And the Most Generous Celebrities Are...
This just in from PARADE magazine and the Giving Back Fund, which bills itself as "the premier philanthropic resource for the sports and entertainment communities." Now in its second year, the Giving Back 30 list ranks the most generous celebrities in America based on public donations to charity made in 2007. The envelope, please:
1. Oprah Winfrey -- $50.2 million (to the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and Oprah's Angel Network in support of education, health care, and advocacy for women and children worldwide).
2. Herb Alpert -- $13 million (to the Herb Alpert Foundation and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music)
3. Barbra Streisand -- $11 million (to the Streisand Foundation, which supports projects related to the environment, women's issue, civil rights, and AIDS research and advocacy)
4. Paul Newman -- $10 million (scholarships at Kenyon College, his alma mater)
5. Mel Gibson -- $9.9 million (Holy Family Church)
6. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt -- $8.4 million (to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation for New Orleans reconstruction, refugee aid, cross-cultural understanding)
7. Michael Jordan (tie) -- $5 million (to Hales Franciscan High Scool, a historically black boys' school in Chicago)
7. Eric Lindros (tie) -- $5 million -- (to London Health Sciences Center, the Canadian hospital where the former hockey player was treated during his NHL career)
7. Lance Armstrong (tie) -- $5 million (for cancer research, education, and advocacy)
10. Rush Limbaugh -- $4.2 million (to provide financial assistance to the children of Marines and law-enforcement officers killed in the line of duty)
I'm usually not one to fawn over celebrities or sports stars, but you know what I love about this list? Its diversity and eclecticism. You've got two African Americans, two Jewish Americans, an Hispanic American, a couple of social conservatives, and a hockey player! And look at the causes they're supporting. Education, civil rights, AIDS research, music education, aid for refugees, scholarships, a medical center, a parochial school, financial assistance to help the families of soldiers and law-enforcement personnel killed in the line of duty, a congregation. To paraphrase New York Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams, "Only in America, kids, only in America." It's all good. E pluribus unum.
For the complete list, click here.
-- Mitch Nauffts
