Photo: Stephen King/ Instagram In December 2011, international bestselling author Stephen King and his wife, Tabitha, helped Maine families facing a difficult winter by donating $120,000 to a home-heating fundraiser organised through the author’s radio station. The campaign eventually raised $241,820, surpassing its original goal as residents confronted higher heating costs and reduced federal assistance….

In 1984, a $57 million gift from David and Lucile Packard helped turn a former cannery site on California’s Cannery Row into the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Four decades later, the institution is known not only for its kelp forest, jellyfish and deep-sea exhibits, but also for conservation work that reaches far beyond its walls. According…