Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $150,000 to a children's charity.

The couple gave the sum to SOS Children's Villages, USA - which supports adoptive families and highlights the needs of children without parental care - in recognition of National Adoption Day through their Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Dr. Heath Paul, CEO of SOS Children's Villages, USA, said: "I am truly thankful that Angelina and Brad understand the power of family - the kind of stable family that SOS holds as an essential part of healthy child development.

"Together, Angelina and Brad have been eye-witnesses to the great work of SOS Children's Villages in Ethiopia, Jordan, a Darfur refugee camp in Chad and Haiti. Angelina and Brad know that children's need for a family is universal."

The donation from the couple - who have adopted three children, Maddox, nine, Pax, six, and Zahara, five, as well as three other kids, Shiloh, four, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - will provide the long-term financial support needed for a family of four foster children in one of the US SOS Children's Villages.

Last year, the couple donated $100,000 to two of the organisation's centres in Florida and Illinois after being impressed by their work.

Angelina said of the generous gift: "We have seen firsthand the remarkable job SOS does to raise orphaned and abandoned children and keep families together. No one 'ages out' of an SOS Village: vocational training, advanced education, living assistance and moral support are there forever."

The SOS Villages house over 200 children and last Christmas Brad insisted it was important to show gratitude for the work the organisation does.

He said: "In this holiday season, many of us take for granted that we are surrounded by loving family members. The poor outcomes for foster children indicate that we must do a much better job of supporting them."

It was revealed last year Brad and Angelina donated $6.8 million to charity in 2008 after raising the money through their Jolie-Pitt Foundation.