A list of the 30 largest public donations made by celebrities in the past year puts Oprah in the top spot.
The Giving Back Fund, which encourages and advises on celebrity philanthropy, compiles its list each year. President Marc Pollick said, “Encouragement-by-example is the main reason for the Giving Back 30 list.”
Oprah gave $58.3 million to Oprah’s Angel Network and her recently-opened Leadership Academy.
Of the other celebrities high on the list, Barbra Streisand was in fourth spot, having given $11.75 million through her Streisand Foundation.
Tiger Woods took fifth place, giving $9.5 million to organisations including the Tiger Woods Learning Center funded by the Tiger Woods Foundation.
Giving Back’s Marc Pollick praised an increasing trend in celebrity donations, saying, “Ten years ago when Slate magazine first published the Slate 60 reporting on the most generous American philanthropists, the last donor on their list gave $5 million. This year the last donor donated $30 million to charity. This is the type of growth we are hoping to inspire within the sports and entertainment community. One cannot help but be influenced by the generosity of his or her peers.”
The full list and information about how it was compiled can be found at givingback.org. This site has previously reported on many of the list’s featured celebrities and their donations; a comprehensively linked version of the list appears below:
| Position | Celebrity | Donation | Cause(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oprah Winfrey | $58,300,000 | Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Oprah’s Angel Network, and other groups |
| 2 | Geoffrey Beene | $44,000,000 (bequest) | Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center |
| 3 | Jack and Marie Lord | $40,000,000 (bequest) | Hawaii Community Foundation |
| 4 | Barbra Streisand | $11,750,000 | Streisand Foundation, numerous civil liberties, environmental, and civil rights organizations “dedicated to democratic values” |
| 5 | Tiger Woods | $9,500,000 | Tiger Woods Learning Center, Earl D. Woods Sr. Scholarship Fund, and other Tiger Woods Foundation programs |
| 6 | Rosie O’Donnell | $5,700,000 | Katrina Relief efforts including Renaissance Village (a temporary shelter for Katrina victims), day care centers, a rehabilitation center in San Antonio, and a Habitat For Humanity sub division in Baton Rouge |
| 7 | Martha Stewart | $5,000,000 | New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital for a center on healthy aging |
| 8 | Carmelo Anthony | $4,282,000 | CAF Youth Center in Baltimore, AAU Basketball, Syracuse University Recreational Center, and other charities |
| 9 | Pat Boone & Shirley Boone | $3,000,000 | Pepperdine University for the Graduate School of Education and Psychology Center for the Family |
| 9 | LeRoy Neiman | $3,000,000 | The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to support a Master’s class in figure drawing |
| 11 | Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt | $2,415,000 | School and Community Center in Swakopmund in Namibia, Daniel Pearl Foundation, Namibian hospitals, Doctors Without Borders, Global Action for Children and others |
| 12 | Nicolas Cage | $2,000,000 | Amnesty International for a fund to help child soldiers |
| 12 | Dwayne Johnson (“The Rock”) and Dany Garcia Johnson | $2,000,000 | University of Miami to name new Alumni Center living room |
| 12 | Paul McCartney | $2,000,000 | Adopt-A-Minefield |
| 12 | Arnold Palmer | $2,000,000 | Pledged to the Arnold Palmer Foundation ultimately to benefit the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute |
| 16 | David Geffen | $1,600,000 | David Geffen Foundation |
| 17 | Susan Saint James and Dick Ebersol | $1,300,000 | The Gunnery to help pay for a new dormitory in memory of their son Teddy killed in a plane crash |
| 18 | Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg | $1,250,000 | Boston University to renovate facilities |
| 19 | Andre Agassi | $1,070,000 | Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation |
| 20 | Tiki and Ronde Barber and family | $1,000,000 | University of Virginia to support the McIntire School of Commerce, the Virginia Athletics Foundation, Childrens Hospital, a scholarship fund for African-American students, the Young Alumni Council, and to challenge young alumni to participate in the capital campaign |
| 20 | Bob Barker | $1,000,000 | Georgetown University to endow a fund at its law school that will focus on the study of animal rights |
| 20 | Gloria Estefan | $1,000,000 | Miami Paralysis Project |
| 20 | Dr. Phil McGraw & Robin McGraw | $1,000,000 | Dr. Phil Foundation |
| 20 | George Steinbrenner & family | $1,000,000 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for Boshamer Stadium for baseball |
| 20 | Tony Stewart | $1,000,000 | Victory Junction Gang Camp |
| 20 | Denzel Washington | $1,000,000 | Save Africa’s Children |
| 27 | Mike Sexton | $560,000 | Special Olympics, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, Children, Inc., Wounded Warrior Project, Ohio State University, and other charities |
| 28 | Lance Armstrong | $500,000 | Lance Armstrong Foundation |
| 28 | Dolly Parton | $500,000 | Fort Sanders Medical Center |
| 28 | Elizabeth Taylor | $500,000 | New Orleans AIDS Task Force to purchase mobile medical unit for AIDS sufferers in New Orleans |
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