Sharmila Tagore Quotes

I've been a philanthropist for all my life, and... I've had many involvements in humanitarian and environmental issues.

Over the years, we have gone beyond our businesses to take up philanthropic projects in diverse areas - from education to health care to skilling.

I'm very interested in charities. I help a lot of different charities.

My foundation is based on helping children, and I hand-pick projects that are close to my heart and home.

I started off with making personal donations and eventually set up my own foundation, VTCY Foundation, now known as Better Malaysia Foundation. My contributions are also made through companies that I own.

I have worked with Habitat for Humanity for awhile.

Save the Children is an awesome charity that has helped more than 125 million children around the world, providing everything from school books to food to blankets and shelter.

Our philosophy is you need to give nonprofit money for health, nutrition, education, culture, and sports.

I travel to Cambodia, Thailand, Bali, and Nairobi for my charities: Somaly Mam and Friends to Mankind.

But there are many, and I'm a supporter of a great deal of charities.

I am a huge supporter of the Waxman foundation.

I would like to share something that is being done extremely well by Bill Gates through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation is only going to address areas which are seen by Bill or Melinda as ills of the world. The foundation has no perpetuity.

I'd love to work with children. I've set up the charity, and that's going well. We've got a lot of projects we're doing in Somalia, so I'd like to see how we're doing there.

After the sale of Celtel, I really wanted to give the money back, and I had a number of choices - to go and buy masses of blankets and baby milk or to go into Darfur or Congo. That would have been very nice actually, but it's just like an aspirin: it doesn't deal with the problem.

All of the charities we're involved with have touched me in one way or another on a personal level. There are about eight or nine charities that I support.

Charities are really good. To a certain extent, the ones you pick are arbitrary.

I'm going to give away a lot more than half my money. I'd be happy to give that to the government if the government put together programs that were like I'm giving away to charity, in which I believe the money is effectively used to help people.

My charitable donations go to educational efforts, such as Teach for America, Vanderbilt University, Berkshire School.

Unfortunately, the mechanism for doing philanthropy in a structured way isn't yet in place in India. I already do a fair bit and support various causes such as education, sanitation, health. But selling costly drugs at affordable prices is philanthropy in itself.

I have a soft spot for charities that help children.

I've had the privilege of working with Bono for the past few years in the One Campaign to fight AIDS and hunger and disease around the world. Bono is an Irishman and a great humanitarian. And I remember him telling me of his admiration for America.

I play bad golf for good charities like the LA Police.

Last time I was in Jamaica I financed a teacher to teach in an orphanage.

While visiting Costa Rica, I was inspired to hear that someone had donated a playground to a local school. So when I returned to L.A., one day I just called the principal of a nearby elementary school and asked what I could do. Five years later, I've helped make over nine schools, repainting, renovating, and fixing up playgrounds.

In the rest of the world, rich people will give a donation, and businessmen give to charities. But in Mexico, the execution capacity of what we call the social sector is missing. I find it much more effective to set up the actual social organisation and then fund it with my money.