Comments on: Using His Powers for Good

By: rebecca @ altared spaces

rebecca @ altared spaces — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:16:19 +0000

I am with you and wish that it would become as stylish to help out a cause as to wear expensive sneakers or a diamond necklace.

When “doing good” becomes the fashionable way to spend money fewer celebrities will feel the need to adorn themselves and will take their money and buy so good karma.

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:06:21 +0000

Good for him…I had no idea. I get a little fired up when I see the salaries of star athletes, actors, etc, but at least in his case the salary is going towards something good.

By: Bridget

Bridget — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:17:05 +0000

Until reading your article this morning I had no idea he donated the ad proceeds to The Boys and Girls Clubs of America. I’m relieved to know that there is a part of this manufactured media circus that went to a good cause. I agree that many celebrities have the power to make a real difference in people’s lives. I do imagine, however, that being in their position it is hard to discern the worthy causes from the opportunists that want a free ride.

By: Laura H.

Laura H. — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:56:45 +0000

As an estate planning attorney who has some ultra wealthy clients, but no celebs per se, the wealthy quite often remembers their favorite charities at death with bequests, or even with the whole of their estates.
What shocks me most is that all of us middle classers do nothing in our estate plans. We provide for our surviving spouse and our children, or maybe an aging parent or a sibling, but most middle class and upper middle class people do not make a charitable gift at death. Why does this shock me? During life most of us are making charitable contributions. We pull out our checkbooks at church; we attend charity auctions and trivia nights; we send donations to charities that have helped us, family or friends, either directly like hospice or indirectly through medical research; we participate in the Race for the Cure. If part of our life is giving to charity, then why wouldn’t we all make charitable gifts on a similar level at death?
I completely agree with you that celebrities could make (and some already do) a huge difference. I was just watching an old Oprah that was on my DVR and Will I Am paid off the mortgages for 2 families who were near losing their homes in foreclosure, and I was thinking, “I wonder how many mortgages Oprah could pay off?!” (I am not saying she doesn’t already do a lot…but my random pondering was along the same vein of your more thought-out post above.) But I will go a step further and put out there that if the middle class remembered their favorite charities in their estate plans in the same way and at the same modest level they support those charities in life, that trend would benefit charities to a much greater extent than the trend you are proposing among celebrities. Well, minus Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates – who probably can give more than the whole middle class put together!
My 2 cents to your 10 dollars!