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.
8 Places That No Longer Exist Due to Climate Change
Climate change is happening right now, and it's already destroying people's livelihoods.
Climate change is often framed as a problem of the future—something that "will happen" if we fail to act.
But the truth is that climate change is happening right now, and it's already destroying livelihoods. Climate change is the droughts, the hurricanes, the wildfires, and the floods that are occurring with increasing frequency. It's the extreme heat, which is debilitating to some but which others can easily drown out with air conditioning.
Climate change generally harms poor communities and communities of color far more than it harms the primary drivers of rising global temperatures, namely corporations and those who benefit from corporate success. Ironically, poor communities that contribute very little to climate change tend to be the ones who have to deal with its worst effects.
Still, climate change will come for us all one way or another—that much is clear. Climate change is even beginning to damage luxury hotels, infringing on the isolated worlds of the super-rich. Here are eight places around the world that are already disappearing because of climate change. Chilling harbingers of what's to come if we don't act, these places are also testaments to overconsumption and the brutal effects of humanity's utter lack of care for the planet and for our fellow humans.
1. Hotel Bélvèdere, Switzerland
Hotel Belvedere
The Swiss Alps' magnificent Rhone Glacier once attracted visitors from across the globe. Many chose to stay at the glamorous Hotel Bélvèdere, which hosted the likes of Pope John XXIII and Sean Connery in its day. But the Rhone Glacier has been steadily retreating, losing almost a full mile in the last century. It's receded so much that the land on which the hotel stands is no longer secure, and so the hotel has been closed indefinitely. Today, it's boarded up, a relic of a long-gone world.
2. Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, US
Isle De Jean Charles
Southeastern Louisiana's beautiful gothic island homes are now sinking into the sea. The island is home to many members of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw and the United Houma Nation tribes, which have already lost 98% of their remaining land since 1955.
The island was heavily damaged by floods throughout the first decade of the 2000s, culminating in devastation after Hurricane Katrina. At the beginning of 2016, Louisiana was awarded a $96 million grant to move the island's inhabitants to higher ground. Those who lived on the island will be awarded either a house in a resettlement community located further north or funds to move somewhere else. Displaced tribe members are still mourning their lost homeland.
3. Vunidogoloa, Fiji
Vunidogoloa, Fiji
Climate change threatens to turn many tropical oases into underwater relics. One such place is Vunidogoloa, Fiji, a village that has been flooded because of climate change, forcing inhabitants to move to higher ground.
Since 2012, these villagers have been in the process of moving to higher land. There was a time when Vunidogoloa was a thriving community, but today, rising sea levels have increased levels of soil salinization, have worn away fields, and have eroded seawalls intended to stop the floods.
Painted as "the nation's first community to relocate because of climate change," the fates of the Vunidogoloa villagers are warning signs for us all.
4. Saint-Louis, Senegal
Saint-Louis, Senegal
Saint-Louis, Senegal was once a vibrant coastal city, but it's now being overtaken by the sea."Climate change has had a devastating impact on our city, destroying houses and key infrastructure," said Saint-Louis's mayor, Amadou Mansour Faye.
Out of the more than 100 million people live along the west African coast, "four million of those have been displaced, forced to live in temporary camps away from the shoreline," according to Sky News.
Flooding, shoreline erosion, and drought have heavily damaged Saint-Louis and many neighboring towns, seeding conflict, forcing thousands to flee to refugee camps, and provoking the rise of extremist groups.
Climate change "is a huge problem for developing countries because they don't have the resources to fight coastal erosion," said Loïc Brüning, who researches the effects of climate change in Saint-Louis. "From Mauritania to Cameroon, all the shore is eroded. Whereas cities in the Netherlands have protected themselves because they have the knowledge and finances to do so."
5. Coral Reefs on Christmas Island, Australia
Australia Coral Reef
Fanpop
Australia's reefs are some of the most visually arresting examples of climate change available to us. While attention has been lavished on the dramatically decaying Great Barrier Reefs, many of Australia's western reefs are suffering too.
Heat stress from climate change led 90% of the reefs by Christmas Island to die or turn bleach-white in a 10 month period between 2015 and 2016. These reefs provided vital nourishment to many of the aquatic species living in these waters, and the reefs' deaths have contributed to a decline in food quality and health for many nearby humans.
6. Chacaltaya Glacier and Ski Resort, Bolivia
Chacaltaya Glacier and Ski Resort, Bolivia
This 18,000-year-old glacier began to melt around 1980, and in 2009 the glacier was completely gone due to climate change.
But Bolivia's Chacaltaya Glacier had been the home of Bolivia's only ski resort, which had been open since the 1930s. Located at 17,519 feet above sea level, the resort was long the world's highest ski resort, and its restaurant is still currently recognized as the highest restaurant in the world. Today, the once-thriving resort is maintained by two brothers who worked at the resort for decades. They maintain a place where visitors can still receive a hot meal, hence the location's continued recognition as the world's highest restaurant. The mountain resort, however, lies eerily abandoned, a foreboding warning sign of what's to come.
7. Lake Poopó, Bolivia
Lake Poopó, Bolivia
Geography Excel
Lake Poopó dried up entirely in 2016 due to agriculture, mining, and climate change. Once Bolivia's second-largest lake, it had long been a vital resource for many communities that relied on it for food and sustenance. Nestled in the Altiplano Mountains at an altitude of 3,700 meters, it made mountainous areas habitable, but no longer.
Today, the lake has turned to a collection of salt-scarred marshes littered with bird skeletons and overwhelmed by scavenging beetles. Many scientists have cited its disappearance as a warning about the future consequences of climate change.
8. Shishmaref, Alaska
Shishmaref, Alaska
The village of Shishmaref, Alaska was built atop a sheath of ice, putting it at extreme risk as global temperatures rise. Climate change has already heavily impacted Shishmaref, as rising temperatures and melting floes have made the landscape all but uninhabitable.
As the world warms thanks to the 1,200 tons of carbon dioxide that humans pump into the atmosphere each second, Shishmaref is disappearing. It's one of 31 villages in Alaska that face extreme threats from erosion and climate change-related issues, according to a Government Accountability report. Things have gotten so bad in this village that in 2017, inhabitants officially voted to relocate, though they don't yet have the funds to do so.
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