For the last three years one star has outdone her peers with philanthropic work. Superstar Taylor Swift is Domething.org’s most charitable celebrity again.
Do Something is an organization started in 1993 with the stated purpose of encouraging young people to get involved in the community and charity. They run national campaigns and for community based projects.
One of Swift’s many acts of charity was donating all of the proceeds from her single, “Welcome to New York” to public schools in the city. This song was included on Swift’s chart-topping album, 1989.
Second place on the annual list is Laverne Cox who used her rise to fame on Netflix’s, Orange Is The New Black, to speak for the LGBT community.
Another notable celebrity on the top five is Miley Cyrus who infamously let a homeless teen speak on her behalf at the MTV Music Video Awards to highlight the problem of homelessness.
The first male celebrity doesn’t make the list until number 7, John Cena. Cena has been known to do a lot of work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Justin Beiber made the list which may be part of an effort to clean up his image after a string of high-profile tickets and arrests. He wasn’t always a saint.
In 2011, Justin Beiber’s publicity value was estimated $4.2 Billion. But unfortunately for the notorious pop star and his charity of choice, Pencils of Promise, which helps build schools in developing countries, he showed his age. The publicity he was able to garner for the charity resulted in $82,887 for the charity, a small fraction of his publicity value. In 2014 he granted over 200 wishes for the make-a-wish foundation.
Whether these celebrities are doing this to further their fame or truly because they want to help, it is great to see celebrities use their public persona to do good and inspire others to do the same.