Paul Newman once said, "From salad dressing all blessings flow." The proof is in the vinaigrette. Since the first bottle of Newman's Own hit supermarket shelves two decades ago, more than $100 million has flowed to charity.

These days, celebrity fundraisers have gone cyber. Megabucks are coming from megabytes. For a lucky bid in an online auction, you can golf with Tiger Woods, sit center aisle at a Hollywood premiere or win a cameo role in a hit TV series-all for a good cause.

A survey released last year by Independent Sector, a Washington DC-based coalition for the non-profit sector, reports that 89% of American households gave to charity, though just 1.2% did so through the web. Still, its potential as a strategic fundraising instrument potential looms large.

The Internet offers non-profits a cost-effective way to reach potential contributors. It takes about $1 in administrative costs--paper, postage, phone and mailing service fees--to raise $1 from a new donor by traditional means. And while renewal appeal costs drop to less than half that, typical online expenses are just 3-5 cents per donor. The net also offers new tools to scout out would-be supporters. Targeted e-mail lists and interactive applications are succeeding where conventional telemarketing and mailings fail.

"I think the Internet is enormously important because it gives people one more outlet to donate," says Diana Kimbrell of Kimbrell & Co., a cause-related marketing specialist. But even in the burgeoning world of dot-com possibilities, there's stiff competition for mouse clicks. A good cause is not always good enough. Charities must execute eye-catching campaigns backed up by a solid PR effort to distinguish themselves from the thousands of groups vying for dollars. And nothing quite gives a campaign one-two punch like a marquee name.

Log on and you'll discover just how busy celebrities are. They're cleaning out their closets and raiding movie studio warehouses all in the name of philanthropy. Britney Spears teamed up with Pepsi to boost lock box funds of her children's foundation by auctioning off clothes on Yahoo. If you had the means, say $3,500 or so, you'd have the way to win a retro 1960s-era swimsuit, worn and autographed by the pop diva. A couple of thousand more and you'd stake a claim to Britney's "New Millenium" leather and fringe outfit.

Danny Glover is among a handful of actors raising awareness and funds for The Sunrise Children's Orphanage in Cambodia, largely through a Hollywood memorabilia auction on www.cambodianheart.org. "Survivor: Africa" fans had a chance to bid on set props like the tribal council voting urn and immunity idol in an eBay auction earlier this year. Proceeds benefited the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. In just its first day, the auction raised more than $60,000 for the foundation.

"During the filming of "Survivor: Africa," I witnessed the extreme devastation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic firsthand," says executive producer Mark Burnett. "(Host) Jeff Probst introduced me to the work being done by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatrics AIDS Foundation to reduce mother-to-child transmission and immediately knew this was a partnership I wished to pursue."

If you're a brand name with drawing power, "things are so much easier with the Internet," says Kimbrell. Celebrities can lend their names without lending much of their time. "And if they can donate something to an online auction where the proceeds go back to a cause, that's a way to get their name out and help."

Nearly two dozen actresses, musicians and Hollywood insiders not only lent their names but their imaginations to a fundraiser benefiting each star's chosen charity. Heavy-hitters like Courteney Cox-Arquette, Drew Barrymore and Kristin Davis were asked to come up with an original design for a platinum heart pendant necklace that would be reproduced and then auctioned by Sotheby's and sothebys.com in February. Marcia Gay Harden designed a heart made up of interlocking fish to advance, appropriately enough, the work of Riverkeeper, an environmental watchdog group; Faith Hill's puffed heart with diamond pavé trim benefited a family affected by the September 11th tragedy.

Some promotions are one-shot deals designed to bring charities exposure or a quick infusion of money. Other celebrities align themselves with a cause for the long haul. It's hard to think of Jerry Lewis, say, without thinking Muscular Dystrophy. Even the MDA has an online donation component.

Are the days of telethons and rubber-chicken benefit galas coming to an end? For some celebrities, not soon enough. But there is light at the end of the terminal. A virtual medium is starting to reap bona fide rewards-even if those rewards hinge on a bidding war for a celebrity keepsake.

Bio: Iyna Bort Caruso (iynacaruso.com) is a freelance writer based in Long Island, New York. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsday, American History Magazine, Christian Science Monitor and Country Living, among others. She can be reached at ilinemedia@aol.com.