Celebs Gone Good

Kristen Stewart Draws Designs, Not Blood

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart is leaving her mark on arts education, and it isn't a vampire bite. She's designed a special pair of Vans sneakers to highlight the company's Common Culture contest. High school students have a chance to design there own pair of shoes in order to win $50,000 for their school's art program. That's a lot of pastels.

To take action to save arts education. Sign up for next fall's Make Art Save Art and stress the importance of visual art in schools.

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Katherine Heigl Receives Animal Donation from Fellow Celeb

Rachael Ray is feeding and funding animals. This Friday she pledged to give $150,000 of the proceeds of her pet food line to Katherine Heigl's charity, The Jason Heigel Foundation.

Katherine's organization was founded in 2008 in honor of her deceased brother, who loved animals. The money will go toward efforts to increase spaying and neutering pets.

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90 Reasons to Love Betty White

Betty White

Betty White celebrated her 90th birthday yesterday surrounded by friends and good memories as NBC threw the Hot in Cleveland star an unforgettable birthday bash. In celebration of her birthday, here are 90 reasons why we love Betty White!

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Bieber and Gaga Named Among Top 20 Celebs Gone Good

The results are in, and our favorite stars have returned to DoSomething.org's list of Top 20 Celebs Gone Good of 2011. Justin Bieber clawed his way (charitably!) from last year's #10 to #2. Yet he couldn't knock Lady Gaga from the #1 spot that she holds from last year.

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Top 20 Celebs Gone Good for 2011


20. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Taylor’s career and donations are the same: monumental. She gave away $1 million dollars this year, including $500,000 to the Nashville rebuilding effort. Taylor also performed in several benefit concerts, and she auctioned off her home’s tap water on behalf of UNICEF’s Tap Project campaign.

19. Coldplay

Apples

Coldplay recently hosted a benefit concert and comedy performance called Under 1 Roof. Over 15,000 fans attended the concert that helped raise funds for Kids Company, an organization that aids children suffering from abuse and neglect.

18. Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus

Miley helps out with bullying and the troops, but this year she spent a lot of time with the Starkey Hearing Foundation. She traveled to Haiti with the organization to help provide hearing aids to those in need. Miley also advocated for hearing loss prevention, encouraging teens to lower their music to a safe level (85% of Miley’s facebook fans agreed to join the movement).

17. Daniel Radcliffe

Strawberries

In 2011, Daniel continued his longtime involvement with The Trevor Project, an organization that offers suicide-prevention support to LGBT teens. His consistent appearance in PSAs and at speaking events earned him the organization’s Hero Award.

16. Lea Michele

Lea Michele

Lea Michele is using her powerful voice to ban horse-drawn carriages. A devoted advocate for PETA, Lea recently filmed a shocking video that shows the brutal conditions the horses are forced to endure. Lea also inspires her followers to get involved by tweeting information about animal cruelty.

15. Nick Cannon

Nick Cannon

Having twins didn’t slow Nick down this year. He produced and hosted Nickelodeon’s HALO Awards, a show dedicated to featuring kids that help others. Nick also provided his host talents at a 3-day event with Toys for Tots, plus he was the face of Feeding America’s campaign Stomp Out Hunger.

14. Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert

Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert

These country sweethearts bring their talented voices to important issues. Miranda Lambert fundraises to end domestic violence through the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation. Blake Shelton helps out by hosting disaster relief concerts to benefit victims like those in the Joplin, Missouri tornado.

13. will.i.am

will.i.am

Last August, the Black Eyed Peas member helped to launch The Peapod Adobe Youth Voices Academies, which encourage young people to use artistic skills for social change. He’s also on the Board of Directors of the Grammy Foundation, helping to promote music and arts education.

12. Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore*

Bell Peppers

While this couple ended in 2011, their impact around human-trafficking didn’t. As founders of the DNA Foundation, they both travel abroad to encourage leaders to support anti-trafficking policies. This past year was the premier of the couple’s celeb-studded PSA series entitled Real Men Don’t Buy Girls, as well as Demi’s documentary Nepal’s Stolen Children.

11. Shakira

Shakira

This artist is all about education. As Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, Shakira visited India in November to promote learning among girls in impoverished areas. Back home, Barack Obama recently appointed her as advisor to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

10. Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato

Instead of shying away from her personal struggles during 2011, Demi teamed up with the Jed Foundation to get people talking about bullying and body image. “Love is Louder Than the Pressure to Be Perfect” was a campaign to get girls to take action on these issues, and Demi lead the way by acting as spokesperson and guest editor for Seventeen Magazine.

9. Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard

In addition to starting his self-named foundation, the NBA star is President of the Orlando-based D12 foundation. As part of his presidential duties, he’s added a teen recreation room at a local hospital, met with special olympic athletes, and collected food for the hunger organization Blessings in a Backpack.

8. Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie

Through their Jolie-Pitt foundation, this star couple donated $340,000 to the Humanitarian Initiative Just Relief Aid in Somalia to help put an end to human suffering. And while Brad has been rebuilding New Orleans homes with his organization Make It Right, Angie continues to meet with politicians to discuss issues like active land mines.

7. Ellen Degeneres

Celery

This hilarious comedienne helped against HIV/AIDS this year. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named her a special envoy for Global AIDS awareness, and through her television show and celebrity platform, Ellen will help spread awareness about the cause.

6. Matt Damon

Matt Damon

This year the co-founder of water.org helped discourage bottled water use with his PSA character Damon Clause. This Santa-type alter ego wants everyone to purchase the year’s hottest new toy—the reusable water bottle. Matt also spoke at the Save our Schools March, a protest against education policies based on standardized tests.

5. Leonardo DiCaprio

Leo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio takes on many environmental and animal rights roles, including global ambassador for IFAW’s Animal Action education program. This past year Leo helped the organization launch their global petition against ivory trade to help save elephants.

4. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith

Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith

This A-list couple wants to see straight A’s from kids; the Will & Jada Pinkett Smith foundation funds educational projects nationwide. For instance, after hearing that a Philadelphia high school was robbed of computers last spring, they donated over two dozen Apple computers to the campus within 24 hours.

3. George Clooney

George Clooney

George isn’t just gorgeous and talented. He’s a primary celeb advocate for human rights in Sudan. The actor wrote a Washington Post editorial calling for sanctions against the country’s political regime. According to Kerry Kennedy, the President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, “Not only is George an important contributor to the Center, but he’s an inspiration to us all.”

2. Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber

Bieber’s contributions have raised him from last year's #10 spot to second place. He launched the Believe Charity Drive, which benefits multiple causes like music education and children’s cancer. Additionally, Justin encouraged his fans to participate in the Pencils of Promise campaign Schools 4 All, which raises funds for new schools worldwide.

1. Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga

Gaga campaigned all year for anti-bullying legislation, and she has announced the start of her own organization: the Born This Way Foundation. The charity has yet to launch, but she’s already got Barney’s New York donating 25 percent of the proceeds from her Gaga’s Workshop to the foundation. The lady also continued her advocacy for AIDS/HIV this year by joining MAC cosmetics to help create a new lipstick where 100 percent of sales benefit MAC AIDS fund.

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Sneak Peak: Vh1 Divas Red Carpet Pics

Last night our team hit up the red carpet at Vh1 Divas Celebrates Soul to ask celebs why music education is important. We've got great video to come, but in the meantime, check out the awesome photos we captured.


Travie McCoy


Common


Dolly Parton


50 Cent

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Hang with Kristen Bell This January!

Kristen Bell

Kristen Bell has solved mysteries as Veronica Mars and controlled electricity as Elle on Heroes. Now she's taking on a real-life challenge: homelessness.

Young people in the Los Angeles area can join Kristen on January 10th for DoSomething.org & Aéropostale's Teens for Jeans Kickoff Party, celebrating the national campaign that clothes America's homeless teens.

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Happy 22nd Birthday Taylor!

Taylor Swift

In honor of Taylor Swift’s 22nd birthday, we want to highlight some of the great contributions she has made this year.

In May, Taylor hosted the “Speak Now… Help Now” benefit event in Nashville to help victims of the deadly tornadoes that hit the Southeast. Taylor opened her last dress rehearsal for her Speak Now Tour to 13,000 fans who were able to donate to the cause as well.

Taylor also donated $50,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital this year with the help of the American Academy of Music who doubled her amount.

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Virgin Mobile Campaign Inspires Daring Stunts to Tackle Youth Homelessness

Boy and Girl

Can you imagine yourself living in a tree for an entire day? How about building an igloo in the freezing cold over night? It may seem a little extreme, but maybe you'd do it if it was in the name of youth homelessness.

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Solange Knowles Speaks Out to Fight Blood Cancer

See video

Check out the video from Beyoncé's famous sis Solange Knowles. You can do your part to stop blood cancer with the Give a Spit campaign from DoSomething.org, DKMS, and Be the Match.

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