20 Top Celebrities Gone Good of 2012 Part 1

Throughout 2012 I often wrote about the nonprofit fundraising and awareness efforts of celebrities in posts like the 10 Top Forbes Power Celebrities and their Charities, the Charities of the 10 Highest Paid Celebrities from Forbes Under 30 List, the 10 Top Celebrity Charitable Contributions Based on Publicity Value, the 10 Highest Paid Actors from Forbes List and their Charities and the 5 of the Highest Paid Celebrity Couples and Their Charitable Associations. I also featured events where celebrities creatively participated to further a cause that was meaningful to them in posts about Jon Stewart’s Night of Too Many Stars, Guy Fieri Hosting the Celebrity Chef’s Challenge 2012 for Mount Sinai Hospital and the incredible contributions to assist with Hurricane Sandy relief Part 1 & Part 2.

In this age where celebrities are both overexposed and idolized it’s important to spotlight them when they do good and not just when they are embroiled in some scandal. DoSomething.org feels the same way and compiled this list of 20 celebrities which we also featured in 2011 Part 1 and Part 2. According to Wikipedia, DoSomething.org “is a non-profit organization with the goal of motivating young people to take action around social changes through national campaigns and grants for projects that make an impact.” Check out some of their amazing accomplishments based on latest stats. So without further ado, here is the first half of the top 20 list:

• 20) Drew Brees: The New Orleans Saints’ quarterback makes the list this year for his overwhelming generosity. Through his Brees Dream Foundation, he and his wife Brittany donated $1 million to the victims of hurricane Sandy and $2 million to various New Orleans’s charities.
• 19) Sofia Vergara: The Modern Family star used her 40th birthday as a way to bring awareness and funds to Dreams without Borders. Dreams without Borders is a charity that helps brings orphans from Vergara’s home country of Columbia to Disneyland. This was achieved with the help of the now defunct giftiki, a group-gifting platform.
• 18) Olivia Munn: the popular actress from HBO’s The Newsroom helped PETA in 2012 to bring attention to fur farms. Munn also worked to combat the circus’s mistreatment of animals and helped kick off DoSomething’s Green Your School campaign.
• 17) Carrie Underwood: The American Idol and Grammy winning country star donated $1 from the sale of every ticket on the North American leg of her “The Blown Away” world tour to the Red Cross. She also supports both the Humane Society and PETA. Additionally, she “raised $350,000 for her Oklahoma hometown. The proceeds were given through her organization, Checotah Animal, Town, and School (C.A.T.S) Foundation, and went towards educational improvements.”
• 16) Demi Lovato: The popstar and X Factor judge placed tenth on the list in 2011. Lovato has participated in numerous anti-bullying initiatives and campaigns like Mean Stinks and Love is Louder. She also participated in the Teens for Jeans campaign, which is an effort sponsored by dosomething.org and Aéropostale.
• 15) Ryan Seacrest: The producer and host of radio and American Idol formed the Ryan Seacrest Foundation to help bring joy to children’s hospitals by building them radio stations because “when they’re in the booth, the kids aren’t hospital patients; they’re American idols.”
• 14) Emma Stone & Andrew Garfield: The Amazing Spider-Man and arguably one of Hollywood’s hottest couples brought attention to two nonprofits: Worldwide Orphans Foundation and Gilda’s Club, by holding up signs baring their names when they spotted paparazzi waiting for them outside a restaurant. Emma’s sign read “We just found out that there are paparazzi outside the restaurant we were eating in. So.. why not take this” and Andrew’s sign continued “opportunity to bring attention to organizations that need and deserve it? www.wwo.org www.gildasclubnyc.org Have a great day!” Excellent.
• 13) Ben Affleck: The Oscar award winning writer, director and actor is a well-known advocate on behalf of the Congo. He founded the Eastern Congo Initiative, which is “the first U.S. based advocacy/grant-making initiative that is focused solely on the people of Eastern Congo.”
• 12) George Takei: The Star Trek star and mainstay on the Howard Stern Sirus XM radio show, is an advocate of marriage equality. The proceeds from his It’s OK to be Takei go to charity and he won the “2012 LGBT Humanist Pride Award from the American Humanist Association for his advocacy in the LGBT community.” [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/51102093[/vimeo]
• 11) Jay-Z & Beyoncé: The musical power couple are making a positive impact on the world. Beyoncé helped to launch UN’s World Humanitarian Day in August 2012 and her “Survivor Foundation assists victims of disasters, along with AIDS patients and the homeless. Her $5 million housing project will create 43 permanent housing units in her hometown of Houston.” Jay-Z has headlined benefit concerts and his Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation helps underprivileged students.

There are many new additions to this list compared to 2011 so far along with some surprises. I’ll continue with the top 10 on Friday.

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