stripped of his Tour victory when he tested positive for synthetic testosterone. Armstrong has consistently stuck to his “never tested positive” soundbite for years.

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Goldman Sachs is adding to its PR team with the hiring of David Wells, formerly head of marketing and communications for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at J.P. Morgan.

Wells will join Goldman Sachs as a managing director. Prior to J.P. Morgan, he held editorial positions at the Financial Times and Bloomberg. Wells will officially join Goldman in three months and report directly to chief spokesman Lucas Van Praag.

Goldman hired democratic strategist Mark Fabiani in late April, while the company’s top executives testified in front of Congress in regards to SEC fraud charges. The investment bank also works with agency Public Strategies.

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All eyes will be on Goldman Sachs today, as CEO Lloyd Blankfein and executive Fabrice Tourre, who was named in the SEC fraud charges currently being faced by the investment bank, appear for a Senate hearing.

Goldman has hired Mark Fabiani [pictured] of Fabiani and Lehane in recent weeks to boost its PR counsel. Fabiani and partner Chris Lehane were known as the “Masters of Disaster” for their crisis P.R. work when they worked for the Clinton White House and campaigns.

PR executives have continuously debated Goldman’s PR strategy. “If we’re talking about Goldman Sachs as a brand, they’re going to be fine. If we’re talking about Lloyd Blankfein, that’s a different story,” Robbie Vorhaus, CEO of Vorhaus Communications told CNBC late yesterday.

Robert Dillenschneider of The Dillenschneider Group said Blankfein “shouldn’t be combative” at the hearings today. More to come…

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