These Celebrities Exhibit the One Quality You Should Look For in a Guy

The Man
The Australian actor, producer, singer, dancer and veteran awards show host is a committed philanthropist who uses his star power to raise funds and awareness for a wide range of causes, including poverty, environmental and microcredit programs in developing countries. Hugh Jackman also acts as an adviser to the Global Poverty Project, an organization with the ambitious goal of stamping out extreme poverty worldwide by 2030, by raising public awareness and lobbying government, business and consumers to effect change.

The Cause
The Global Poverty Project conducts three distinct campaigns: 1.4 Billion Reasons is a multimedia presentation to educate the public about extreme poverty; The End of Polio teams up with other partners to eradicate the crippling disease forever, while Live Below the Line invites westerners to live below the poverty line on just $1.25 a day for five days to help them understand the realities of poverty.

The Man
Award-winning actor, screenwriter and producer Matt Damon has been an outspoken activist throughout his career, affiliating himself with numerous humanitarian causes, including the ONE Campaign, Feeding America and OneXOne, and he is a co-founder of both Not On Our Watch, an organization tracking human rights atrocities in Darfur, and Water.org, which helps disadvantaged communities access safe water. Damon has also produced, starred in and developed numerous documentaries and feature films that highlight themes from his social causes.

The Cause
Water.org was formed when Damon’s H20 Africa Foundation merged with Water Partners in 2009 to maximize both organizations’ resources. Offering microcredit loans and educational assistance and working closely with leaders from the communities it serves, the foundation provides access to safe, drinkable water and better hygiene in developing countries as a first measure toward better public health and disease prevention.

The Man
Curtis James Jackson III, better known as 50 Cent, is a rapper and the de facto head of G-Unit. One of the most popular and successful hip-hop artists alive, he's sold over 30 million albums worldwide, explored acting, boxing promotion, film development projects and a fashion line, and maintains an impressive investment portfolio. The man they call "Fiddy" is also an outspoken anti-hunger activist who generously donates to humanitarian and philanthropic causes. Read his interview with AskMen here.

The Cause
Like many inner city youths, 50 Cent was drawn to the gang-run drug trade, selling crack in his Jamaica, Queens neighborhood from the age of 12 and racking up a lengthy rap sheet before his recording career took off. The charity he co-founded with his musical collaborators, G-Unity Foundation, serves underprivileged urban youth and their communities, funding holistic education initiatives tailored to the problems facing inner city families and using the founding rappers' stature to emphasize the importance of academics.

The Man
This Academy Award-winning actor is almost as well known for his social and environmental activism as he is for his cinematic work. Norton acts as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, raises funds for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and is a board member of the Enterprise Community Partners, a non-profit focused on affordable housing founded by his grandfather. In 2010, the actor helped found CrowdRise, a crowdsourcing platform with a heart.

The Cause
"We set CrowdRise up mostly with the intention to put a turbo booster under anybody who wants to make an effort on behalf of a good cause," Norton explains, describing how the social networking community puts like-minded people in touch to raise charitable funds through micro-donations. "It's easy to knock social networks as a waste of time until you see how motivated, passionate people are able to leverage that connectivity. I can spend a whole day looking at what people are doing on CrowdRise and not see a single thing that isn't hugely inspiring. It really makes me optimistic."

The Man
Bear Grylls’s professional life recalls a time when “explorer” was a job category. The adventurer, TV personality, author and youngest-ever Chief Scout has climbed, circumnavigated, dived, scaled, abseiled, spelunked, trekked and somehow survived many of the planet’s least hospitable surfaces -- the harsher, the better. He’s also been an advocate for children’s organizations, particularly those working with abused or disabled kids, but much of his philanthropy supports the ultimate survivors: veterans.

The Cause
Having served several years in the U.K. Special Forces, Bear Grylls is involved with numerous veterans' causes, including service-family aid organization SSAFA Forces Help and Veterans in Action (VIA), which assists returning soldiers’ readaption to civilian life. Founded by three former soldiers in 2008, VIA helps vets rebound from the psychological and physical traumas of service by fostering a community and organizing expeditions for “adventure therapy,” treating PTSD by encouraging participants to push themselves to their physical limits.

The Man
Over the course of his 50-year career, singer-songwriter Elton John has sold over 300 million albums, released hundreds of hits and was named Billboard’s third top-performing artist of all time. Along the way, he’s snagged pretty much every accolade out there, from knighthood on down. Elton John has long been an outspoken advocate of LGBT rights, marriage equality and a powerful figure in the fight against AIDS.

The Cause
Established in 1992, The Elton John AIDS Foundation has worked to sponsor and fund HIV/AIDS prevention and education programs, funding needle exchange centers and safe-sex education programs as well as providing renewable grants for organizations that support and care for people living with HIV and AIDS around the world. The foundation has disbursed over $300 million to HIV/AIDS programs in 55 countries, and the program’s strong celebrity faction was critical in destigmatizing and raising awareness about the disease in the 1990s.

The Man
America’s alpha male has always been lion-hearted, rumored to bequeath vast sums of money to great causes very quietly while speaking stridently against human rights violations. The award-winning and highly respected actor and filmmaker has been particularly vocal about the ongoing abuses in Sudan, donating components for a satellite to monitor the area, penning op-eds and open letters to heads of state and even intentionally having himself arrested at a protest outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington alongside his father in 2012.

The Cause
Clooney co-founded Not On Our Watch with fellow actors Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, David Pressman and Brad Pitt and producer Jerry Weintraub. The foundation’s sole mission is to draw greater international attention to mass atrocities and genocide, while attempting to provide advocacy to those on the ground. Not On Our Watch is presently active in Sudan, Myanmar/Burma and Zimbabwe.

The Man
At this point, it's safe to call it like it is: Brad Pitt is the biggest movie star on the planet. He's been nominated for five Oscars, won pretty much every acting honor out there and fostered excellent film projects through his development company, Plan B Entertainment. With his wife Angelina Jolie, Pitt has also become one of the most committed celebrity activists, donating generously to over 30 causes, in addition to generating awareness and large contributions in response to specific humanitarian crises in Darfur, Pakistan and Haiti.

The Cause
In 2007, in the washed out wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Pitt founded the Make It Right Foundation to build affordable and environmentally sustainable housing for displaced Lower 9th Ward residents, not only donating cash but also personally showing up to help with a hammer in hand. The organization continues to develop green housing for communities in crisis, with ongoing projects in New Orleans, Kansas City and Newark.

The Man
Coldplay is one of the most successful bands of the last 15 years, selling a staggering 55 million copies of their five albums and landing seven Grammys, eight Brit Awards and scores of other trophies. Citing Bono's legacy as his inspiration, singer-songwriter Chris Martin routinely donates money to benefit a broad range of charitable and humanitarian causes. Martin's pet cause is fair trade. Over the years, he's gathered more than 30,000 signatures for Oxfam's Fair Trade petition, traveled to Ghana and Haiti to speak with farmers firsthand and has often performed with the group's equal sign logo drawn on his hand.

The Cause
Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign pressures G8 governments and corporations to engage in more equitable trade relationships in the developing world. It lobbies against restrictive trade tariffs and the dumping of government subsidized commodities while campaigning in favor of looser patent laws to let developing nations and their populations catch up economically.

Check out AskMen for more men who gave back in 2014.

And check out more great stories from AskMen:

• 50 Cent Interview
• How Celebrities Are Making A Difference With Philanthropy
• The Science Of Giving: Why Altruism Makes Us Happy
• Unconventional Charities
• 28 Worthy Charities and Causes