5. David Beckham
David Beckham just celebrated his tenth anniversary with UNICEF, where he has volunteered as a Goodwill Ambassador and used his global voice and helped raise funds for children in danger worldwide. In honor of his anniversary, 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund was founded and is a testament to the personal commitment to continue helping for another 10 years. He also donated $4.5 million to two French children’s charities in an agreement he made to donate all his earnings while he played for Paris Saint-Germaine.
4. Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods may not have the most stable personal life, but his donations to charity have been unwavering. He runs the Tiger Woods Foundation, which provides educational opportunities for youth worldwide. Just from the annual Tiger Jam concert alone, the foundation has raised $14 million to benefit the children. Woods has donated over $12 million of his own tournament earnings to his own foundation.
3. Derek Jeter
Jeter established his Turn 2 Foundation in 1996, which aims to “create and support signature programs and activities that motivate young people to turn away from drugs and alcohol and ‘TURN 2’ healthy lifestyles,” according to the foundation’s site. The foundation has raised $18 million since its establishment.
2. LeBron James
His impact through the LeBron James Family Foundation has helped countless children and young adults with education. He partnered with the University of Akron to provide a guaranteed four-year scholarship to the school for students in James’ “I Promise” program who qualify. The scholarship will cover tuition and the university’s general service fee, which is currently $9,500, for 1,100 students. That racks up to $41.8 million he’s going to spend for teens to get a higher education.
1. Lance Armstrong
Lance is largely revered for his cancer fighting efforts. He started the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which hosted the “Livestrong” campaign and sold 50 million yellow bracelets to raise awareness about cancer and independently raised millions to help fund cancer research. They’ve raised over $500 million since its inception, which has helped 2.5 million cancer survivors with free patient navigation services.
