The Giving Back Fund, an organization designed to encourage philanthropy, recently released its annual list of the 30 most generous celebrity donors. To no one's surprise, Oprah Winfrey topped the charts at $50.2 million donated in 2007 alone. The media maven, who donates through The Oprah Winfrey Foundation and Oprah's Angel Network, is very well known amongst her fans for spontaneous on-show giveaways and her South African Leadership Academy, which opened in 2007.
Barbra Streisand, the late Paul Newman and Mel Gibson were also among the top five most generous celebrity donors, with power couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt not too far behind.
Clothing designer, Geoffrey Beene, who pioneered such causes as the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center and Geoffrey Beene Alzheimer's Initiative, dropped off the list after coming in second in 2006 with $44 million.
And if you're wondering how this information is compiled, The Giving Back Fund puts it together each year using media reports, PF-990 tax forms and information from celebrity publicists, attorneys, agents and client managers.
All we have to say is "Hooray for Hollywood."
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