From Dolly Parton to LeBron James: eight stars turning wealth into lasting public good

Published: 31 August 2026. Wealth and fame have given many entertainers the means to do more than build businesses and amass assets. For some, those resources have been focused on long-term programmes and organisations that address problems such as literacy, disease, water access and education. Below are eight high-profile figures whose giving and advocacy have produced sustained, measurable activity.

Dolly Parton: a reading legacy

Dolly Parton, whose fortune was estimated at $450 million, made literacy a defining cause. In 1995 she launched the Imagination Library in her Tennessee home county to send free books to preschool children regardless of family income. The programme expanded to the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Ireland and had passed 300 million books distributed in 2025. Parton, who died last week aged 80, also supported disaster relief, hospitals and medical research.

Bono: persuading others to spend

Bono, with an estimated fortune of $700 million, has combined personal giving with high-profile advocacy to mobilise public and private funds. His campaigning stretches back decades and includes co-founding the ONE Campaign, which he helped use to push for investment in health and economic development. ONE says its campaigning has helped secure more than $1 trillion in new investment since 2004. In 2006 Bono and Bobby Shriver founded (RED), which has generated more than $800 million for the Global Fund.

Elton John: three decades against HIV/Aids

Elton John, whose fortune was estimated at about £480 million, founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992. The foundation says it has raised more than $660 million and funded more than 3,200 projects across 108 countries. In 2025 the foundation reported that its programmes reached more than 523,000 people with HIV services across 68 countries and that it awarded more than $18 million through 44 grants. The foundation’s work has focused on reaching people who remain particularly vulnerable to HIV.

Michael J. Fox: research driven by personal experience

Diagnosed at 29, Michael J. Fox publicly revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 1998 and launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000. The foundation says it has invested around $3 billion in research worldwide. Its long-running study collecting biological samples and clinical data contributed to a major development in 2023, when researchers identified a biomarker capable of detecting biological signs of Parkinson’s in living people.

Rihanna: resilience and disaster readiness

Rihanna, with an estimated fortune of about $1 billion, founded the Clara Lionel Foundation in 2012. The foundation began by funding radiotherapy equipment at Barbados’ Queen Elizabeth Hospital and expanded into work on climate resilience, disaster response, health, education and women’s entrepreneurship. Since 2012 the foundation says it has distributed more than $100 million in grants and has mobilised additional funding for projects across the Caribbean, East Africa and the US South. Its programmes increasingly emphasise preparing communities before disasters strike.

Matt Damon: financing solutions for water

Matt Damon’s philanthropic focus on water began after he witnessed the crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. He founded H2O Africa in 2006 and three years later joined forces with water and sanitation expert Gary White to create Water.org. Rather than only building infrastructure, the organisation developed a financing model to help people access small loans for taps, toilets and other water services. Water.org says it has reached more than 88 million people with safe water or sanitation, including almost 10 million in the past year.

Michael Jordan: local health investments and long-term support

Michael Jordan has channelled part of his wealth into healthcare for vulnerable communities. Since 2017 he has given $27 million to Novant Health to fund medical clinics in Charlotte and Wilmington, North Carolina, and a neuroscience institute named after his mother. Jordan has also supported Make-A-Wish since 1989, personally granting hundreds of wishes and marking his 60th birthday in 2023 with a $10 million donation the largest individual gift in the organisation’s history.

LeBron James: education and family-centred support in Akron

LeBron James has focused his philanthropy on children in Akron, Ohio. His LeBron James Family Foundation established the I PROMISE programme in 2011 and later partnered with Akron Public Schools to open the I PROMISE School in 2018 for children at risk of falling behind academically. The programme now serves more than 1,400 students and includes initiatives that extend support to families and the wider community.

Different approaches, sustained engagement

These eight profiles show varied approaches to using celebrity wealth and influence: founding institutions, funding research and services, persuading governments and companies to act, and designing financing models to scale impact. Across these examples, sustained involvement and programmes that outlast individual gifts are common threads.