Look To The Stars News: Jolie-Pitt Foundation

Giving Back Fund Releases 2009's Top Celebrity Givers

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Look To The Stars is proud to announce that our partners at the Giving Back Fund have announced their third annual Giving Back 30, a list of celebrities who have made the largest donations to charity according to public records.

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.

Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie Donate To Refugees In Pakistan

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $1 million to help refugees in Pakistan.

According to People.com, the celebrity couple made the donation through their Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which they established to assist with humanitarian crises around the world.

People.com reports that the head of the UNHCR, António Guterres, thanked the foundation for its assistance, calling Pakistan’s plight “the most challenging humanitarian crisis of the past decade.” More than 2 million people are currently displaced in the country.

Angelina Jolie initially created the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation (MJP) for the conservation of Cambodia’s endangered Cardamom Mountains’ northern territory. As more resources became available, MJP’s operations expanded into other areas such as reforestation, community protected area, park management and humanitarian crises. In 2007, the organization changed its name to Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation and now donates to those in need around the world.

E! Donates To Jolie-Pitt Foundation

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

It has been revealed that E! Entertainment Television made a significant donation to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation last year.

According to Fox News, the media giant made a donation of $250,000 to the foundation established by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to assist with humanitarian crises around the world. The donation was one of four large contributions made to the fund in 2008, including $1,194,911 from Jolie, $956,961 from Pitt, and $5,000 from Jerry Weintraub.

The Jolie-Pitt Foundation has donated over $4 million to causes since it was established, including $1,364,320 to Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, $100,000 to help build The Duk Lost Boys Clinic medical centre in the Sudan, $1 million split evenly among three organizations working with war-affected children, $1m to help Sudanese refugees of the Darfur crisis, $1 million to the Human Rights Watch’s work in Burma, $100,000 to Global Action for Children, $400,000 to Cambodia’s children’s causes and $150,000 to the Maddox Chivan Children’s Center.

Brad And Angelina Donate $100,000 To Vulnerable Children

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have made a large donation to a charity that supports orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries.

Global Action for Children has announced that it has received a $100,000 grant from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation to support its efforts on an Emergency Presidential Initiative for the World’s Children (EPIWC) to ensure children are not left off the agenda during the growing financial crisis, as well as its mission to make every taxpayer dollar more efficient in U.S. foreign assistance for children.

The donation is the second time the couple has given money to the organization – in 2006 they donated $1 million to improve living conditions in poverty-stricken areas around the world.

“GAC is honored to receive a second grant from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, and we greatly appreciate the Jolie-Pitt Family’s continued commitment to and support of our work,” said Jennifer Delaney, Executive Director for Global Action for Children. “With the holiday season upon us, we hope the generous gift from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation inspires others to give and focus on assisting orphans and highly vulnerable children around the world. Each and every donation can truly make a difference in the life of a child.”

More information about the organization – whose aim is to ensure that all children have access to essential health care, education, food and nutrition, and social protection – can be found at www.globalactionforchildren.org.

Brad And Angelina Give To Human Rights Watch

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $1 million to the Human Rights Watch’s work in Burma and Zimbabwe.

The donation, made through the couple’s Jolie-Pitt Foundation, will be used to fund research and advocacy in the two nations.

“Burma and Zimbabwe are two of the most repressive countries in the world and we need to increase international pressure on them to change,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Brad and Angelina’s investment in our work at this critical moment will allow intensified efforts by our researchers to expose the repression that these governments try to keep hidden and by our advocates to generate the global pressure needed to improve people’s lives.”

The Human Rights Watch is an independent organization dedicated to exposing human rights violations and protecting people at risk of discrimination throughout the world.

The donation follows a long line of donations made by the celebrity couple lately, and follows the $2 million they put towards setting up a children’s hospital in Ethiopia earlier this month.

Jolie-Pitt Foundation Donates To War Children

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $1 million to support the education of war-affected children through their Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

The Education Partnership for Children of Conflict will distribute the donation to four organizations working with children who have lost parents and homes in Iraq, and children in the United States who have lost parents in the conflict will also benefit.

“These educational support programs for children of conflict are the best way to help them heal,” said Jolie, who co-chairs the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict.

“We hope to encourage others to give to these great organizations,” added Pitt.

$500,000 will go to the Armed Services YMCA Operation Hero Program, which will provide educational tutors and counseling to 2,500 children affected by the war in America. The remainder will be split between three organizations operating in Iraq: Women for Women International, which provides books, school supplies and other basic necessities to Iraqi women and children; the International Rescue Committee, which will repair three schools and offer classes for more than 2,500 students; and www.NineMillion.org – a UNHCR campaign – which will donate learning materials to more than 2,000 displaced Iraqi children.

Aid will also go to refugee children and school rehabilitation programs.

Angelina Jolie - Helping Her Heroes

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:34:29 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

She may be known for her various roles on the silver screen that have earned her Golden Globes and an Academy Award, but perhaps Angelina Jolie’s greatest role is that which she plays in real life – Global Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. And it is exceedingly clear that the dedication that she shows in her acting is reflected in her work for humanitarian causes around the world.

The 32-year-old actor has just returned from a visit to Iraq, in which she met with top political officials to discuss people displaced by the war.

“There are over two million displaced people and there never seems to be a real coherent plan to help them,” she told CNN on her return. “There’s lots of goodwill and lots of discussion, but there seems to be a lot of talk at the moment and a lot of pieces that need to be put together.”

The trip was a follow-up to her visit to the country six months ago, and marks Jolie’s commitment to displaced persons and refugees in war-ravaged nations, and confirms her dedication to implement solutions wherever possible.

“Of the two million internally displaced, it’s estimated 58 percent are under 12 years old. It’s a very high number of people in a very, very vulnerable situation and a lot of young kids,” said Jolie. “So far, the different US officials I met with and different local people I’ve met with all have shared concerns, very, very strongly. They have spoken out about the humanitarian crisis, but there seems to be a block in.”

Jolie traveled to Baghdad with Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, and Refugees Minister Abdel Samad Rahman Sultan. As a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie is well known for using her status as a superstar to generate media coverage about the plight of refugees and the conditions under which they live, and this trip to Iraq proved no different.

“This trip is to get a better picture of the internally displaced people and to discuss [the situation] with the local government, with our government, with the NGOs and with local people,” said Jolie. “I’m not good at policy and fixing all this and saying what’s wrong, but I do know that, for example, U.N.H.C.R. needs to be more active inside Iraq… I know that this is one thing that needs to be addressed and solved because there does need to be a real presence here to help count the people and register the people. Also, the prime minister here needs to empower the government that deals with migration and displacement to be able to address the concerns for these people, and that hasn’t happened in a significant way yet.”

Born in Los Angeles in 1975, Jolie’s acting career has already spanned two decades. Her first feature role was in Lookin’ to Get Out in 1982, a film co-written and co-produced by her father, the acclaimed actor Jon Voight. Since then, she has received Golden Globe Awards for the television movies George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and her film credits include Hackers (1995), The Bone Collector (1999), Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), and Mr and Mrs Smith (alongside her partner, Brad Pitt, in 2005).

It was while filming the first Tomb Raider movie in Cambodia, a country stricken by poverty, that Jolie began to become aware of humanitarian issues around her. She approached the UNHCR for more information, and was sent to Sierra Leone, a small African country that – like the Democratic Republic of the Congo – had been devastated by years of brutal civil war. Seeing firsthand the enormous challenges that refugees face was a life-altering experience for the actress, and she was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in August 2001.

Over the next few years, Jolie witnessed some of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. She visited refugee camps in Tanzania, Pakistan, Thailand, Ecuador, Kosovo, Kenya, and Namibia, covering all of her own costs and insisting on sharing the same living and working conditions as field workers.

In 2003 Jolie published Notes From My Travels, a compelling collection of journal entries from her early field missions. She now publishes her latest journal entries on the UNHCR website.

Since 2003, Jolie has traveled to refugee camps in Sri Lanka, Russia, Jordan, Beirut, and Egypt, and has also visited detained asylum seekers in Arizona. In 2005 she filmed an MTV special entitled “The Diary of Angelina Jolie and Dr. [”Jeffrey Sachs":http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/609-jeffrey-sachs] in Africa", portraying her trip to a remote group of villages in Kenya, and has visited Chad and Darfur several times since fighting erupted there in 2004.

In recent years, Jolie has been joined by Brad Pitt on many of her trips. In 2005 the pair witnessed the devastation of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan, and in 2006 they visited a school in Haiti supported by Wyclef Jean’s Yéle Haiti Foundation.

Also in 2006, the pair founded the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which made initial donations of $1 million to Doctors Without Borders and Global Action for Children. This was followed by a $100,000 donation to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, another to the Duk Lost Boys Medical Clinic in the Sudan, and $1 million to help refugees in Chad and Darfur.

Angelina Jolie’s generosity seems bottomless, and her heart is clearly as big as her stardom. In 2005, she announced the founding of the National Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Children, an organization that provides free legal aid to asylum-seeking children, and personally funded it with $1 million over 2 years. She also co-chairs the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, a program established at the 2006 Clinton Global Initiative that has pledged to help with the education of over 1 million children affected by conflict around the world.

Her missions to the most dangerous troublespots in the far-flung corners of the world look set to continue well into the future.

“It’s always hard to see decent people, families, living in such difficult conditions,” she said. “What is most upsetting is how long it is taking the international community to answer this crisis… You go to these places and you realize what life’s really about and what people are really going through. These people are my heroes.”

Jolie And Shakira Swap Fundraising Tips

Mon, 21 May 2007 13:31:00 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

UN Goodwill Ambassadors Angelina Jolie and Shakira have reportedly become friends since their charity efforts brought them into contact.

A friend of Jolie said, "They have so much in common, we can’t believe they didn’t become buddies sooner.

“Shakira loves kids and runs a children’s charity in her home country so they have been swapping tips on fundraising.”

Jolie is ambassador of UNHCR, which works to help refugees, and Shakira represents UNICEF, the UN children’s fund.

Shakira’s own charity Pies Descalzos helps children displaced by fighting in Colombia, while the Jolie-Pitt Foundation funds various humanitarean causes, most recently including refugee relief in Darfur.

Jolie And Pitt Pledge $1m To Darfur

Fri, 11 May 2007 09:14:59 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

Philanthropic Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have announced that they will give $1m through their foundation to help Sudanese refugees of the Darfur crisis.

Jolie has visited Sudan three times, and is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR, which is working to help those displaced by the fighting.

The donation is to be made through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which the couple established in September 2006 as a vehicle for their philanthropic activities.

UNHCR representative Michel Gabaudan said, “This generous donation comes just months after Angelina Jolie made a personal visit to a refugee camp in Chad and it shows, once again, her and Brad Pitts’ commitment to helping refugees and the displaced.”

Fighting in the region continues between the Janjaweed militia and the African farmers, and an estimated two million people have been driven from their homes by the conflic, 240,000 of which are living in refugee camps in Chad. The Sudanese government denies allegations that it is funding the militia.

“As Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie’s continued support of UNHCR and those we seek to help is a powerful force in ensuring they are not forgotten,” said Mr. Gabaudan.

Jolie & Pitt Give $100,000 To Build Hospital In Sudan

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:57:13 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have given $100,000 to help build The Duk Lost Boys Clinic medical centre in the Sudan.

The donation was made through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, and will help create Duk County’s first modern medical facility.

The plan to build the medical centre was conceived by Sudanese “Lost Boy” John Dau, who was featured in the documentary “God Grew Tired of Us”, which was produced by Pitt. Dau shared the plan with Pitt and Jolie at the film’s première in January.

As director of Direct Change’s Sudan Project, Dau said, "Words cannot express my gratitude and the gratitude of the people of Duk County.
“Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt demonstrate the American spirit of generosity.
“Hopefully, their donation will inspire others to join with us to rebuild southern Sudan.”

Pitt and Jolie Donate to Daniel Pearl Foundation

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:58:37 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie marked what would have been the 43rd birthday of late Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl by donating $100,000 to the charitable foundation set up in his memory.

Pearl was kidnapped and executed in Pakistan in 2002. The biography written by his widow Mariane Pearl forms the basis of the movie “A Mighty Heart”, which Pitt and Jolie have recently begun filming in India.

The couple made the donation through their recently-formed Jolie-Pitt Foundation, and released a statement saying, "On this day our thoughts go out to Danny’s family.

“The [”Daniel Pearl Foundation":http://www.looktothestars.org/charity/340-daniel-pearl-foundation] is celebrating this day, his birthday, with music festivals around the world. The festivals are a great reminder of not just Danny’s work as a journalist but of his life and his love of music."

The Foundation’s mission is to “promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications.”

Pitt and Jolie Donate Millions to Charities

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:13:39 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are donating $1 million dollars each to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders.

The philanthropic couple keep themselves busy doing what they can to help those in need. Earlier this year, Pitt helped judge the Global Green Sustainable Design Competition; Jolie has travelled to more than 20 countries since 2001 as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations; and they raised $7 million for charity by selling the rights to photos of their newborn daughter, Shiloh Nouvel. With a family such as this, it comes as no surprise that the latest donations were made through the couple’s own charity, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

The humanitarian organisations help to improve living conditions in poverty-stricken areas around the world.

Jennifer Delaney from Global Action for Children said, “Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt not only care, but more important, are taking concrete action to address the fact that there will be 20 million children orphaned by Aids by 2010, and millions more orphaned by tuberculosis, malaria and conflict or whose parents are sick and dying.”

“Their generous gift will enable us to continue assisting people whose plight is often forgotten, such as those displaced by conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Sudan,” said Nicolas de Torrente, executive director of Doctors Without Borders.

Look To The Stars News: Jolie-Pitt Foundation

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