Some of Hollywood’s blockbuster players feel a relentless need to put their fame and fortune to good use. A-listers like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus take advantage of their celebrity status to spread awareness for causes that they’re most passionate about.
While it’s common for Hollywood’s Elite to participate in philanthropic work, it’s less common for celebs to run their own charity organizations. Let’s take a look at some of the stars who have worked their butts off to raise money for their truly meaningful foundations.
Lady Gaga - Born This Way Foundation
Lady Gaga has taken the world by storm with her various musical and artistic talents. She singlehandedly fomated a massive fanbase of “little monsters” who worship the very ground she struts upon.
Nowadays, millions of dedicated fans buy Gaga’s records, memorize her song lyrics, and pay hundreds to attend her concerts. But believe it or not, the “Speechless” songstress was once at the very bottom of the food chain. According to Gaga in a scene from her documentary, while attending school, she was relentlessly bullied by her peers. The bullies even threw her in a dumpster and laughed.
The cruel treatment she experienced on a daily basis was enough to inspire the “John Wayne” singer to promote kindness wherever she goes. Because Gaga knows exactly how it feels to be treated so poorly, the award-winning actress alternately understands the value of kindness- especially in times of need.
Formed in 2014, Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation promotes mental health awareness for those on the outskirts of society. With its slogan — “Be Kind” — the Born This Way Foundation also spreads the value of kindness.
Beyonce - BeyGOOD
Beyonce’s music has always spread a message of empowerment. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that her charity organization, BeyGOOD, takes a similar path. The “YAYA” singer’s organization offers a plethora of educational and artistic opportunities for women, particularly in the black community.
Seeing that the “Formation” songstress rarely gives interviews that delve into her personal life and beliefs, she’s famous for intrigue. Yet despite her star-like aura of mystery, she’s blatant about about the value of education. Case in point: Her famous 2012 hit, “Who Run The World? (Girls)” makes a point to celebrate those who pursue higher education when she sings, “Raise your glass to the college grads.”
The Award-Winning celeb felt fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a high school of performing arts which worked in her favor since music is her dearest passion. To spread her deep appreciation of education, the BeyGOOD Foundation believes in a society where everyone has an opportunity to prosper.
BeyGOOD helps organizations, institutions, and people work to transform their communities into places of well-being, economic prosperity, generosity, and justice.
Oprah Winfrey - Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation
Oprah Winfrey is one of the highest-earning women on the planet. Over the past few decades, the Mississippi native has built a veritable empire off her name, from her famous talk show to her longstanding magazine to her inherent fabulousness.
Yet, long before the fame and glory, Oprah has revealed her hardscrabble childhood. Raised by a single teenage mother, the talk show superstar was so poor she had nothing to wear but potato sacks as clothing.
Since the mega-star knows firsthand what it’s like to struggle with the hardships of poverty, she does whatever she can to offer help to those in need. The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation's mission is to support women and children by providing education, support, and inspiration. In 2020, at the height of the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Oprah Foundation raised a whopping $10 million for relief programs for those in need.
Meryl Streep - Silver Mountain Foundation for the Arts
Art is far more than a source of entertainment. It is, in essence, the best outlet for self expression there is. Through art, people learn about themselves, their values, and their deepest aspirations.
No one’s more aware of the value of the arts than multiple Oscar-Award-Winner Meryl Streep. That is why, in 1986, the “Devil Wears Prada” star launched her charity, the Silver Mountain Foundation for the Arts. The organization was created with the help of her husband, Don Gummer, a renowned sculptor. Through its generous contributions, the charity aims to elevate artistic education throughout America and beyond.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - Archwell Foundation
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have stepped down from their royal duties, but this doesn’t mean they’re just sitting around doing nothing. The former royal couple has been actively participating in philanthropy, and even have their own charity, the Archwell Foundation.
Their foundation focuses on multiple causes that are dear to both Harry and Meghan, especially relating to mental health. Both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have opened up on multiple occasions about their own personal struggles with mental illness. So it makes sense that the couple would try to spread as much awareness as they can via their charity.
Elton John - Elton John AIDS Foundation
Elton John has dedicated nearly half of his career to his world-famous AIDS Foundation. According to the “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” singer, his mission with the charity is to not only put an end to the stigma surrounding those with HIV/AIDS but also to put an end to the epidemic itself. “The ambition is to get rid of this disease by 2030,” John said in his mission statement outlined in The Elton John AIDS Foundation Overview.
So far, his foundation has raised a whopping $125 million dollars and continues to thrive
Leonardo DiCaprio - Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation
The Titanic star may be one of the most well-known actors on planet Earth, but he is still one of the most private celebs in the business. He rarely shares details about his personal life or discusses the latest, hot-button issues with his fans.
Despite being an enigma to the general public, he’s always been actively vocal about his urgent wish for a greener planet. Since DiCaprio was 24-years-old, his central cause has been raising awareness on matters of climate change and actively finding ways to save Mother Earth from pollution and waste.
According to their official website, The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation offers funding for Ocean Conservation, Indigenous Rights, Transforming California, Windlands Conservation, and Innovation Solutions.
Emma Watson - HeForShe
Emma Watson truly is the embodiment of Hermione Granger in more ways than one. Like her Harry Potter character, Watson’s brilliant and ambitious and she’s also determined for justice concerning those who need it most. (Shoutout to her S.P.E.W. organization.)
In real life, Watson’s main concern is women’s rights and general equality between the sexes. The Perks of Being a Wallflower star’s HeForShe campaign aims to liberate both men and women by dismantling harmful gender stereotypes.
Miley Cyrus - Happy Hippie Foundation
Miley Cyrus is extremely dedicated to her charity organization, the Happy Hippie Foundation. The “Flowers” songstress has been a constant advocate for LGBTQ rights. So her foundation aims to raise awareness as well as funding for those in the community who are in need.
Her organization also helps unhoused individuals find help, resources, and care.
“It wasn’t until December of 2014 that I decided I wanted to start my own foundation,” she reveals in a Happy Hippie promo video. “After we lost a young person struggling with gender identity — Leelah Alcorn — I never felt that it was right that someone would lose their life over not being able to be free.” She continued, adding, “It really hurt me to know that she didn’t have anybody to reach out to, and I wish she would’ve had the Happy Hippie Foundation to reach out to.”
Eva Longoria - Eva Longoria Foundation
Eva Longoria may play a pampered, spoiled princess on Desperate Housewives, but in real life, she’s quite the contrary. The “Flamin’ Hot” director has participated in multiple charities to uplift the Latin community, and her own charity does just that.
Through the Eva Longoria Foundation, members of the Latin community have access to educational programs including STEM Education, Parental Engagedment, Mentorship, and Entrepreneurship.
Well, there you have it! 10 celebrities with the most successful charity organizations. If you have the means, feel free to donate to the organizations that fund the causes dearest to you.
Karl Marx Gets Slimed: The Cult of Dall-E Mini
Someone please sew me a xenomorph beanie baby.
Dall-E Mini, the AI-powered text-to-image generator has taken over the internet. With its ability to render nearly anything your meme-loving heart desires, anyone can make their dreams come true.
DALL-E 2, a portmanteau of Salvador Dali, the surrealist and Wall-E, the Pixar robot, was created by OpenAI and is not widely available; it creates far cleaner imagery and was recently used to launch Cosmpolitan’s first AI-generated cover. The art world has been one of the first industries to truly embrace AI.
The open-sourced miniature version is what’s responsible for the memes. Programmer Boris Dayma wants to make AI more accessible; he built the Dall-E Mini program as part of a competition held by Google and an AI community called Hugging Face.
And with great technology, comes great memes. Typing a short phrase into Dall-E Mini will manifest 9 different amalgamations, theoretically shaping into reality the strange images you’ve conjured. Its popularity leads to too much traffic, often resulting in an error that can be fixed by refreshing the page or trying again later.
If you want to be a part of the creation of AI-powered engines, it all starts with code. CodeAcademy explains that Dall-E Mini is a seq2seq model, “typically used in natural language processing (NLP) for things like translation and conversational modeling.” CodeAcademy’s Text Generation course will teach you how to utilize seq2seq, but they also offer opportunities to learn 14+ coding languages at your own pace.
You can choose the Machine Learning Specialist career path if you want to become a Data Scientist who develops these types of programs, but you can also choose courses by language, subject (what is cybersecurity?) or even skill - build a website with HTML, CSS, and more.
CodeAcademy offers many classes for free as well as a free trial; it’s an invaluable resource for giving people of all experience levels the fundamentals they need to build the world they want to see.
As for Dall-E Mini, while some have opted to create beauty, most have opted for memes. Here are some of the internet’s favorites:
pic.twitter.com/DbLoe1s00c
— Weird Dall-E Mini Generations (@weirddalle) June 8, 2022
pic.twitter.com/cxtliOrlHz
— Weird Dall-E Mini Generations (@weirddalle) June 12, 2022
no fuck every other dall-e image ive made this one is the best yet pic.twitter.com/iuFNm4UTUM
— bri (@takoyamas) June 10, 2022
pic.twitter.com/rEBHoWR7lH
— Weird Dall-E Mini Generations (@weirddalle) June 12, 2022
pic.twitter.com/RSZaCIDVV7
— Chairman George (@superbunnyhop) June 9, 2022
back at it again at the DALL•E mini pic.twitter.com/iPGsaMThBC
— beca. ⚢ (@dorysief) June 9, 2022
There’s no looking back now, not once you’ve seen Pugachu; artificial intelligence is here to stay.