20 Celebrities Doing Good to Benefit Nonprofit Fundraising & Missions in 2011 – Part 2

Today we continue our feature on the dosomething.org Top 20 Celebs Gone Good for 2011 list with the top 10 celebrities who used their status to draw attention and contribute to the nonprofit fundraising goals of some very worthy causes. Yesterday we featured celebrities ranking from the 20th position to the 11th.

Image courtesy of Seventeen Magazine

10. Demi Lovato. The former Disney star embraced her former struggles with cutting and an eating disorder this past year.  Her return to the spotlight was with the hit song Skyscraper. Lovato wanted to giveback so she partnered with the Jed Foundation to spread awareness about the crucial issues of body image and bullying.  The “Love is Louder Than the Pressure to Be Perfect” campaign encouraged young girls to speak out and take action in regards to these issues. She even acted as a spokesperson and guest editor for the publication Seventeen Magazine.

9. Dwight Howard. The NBA star, currently with the Orlando Magic, has made a name for himself as a philanthropist. Not only did he create his self titled foundation, Howard is president of D12 an Orlando based organization. Howard’s duties include adding a teen recreation room to a local hospital and meeting with special Olympic athletes. In addition he helped the hunger organization Blessings in a Backpack by collecting food.

8. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The Jolie-Pitt Foundation helps the “Humanitarian Initiative Just Relief Aid in Somalia to help put an end to human suffering” and has given to Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders and the Daniel Pearl Foundation (Jolie played Pearl’s wife on film). She’s a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and his Make It Right Foundation has built dozens of homes in post-Katrina New Orleans. The pair donates over $10 million (U.S.) per year Jolie-Pitt foundation.

7. Ellen Degeneres. The comedienne and talk show host helps the fight against HIV/AIDS. “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named her a special envoy for Global AIDS awareness.” By using her daily talk shows a platform Degeneres is helping to educate and highlight this issue.

6. Matt Damon is the co-founder of water.org, used a PSA campaign to help discourage the use of plastic water bottles.  The Oscar winner also works with the OneXOne Foundation and attended their gala at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). He also was a speaker at the Save Our Schools March, which protests against education based on standardized testing.

5.Leonardo DiCaprio is a well-known environmental and animal rights activist who takes on many projects. Once such organization he is IFAW’s Animal Action education program for which he is a global ambassador.  The J. Edgar actor helped the IFAW launch their petition against the ivory trade to help save elephants. He also founded the Leonardo DiCarprio Foundation supporting Wildlife Protection, Forest Preservation, Healthy Oceans, Clean Water, Disaster Relief and Climate Change.

4. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Amidst the breakup rumours that have plagued the couple in 2011 they managed to fund and support many educational projects through the United States with their Will & Jada Pinkett Smith foundation. One example would be their donation of 24 Apple computers with in twenty four hours of hearing that a Philadelphia high school had been robbed of theirs.

3. George Clooney. The actor/director is a prominent advocate for human rights in the Sudan.  “According to Kerry Kennedy, the President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, ‘Not only is George an important contributor to the Center, but he’s an inspiration to us all.’” His work is tireless and it would be difficult to list all of his efforts and that he quietly does behind the scenes.

2. Justin Bieber. Over the last year Bieber’s philanthropic work has risen his position on the list from tenth to second place. The pop star launched his Believe Charity Drive, and encouraged fans to participate in the Pencils of Promise campaign.  In addition he donated a portion of the proceeds from his Under the Mistletoe Christmas album to various charities including Pencils of Promise and the Make a Wish Foundation.

1. Lady Gaga.  Lady Gaga founded her Born This Way Foundation to help combat bullying and promote self-acceptance. Even though it has yet to launch she has gotten “Barney’s New York to donate 25 percent of the proceeds from her Gaga’s Workshop to the foundation.” Gaga also continues her HIV/AIDS awareness advocacy by participating in MAC cosmetics Viva Glam campaign where one hundred percent of the proceeds from the lipstick go to benefit the MAC AIDS fund. Obviously, Gaga’s good deeds not only spread awareness for worthy causes but make her little monsters proud.

This list illustrates that even though the media may prefer to focus on scandal and stars behaving badly there are still many who use their fame and influence for good. Our thanks again to dosomething.org for this list and hopefully we’ll see many more of them in 2012 highlighting the efforts of celebrities in support and furthering the missions and nonprofit fundraising goals for various causes.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
For nonprofit, nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.