Lady Gaga Tops List of 20 Celebrities Doing Good in 2011

DoSomething.org, an organizations that helps teens take action on causes they care about, released its fourth annual ‘Top 20 Celebs Gone Good’ list.

Lady Gaga continues her reign as the star who uses her celebrity to do the most good. Known for her support of gay rights, AIDS, and poverty, she focused primarily this year on bullying, even advocating for anti-bullying campaigns at the White House in December. She also announced the creation of her own charity, the Born this Way Foundation, which aims to empower youth and lead them to a brave new society where each individual is accepted and loved as the person they were born to be.

Rising to number two this year is Justin Bieber due to his prolific work with Pencils of Promise, an organization that builds schools in Laos and Guatemala. Justin is also a consistent supporter of Make-A-Wish, raised funds for charity with his fragrance and holiday album, and recently distributed $100,000 to Whitney Elementary School in Las Vegas.

The judges ranked the celebrities on three elements: popularity, influence, and impact.

For the first time ever, DoSomething.org incorporated Facebook voting to help them determine the impact of celebrities reaching an audience with their cause. The criteria stipulated giving money wasn’t enough to count as creating impact; instead, a celebrity needed to take an action others could emulate, like writing articles, building houses, or founding an organization. Facebook fans voted Sophia Bush as the first ‘Fan Favorite.’

Here are 17 of the most generous stars:

1. Lady Gaga – for her relentless campaigning for anti-bullying legislation and her advocacy for AIDS/HIV
2. Justin Bieber – for his charity drives to benefit music education and children’s cancer and asking fans to give to Schools 4 All campaign
3. George Clooney – as an advocate for human rights in Sudan
4. Will & Jada Pinkett Smith – their foundation funds educational projects nationwide
5. Leonardo DiCaprio – for environmental work and helping launch a global petition against ivory trade
6. Matt Damon – as co-founder of water.org and for help with Save our Schools
7. Ellen DeGeneres – as a special envoy for Global AIDS awareness,
8. Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie – for Jolie-Pitt foundation donations of $340,000 to the Humanitarian causes, and for building new homes in New Orleans
9. Shakira – As UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador visiting India to promote learning among impoverished girls
10. Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore – for fighting against human-trafficking
11. will.i.am – for encouraging young people to use artistic skills for social change.
12. Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert – Helping to end domestic violence and hosting disaster relief concerts
13. Nick Cannon – The face of Feeding America’s campaign Stomp Out Hunger
14. Daniel Radcliffe – for involvement with Trevor Project, a suicide-prevention program that helps LGBT teens
15. Miley Cyrus – for her help with bullying efforts and the troops, but her trip to Haiti to provide hearing aids to those in need
16. Coldplay – for hosting a benefit concert/variety show for children suffering from abuse and neglect
17. Taylor Swift – for donating $1 million dollars this year, including $500,000 to the Nashville rebuilding effort

See the full list with photos and more, at Dosomething.org.