The Giving Back 30

Paul Newman Tops the 2008 Giving Back 30 List in Parade Magazine

 

The Giving Back Fund's third annual Giving Back 30, a list of celebrities who have made the largest donations to charity according to public records, was released in the November 1st issue of PARADE Magazine.

 

Readers may have been surprised to learn that Paul Newman replaced Oprah Winfrey as the most generous celebrity of 2008. Oprah had occupied the number one spot by a wide margin for the first two years of the list. Before his death, Newman made a donation of nearly $21 million to his self-named Newman's Own Foundation. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were second with a $13.5 million donation to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which distributed $6.4 million to charity, including a $2 million grant to The Global Health Committee for an Ethiopian clinic project, a $1 million grant to the Make it Right Foundation founded by Pitt, and $500,000 to the Armed Services YMCA USA.

"Our hope is that celebrities will begin to become more comfortable sharing information about their charitable giving --- perhaps not disclosing everything they give, but sharing enough to enable them to serve as role-models to their peers and fans," said Marc Pollick, President and Founder of The Giving Back Fund.

 

Also on the list: Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Mel Gibson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Laurie and Larry David, and Drew Barrymore. Several authors made the list this year, along with representatives from the NBA, NFL and NASCAR. To see the complete list visit The Giving Back Fund's web site at www.givingback.org.

 

How It Was Compiled

To compile the most accurate rankings, The Giving Back Fund culled media reports of charitable giving by sports and entertainment professionals; reviewed PF-990 tax-forms; contacted more than 250 publicists, attorneys, agents, agencies, and managers for information about their clients; polled more than 150 charities known for their celebrity associations; and contacted all of the major sports leagues.

 

The Giving Back Fund did not include grants made by foundations in the list so as to avoid counting the same funds twice --- once when the donor gave money to a foundation and again when the donor decided on a beneficiary for that money. The Giving Back Fund did not calculate giving as a percentage of the celebrities' income because there are no public records documenting income. Re-directed income from sponsorship and merchandising deals to charity made by a celebrity was also not reported as it is not available to the public.

Donations to private foundations are disclosed in public documents. However, donations to public charities are not publicly disclosed and therefore may not be reported in the Giving Back 30.

 

Upcoming: Celebrity Charities' Distribution to Charity

The Giving Back Fund will be releasing a second list in early 2010 reporting on the dollar amount distributed to charities by public and private celebrity foundations, respectively. Charities may submit their 2008 990 reports for review to The Giving Back Fund at GivingBack30@givingback.org.

 

 

Ranking	Donor	Amount Donated	Beneficiaries
1	Paul Newman	$20,857,000	Newmans Own Foundation, which distributed $13,971,000 million in grants to a very broad class of charities focused on education, the environment, health, human services, community development, international causes, emergency campaigns, and arts and culture. These gifts were distributed widely throughout the United States and abroad. Newman's Own has been a large supporter of The Hole in the Wall Camps for ill children.
2	Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt	$13,420,688	Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which distributed $2 million to the Global Health Committee for the Ethiopian Clinic project; $1 million to Human Rights Watch for Zimbabwe and Bhurma investigations; $1 million to Make it Right Foundation established by Pitt; $500k to Armed Services YMCA USA and more than $1 million to WildAid MJP Project in Cambodia.
3	Mel Gibson	$6,491,833	AP Reilly Foundation for Holy Family Catholic Church in Agoura Hills, California.
4	Richard Childress and Family	$5,000,000	Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center for a pediatric trauma institute.
5	Oscar de la Hoya	$9,500,000	Oscar del la Hoya Foundation whose previous grantees include Los Angeles' Green Dot Educational Projects and White Memorial Medical Center.
6	Oprah Winfrey	$2,400,000	$1.4 million to the US Dream Academy to help build afterschool programs; $1 million to the Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro, Inc for the scholarship fund.
7	Sam and Lynn Waterston	$2,100,000	Waterston Family Foundation with previous grantees including $50k to Refugees International and $50k to The American Institute for Stuttering.
8	Patricia Cornwell	$2,000,000	$1v million to Harvard University to establish the Patricia Cornwell Conservation Scientist position at the Harvard Art Museum’s Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. $1 million to the City University of NY to establish a Crime Scene Academy that will become the first and only international center for crime scene training for professionals, undergraduate and graduate degree students, as well as interested members of the general public.
8	Yao Ming	$2,000,000	Yao Ming Foundation to help rebuild schools destroyed during the May 12, 2008 earthquake in China.
10	David Geffen	$1,725,032	Geffen Foundation to support AIDS services, medical research, and arts organizations. Previous grants include $50k to Morehouse College and $800k to Save the Children.
11	Barbra Streisand	$1,670,295	Barbra Streisand Foundation to support the Barbra Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research and Education Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
12	Marcia Carsey	$1,585,000	Carsey Family Foundation, which distributed $520k to UC Regents Santa Barbara, $150k to Free Press, $115k to Music Academy of the West, and grants to numerous other grants.
13	Leonard DiCaprio	$1,500,000	Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which distributed grants including $1,585,008 to the California Community Foundation and $10k to the literary magazine the Paris Review.
14	Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith	$1,486,000	Will Smith Foundation, which distribtued grants including $200k to the Baltimore School of the Arts, $249k to Malaria No More, and $50k Make A Wish Foundation.
15	Leroy Neiman	$1,450,000	Leroy Neiman Foundation, which distributed grants including $533,334 to support Arts Horizon Leroy Neiman Center in Harlem.
16	Dean and Gerda Koontz	$1,400,000	Dean and Gerda Koontz Foundation from which $1 milion was distributed to Canine Companions for Independence
17	Marc Bulger	$1,342,000	Marc Bulger Foundation to support varous St. Louis charities including the local Make-A-Wish-Foundation and the USO area at Lambert airport.
18	Bob Barker	$1,150,000	DJ & T Foundation to support spaying and neutering programs at animal charities around the country.
19	Nicolas Cage	$1,076,800	Nicolas Cage Foundation that distributed grants including $1 million to Amnesty International
20	Drew Barrymore	$1,000,000	UN World Food Programme to help feed thousands of school children
20	Jenny Jones	$1,000,000	The Jenny Jones Foundation to distribute grants of $25k or less to people to improve their communities.
20	Jimmy and Donna Dean	$1,000,000	To Wayland Baptistst University for campus improvements and endowments. It was the largest gift the University has ever received.
20	Penny Hardaway	$1,000,000	University of Memphis to help fund an athletic hall of fame on campus.
20	Roger and Chaz Ebert	$1,000,000	University of Illinois toward the creation of the Roger Ebert Program for Film Studies Fund.
25	Isabel Allende	$905,532	Isabel Allende Foundation to support charities that empower and protect women including $50k Global Women's Fund and $48k to the Marin Education Fund.
26	Larry and Laurie David	$717,000	The David Family Foundation that made grants including $360k to the NY Restoration Project and $167k to Martha's Vineyard Hospital.
27	Andre Agassi	$540,000	Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation to underwrite the costs of the Andre Agassi College Prep Academy in Las Vegas.
28	Jeff Gordon	$526,000	Jeff Gordon Foundation that distributed grants to the Riley Hospital for Children, Northeast Medical Center, Hendrick Marrow Foundation, and numerous other charities.
29	Leonard and Susan Nimoy	$510,000	The Nimoy Foundation to support arts and education about the arts .
30	Cher	$500,000	Cher Charitable Foundation which distributed more than $150,000 to Global Giving.
30	Jim Carrey	$500,000	Better U Foundation that distributed grants to Generation Rescue and Michael Fisher Fund.

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Us

To inform us of a donation or pledge by a celebrity in 2009, please email us at: GivingBack30@givingback.org