Michael Jackson leaves behind a philanthropic legacy of donating more than $500 million. Jackson has donated to groups like the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the NAACP, the National Rainbow Coalition, and organizations addressing world problems including Transafrica, the Dakar Foundation, and the Minority AIDS Project.
So, it’s not surprising that Jackson’s will leaves approximately a fifth of his estimated half billion dollar empire to the many charities that he was known to support.
When Jackson gave, it was certainly more than “chump change.” In many cases it was more like endowments. For instance, he gave the UNCF $1.5 million in 1986, which led to the creation of the Michael Jackson Scholarship Fund. This has provided some 500 scholarships of up to $4,000 a year to HBCU undergraduate students majoring in communications, English or one of the performing arts. It is still an active scholarship, and 34 students will be recipients of this fund for the 2009-2010 academic year.
UNCF vice president James Alston was in attendance at a 1988 fundraiser at Madison SquareGarden in New York City where Jackson was the headliner. The gala raised $600,000 for UNCF’s Northern Region, which includes Philadelphia. Jackson also received UNCF’s highest honor, the Frederick D. Patterson Award and an honorary degree from UNCF-member institution FiskUniversity at that event.
On March 31, 2004, Jackson, who contributed to the Congressional Black Caucus, visited Capitol Hill to confer with federal lawmakers and their staff about what he could do to help the fight against AIDS in Africa. Among the offices he visited was that of Second District Congressman Chaka Fattah, D-Pa.
“Michael Jackson was the major inspiration and motivator for my involvement in the issue of safe blood for Africa,” said Fattah. “I’m proud of the fact that since I began advocating for the safe blood initiative, we have gone from zero to 35 Safe Blood Centers across Africa, with American funding.”
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