Celebrities Go To The Dogs Over Auction

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:41:16 -0000

Looking for something a little different to give the special pet in your life? Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron may be able to help, as they are some of the stars donating items for the upcoming “Celebrity Collars For Dollars” auction, starting June 23rd.

The event aims to raise funds for Dogs Deserve Better, a non-profit organization dedicated to freeing dogs that are permanently chained and mistreated.

Bidders will have the chance to buy pre-used dog collars belonging to the canine friends of celebrities such as Robin Williams, who has donated three collars from his pets Gabby and MabelMae, three autographed photos, three signed DVDs, and an autographed Dogs Deserve Better calendar.

Tammy Grimes, founder of Dogs Deserve Better, has been enjoying preparations for the auction over the last few months, and has been touched by the generosity shown by the stars involved.

“It’s been great fun opening the mail from celebrities to see what they’ve donated,” she said. “Candice Bergen, who did not have a collar to send, had her assistant call to say they were sending a specially signed photo to DDB… and gave a generous donation for chained and penned dogs.”

Other items up for sale include autographed photos of Dolly Parton, a signed copy of Bill Maher’s book Polite Musings From A Timid Observer, and Martha Stewart has autographed a copy of the Dogs Deserve Better Calendar for the event.

Online bidding will run for 10 days, finishing on July 3rd, and can be accessed through www.dogsdeservebetter.org.

Oprah Tops Celebrity Philanthropy A-List

Sat, 12 May 2007 08:24:15 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

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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