Will Smith gave $1.3m in donations to charities last year

Washington, Dec 18 (ANI): American actor Will Smith and his wife Jada's donation to charities last year has been revealed to have been 1.3 million dollars.

From the actor's recently filed tax returns, it could be seen that he had made big donations to different religious, civic and arts groups, with the biggest contribution being made to the Yesha Ministries of Philadelphia.

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The Christian based organization run by Reverend James Robinson got a whopping 250,000 dollars, which is double what he had given them the previous year, reports Fox News.

Another 200,000 dollars went to a Christian ministry outside Los Angeles called Living Waters.

The Church of Scientology received 122,500 dollars, and the amount was spread out to the various organisations, with the New York Rescue Workers Detoxication Fund getting 67,500 dollars, the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood 50,000 dollars and ABLE, another Scientology offshoot, getting 5,000 dollars.

Besides the groups, Smith and his wife also supported a private school called New Village Academy they opened this fall in suburban Los Angeles that uses Scientology learning concepts.

Smith also donated thousands of dollars to a Los Angeles mosque, other Christian-based schools and churches, and to the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Centre in Israel, and he also gave the Progeria Research Foundation, which studies a disease that causes rapid aging, 25,000 dollars.

The newest federal tax filing for the Will Smith Foundation covers 2007, and there is no donation to New Village Academy.

So far there is no listing with guidestar.org, the website that tracks charities and not-for-profit institutions, for New Village. (ANI)