Rajinikanth is also widely known for his philanthropic activities. He converted one of his banquet halls, the Raghavendra Marriage Hall, to a charitable trust to help the needy. He is planning to construct a new hospital and a new school on a piece of land near Chennai. He has distributed Rs 12 Lakhs as relief to the family members of the bereaved in the bomb blast in Coimbatore. He also donated 1 crore rupees to the 2004 Tsunami Relief Fund by the state of Tamil Nadu, in January 2005 to the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J. Jayalalitha, in person. Dance choreographer-turned-actor and director Lawrence Raghavendra, who is also a philanthropist in Chennai, has reportedly merged with Rajinikanth, who agreed to pay the food expenses of Lawrence's disability home.
On October 31, 2008, Rajinikanth donated 10 lakh (1 million) rupees to the Sri Lankan Tamil humanitarian aid during the protest and hunger strike, organized by the South Indian Film Artistes' Association, in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils struggling in the on going civil war on the island. It was the highest amount given, in a draw with Lawrence Raghavendra who set up his own campaign to raise money