Most Charitable Celebrity Other Than Oprah Winfrey?

KB50MJ

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I was reading the Triva/fact page on IMDB for Michael, and one of the facts said that MJ gave more money to charity than any other celebrity($300 million) apart from Oprah Winfrey.

Is this true? I think he may have given the most for any music artist, I think. But all celebs in general?

What do you think?
 
Michael was given the Guinness World Record in their Millenium issue of 'the most charities supported by a pop star' at 39. But everyone concludes, even the Guinness Committee, that its a lot more as Michael gave a lot away anonomously so its hard to say how many charities he indeed supported. 39 is only the ones that are known of officially:

http://jollypeople.com/blog/2009/07/01/michael-jackson-guiness-world-record/
 
Here is one article
http://jollypeople.com/blog/2009/07/01/michael-jackson-guiness-world-record/

We know that he visited hospitals and orphanage when he was touring and he brought toys
and gave to orphanage what they needed.
There were many concerts=many visits
Black artists was used by motown and when they died there were no money for the funerals.
Michael paid for the funerals.

We´ll never know how much he gave because he didn´t talk about it

I guess he did many charitythings the last ten years but anonymous.
He didn´t only give money, he gave things, rights to use his music for charity
http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77994&highlight=James

http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69383
 
Micheal could have used that money when he started to get into deep financial difficulties in the mid 90s till the end of his life. Charities are also notoriously corrupt and unorganized. Michael's own charity, The Heal The World Foundation, appeared to suffer thus:

Jack[son]'s Childrens' Foundation Now Defunct

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson's Heal the World Foundation once spread millions of dollars around the globe to help children threatened by war and disease.

Fueling its success was the kind of money and excitement that only someone of Jackson's star power could generate.

With backing from the likes of PepsiCo and New Age guru Deepak Chopra, Jackson launched the charity at New York's Radio City Music Hall in 1992, complete with a boys choir singing his hit single and the group's namesake, "Heal the World."

But now, like its founder, the charity is in trouble.

Starved of funding and leadership, the organization has stopped donating to charitable causes and has been suspended in California since 2002 for failing to file yearly accounting statements, records show.

Other Jackson charities have withered as well, in a decline that began well before the latest child-molestation scandal broke.

His Heal L.A. project, established to help aid inner-city children after the Los Angeles riots, has been suspended in California since 2001, and his Neverland Zoo Foundation to preserve endangered animals was dissolved in 1998.

The collapse of the celebrated Heal the World Foundation could further tarnish Jackson's reputation as a children's advocate at a time when he is facing allegations he molested a boy. Jackson, 45, is awaiting trial, and a grand jury is convening this week to investigate.

The reasons for Heal the World's decline largely remain a mystery. But Stuart Backerman, a former spokesman for Jackson, said its work began tapering off because there wasn't an "inspirational force" or chief executive to carry out its mission.

"So it just kind of went into suspended animation," Backerman said.

Jackson spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain did not respond to requests for comment.

Heal the World seemed destined to succeed when Jackson founded it.

With his career soaring thanks to a new album, "Dangerous," and a lucrative Pepsi endorsement deal, the singer planned a world tour to help raise $100 million for his new children's charity and "spread the message of global love."

The organization built playgrounds, provided immunizations and funded scores of children's causes around the world. It helped pay for a Hungarian boy's lifesaving liver transplant and co-sponsored an airlift of more than 46 tons of relief supplies to war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992.

Although it never reached the pop star's lofty $100 million goal, the foundation doled out about $4 million in its first five years, said Richard Fowler, director from 1995 to 1997.

In late 2002, however, it had net assets of just $3,542 and reported $2,585 in expenses, mostly for "management fees," according to the latest available tax filings.

As of late 2002, the foundation did not have a director, president or other top manager besides Jackson, who was listed as chairman, records show.

The foundation has been suspended in California since April 2002 for failing to file annual statements required of tax-exempt organizations, said John Barrett, spokesman for the state Franchise Tax Board. The penalty means the charity has to give up certain rights to appeal tax rulings.

Heal the Kids, a New York-based offshoot designed to encourage parents to spend more time with their children, has not held an event in three years, and the New York attorney general's office asked last fall that the charity be formally dissolved if it does not plan any more activities.

Jackson stopped working with the organization at the urging of friends and handlers who believed its activities were too "pedestrian" for the King of Pop, said Shmuley Boteach (search), the group's former president.

"He was being told this initiative was going to devalue him as a superstar. `Overexpose' him was the word constantly used," said Boteach, a rabbi, author and columnist who helped Jackson start Heal the Kids.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115095,00.html
 
I heard Michael also paid Mother Theresa's medical bills too. I don't think we will ever know the extent of Michael charitable contibutions. He didn't publicize it like many celebrities likes to do, or talk about it on their tv shows , or talk about it every change he got.

A quote from Taj Jackson on twitter:

One of the most important lessons I learned from my uncle Michael... "True" Charity

He taught us(my brothers & I) at a young age that it's not "True" charity if you announce it to everyone saying "hey look what I did".

True" charity is when you do something for someone or give money or time to something and nobody else knows you did it.

That was one of the 1st things our uncle reminded us about when we started having success with 3T. Be charitable and give back.

Use your success and fame for good. Visit children hospitals. Give yourself to the less fortunate. Make your music count for something.

My uncle was truly amazing. Not only did he do all of these things and more. We learned best by his examp
 
I have a question, hope it isn't too off topic.

But since Michael is now passed away, can he still give to charities in death through his estate? As in, does his estate support any of the charities Michael contributed to? Or would this not count since Michael is gone?
 
In MJs will Michael left 20% for charities, so... yes, he can, or MJ Estate has to give 20% of his earnings to charities...
If MJ earned 500 mill. dollars, MJ Estate would give 100 mill. ... and MJ projects and all merchandise stuff since his passing have earned over 1 billion dollars...

Btw, I personally think that its too much from MJs kids money..., 10% would be enough, but Michael decided 20%...
 
In MJs will Michael left 20% for charities, so... yes, he can, or MJ Estate has to give 20% of his earnings to charities...
If MJ earned 500 mill. dollars, MJ Estate would give 100 mill. ... and MJ projects and all merchandise stuff since his passing have earned over 1 billion dollars...

Btw, I personally think that its too much from MJs kids money..., 10% would be enough, but Michael decided 20%...

Thank you.
It's very nice how Michael still wants to give even when he's not here. That's amazing to me. 20% is a lot, but Michael means well, obviously.
 
Im sorry but I think Oprah or Michael are nothing compared to Bill Gates. He has given half of his fortune or something like that and that's 25 billion dollars or more.. And is going to give all.
 
Everybody knows Gates gave more than anyone but i think they're talking about celebrities here, and Gates is more of a busyness man. idk.
 
Im sorry but I think Oprah or Michael are nothing compared to Bill Gates. He has given half of his fortune or something like that and that's 25 billion dollars or more.. And is going to give all.


Its not a fair comparison. When you look at the amount of money Michael has earned in his lifetime and what he has given its astonishing. On top of that the number of charities he supported, 39 + and the thousands of people he's helped that wasn't documented. Dangerous was the biggest selling tour of all time , at that time and Michael gave ALL the profits to charity. It was beaten by History tour to become the biggest selling tour of all time and half of the profits were given to charity. Michael gave all of his earnings from the Victory tour to charity. The settlement he recieved from the pepsi incident he donated every penny to the hospital. You have to look at it in that context. When Michael bought the Beatles catelouge , he also bought Little Richard. He didn't sell it to Little richard he GAVE it back to him. Michael paid for many of the black legends funerals in the music business. The list goes on and on...
 
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