EDGE Dallas

Philadelphia entrepreneur and philanthropist Mel Heifetz has more than a history of generous donations. He has built a legacy of giving essential aid to LGBT causes across the nation, especially focused in his hometown.

President Obama thanked Terry Bean at a fundraiser in Portland, Ore., this week. Bean, an LGBT philanthropist who founded HRC and other groups, has been called a "gay-porn kingpin" by the New York Post.

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, will honor Chaz Bono, Michele and Rob Reiner, Wells Fargo, Phoenix Suns President and CEO Rick Welts and the 2011 Student Advocate of the Year at its seventh annual Respect Awards.

Rainbow World Fund (RWF), the only international humanitarian aid organization that is based in the LGBT community, just returned from a ten-day humanitarian aid journey to Guatemala.

Concierge Travel’s recent Central American cruise aboard the Star Flyer, a four-masted clipper ship, was a seven-day idyll through the North Pacific Ocean, with six ports o’call and a cavalcade of talent, including Amy & Freddy, Maissie, and ChiChi Rones.

With Sotheby’s auctioneer, Hugh Hildesley, at the podium, inciting the altruistic crowd into a bidding frenzy for items such as a date with Bravo star, Andy Cohen, or art from Robert Mapplethorpe, William Wegman, and Herb Ritts,nearly $400,000 was raised.

The 23rd Annual Bailey House Auction and Party returns to the Lexington Avenue Armory on the 23rd of February, 2011. Often hailed as the highlight of the Winter Benefit Season, this year’s event will be hosted by Carmen Marc Valvo and Sherri Shepherd.

A philanthropist and HRC Humanitarian of the Year Award recipient has offered to purchase the building that has served as the headquarters for the Philadelphia Boy Scouts for the last 80 years.