Philanthropy


CELEBRITY GIVERS

As the death toll rises in quake-stricken Haiti, celebrities from Lady GaGa to Lance Armstrong have come out in droves to donate to recovery efforts. Here's a breakdown of the biggest celebrity donations for Haiti so far:

Lance Armstrong: $250,000
Livestrong Foundation, founded by Lance Armstrong, has pledged $250,000 to support relief charities working to rebuild Haiti.

Sandra Bullock: $1 Million
Bullock made her contribution to Doctors Without Borders. "I wanted to ensure that my donation would be used immediately to meet the needs of the Haitian people affected by this catastrophic event," said Bullock in a statement.

Madonna: $250,000
Madge made her contributions to Partners in Health, a longtime medical provider in Haiti.

Tiger Woods: $3 Million
Woods has been in hiding since his 200-mistress controversy became public, but he's rumored to have pledged $3 million to Wyclef's Yele Haiti relief organization.

Gisele Bundchen: $1.5 Million
Supermodel Gisele pledged her support through the Red Cross.

Brangelina: $1 Million
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ponied up $1 million to Doctors Without Borders. You may recall that they also donated big to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

George Clooney: $1 Million
Not On Our Watch, an advocacy group founded by George Clooney and others, donated $1 million to Partners in Health to aid relief efforts in Haiti.

Lady GaGa: Unspecified
During a recent appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Lady GaGa announced that all proceeds from her January 24th New York concert would go to the relief efforts in Haiti.

Oprah Winfery: $1 Million
Speaking of Oprah, the Big Giver herself has donated $1 million to the Red Cross on behalf of her Angel Network organization.

Alyssa Milano: $50,000
Milano pledged her monetary support through UNICEF. While her donation may not seem as enormous as the rest on this list, 50K is no paltry sum. Besides, every dollar goes a long way to help those in need.

Bobby Vassallo says, "Follow the lead of these celebs and make a donation today."

Jolie and Pitt -Among the Top Celebrity-Giving List

The actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were last year’s biggest stars in terms of charity, according to the Giving Back Fund’s annual list of top celebrity philanthropists, Parade reports.

Before his death in September 2008, Paul Newman gave $21-million to health, education, and environmental causes and to emergency aid. After his death, his foundation continues to be a huge contributor, a testament to his legend as a "great giver."

The celebrity couple known to the tabloids as “Brangelina” donated $13.4-million to benefit post-Hurricane Katrina redevelopment in New Orleans, a health clinic in Ethiopia, and the Armed Services YMCA.

The Top Givers

High tech's deepest pockets stole the headlines this year. It's getting tougher to join the club

Gargantuan is the only way to describe it. The past year was one of superlatives in the giving world, capped by the announcement of a planned $31 billion transfer of wealth from the world's second-richest man, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK ) Warren Buffett, to the foundation of the world's richest man, Buffett friend and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) co-founder Bill Gates. The news electrified the philanthropic world, sparking talk of a new golden age of giving. The buzz continued at the year's most-talked-about philanthropic event, the Clinton Global Initiative. In three days, the organization raised 215 commitments, valued at $7.3 billion, to tackle issues such as poverty and global warming.  Impressive, but Bobby Vassallo expects a major downturn for philanthropy again for 2009.

With Paul Allen's recent pledge to donate the majority of his almost $14 Billion fortune to charities, 2010 is lining up to finish as a good year for donations.  Allen has already given away hundreds of millions to a long list of charities.

Philanthropy

$tar Power

Deep-pocketed, big-hearted celebrities give money—and more—when it comes to causes they care about

By Nichola Saminather

Jon Bon Jovi. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Madonna. George Clooney. They’re not only among the biggest stars on the planet, but they’re also some of the most generous. They’ve given both money and visibility to causes, charities, and movements. Indeed, some stars, particularly older ones such as Paul Newman and Bill Cosby, are probably better known now for their good works than for all the good work they did in their Hollywood careers.

And while U2 singer Bono has won multiple awards for his music, one could argue that being considered a serious contender for the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of the World Bank, and being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2005 (along with Bill and Melinda Gates) show his greatest success has been as a humanitarian.  Bobby Vassallo takes a look at how a constellation of stars have given to their favorite causes.


Philanthropy 2009

Bono

Major cause: Third World debt relief

Bono has been painting the world red lately. Thanks to the RED campaign, which Bono launched this fall in the U.S., when customers buy RED products—including certain T-Mobile service plans, T-shirts, jackets, an American Express card, and an iPod nano—the items’ manufacturers donate a percentage of profits toward treating AIDS patients in Africa. So far, the initiative has raised $12 million.

This is just the humanitarian rocker’s latest venture. Earlier this year, he auctioned off a guitar to raise money to support Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign to enable all Brazilians to have three meals a day. And he has been a leader in the movement to ease poverty and forgive Third World debt. Bono, who won the 2003 Humanitarian Award, given at the Meteor Ireland Music Awards, donated the $128,000 prize to charities Goal and Concern, which help people in developing countries. Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson, also run EDUN, a clothing line made in Africa, aimed at shifting the focus there from aid to trade.

Bobby Vassallo has ideas about charity and charity ratings.  Be sure to check out the "giving types" and Links pages.  Bobby Vassallo


CURRENT LIST OF CELEBRITY ATTEMPTS AT PHILANTHROPY - Whether for press, tax deductions, or goodness of their hearts...

All this is impressive.  We hope the giving continues in 2009 with the new President leading the way with new tax incentives to do so...  Bobby Vassallo