Advice for Celebrity Philanthropy & Activism

Are you a celebrity - someone famous, someone with name-recognition and, perhaps, some wealth to spare - who wants to use his or her fame and money and influence for good? Are you overwhelmed by requests to be a spokesperson, participant in a charity event, or make a financial donation? Perhaps you want to start a foundation that makes grants to others or undertakes its own activities - or improve the one you have already?
 

Many celebrities see their fame as an opportunity to help improve people's lives, encourage better treatment of the environment, address an injustice, even to advance legislation, and it's a tradition for celebrities to champion causes and lend their name to help various charitable or activist causes.
 

But many celebrities don't think strategically about the philanthropic and activist activities they might want to undertake. The result of not being strategic may be wasted energy and even negative publicity, despite the best of intentions. And some celebrities are so overwhelmed with requests to contribute in some way to a charitable effort, human rights campaign or environmental cause that they just say no to everything rather than try to screen and evaluate them all.
 

This web page is meant to give celebrities, or their staff members, some very basic resources to help their philanthropy and activist activities be effective, actually make a positive difference and not be completely overwhelming.
 

Celebrity philanthropy and activism takes many forms. A person with some fame to his or her name may:
 

• Publicly donate financially to nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), schools and other endeavors 
• Privately, anonymously donate to such
• Publicly engage in activism for a cause, talking about the cause in interviews, serving as a spokesperson for an organization, meeting with politicians, lobbying for legislation or changes in public policies, etc.
• Volunteer discreetly, with no publicity, or serving on a board of directors or advisory board
• Volunteer in a high-profile, public way, such as serving as a spokesperson 
• Attend events by nonprofits, NGOs or other organizations promoting a cause
• Donating signed photos, signed scripts, movie props, etc. to a charity auction
• commitments and demonstrated action regarding responsible or sustainable environmental practices, pay equality, safe working environments, etc., beyond what is required by law

Examples of philanthropic efforts by various celebrities.

Note the incredible variety of ways different celebrities engage in philanthropy:
 

Geena Davis founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media
 

Amy Poehler's Smart Girls
 

Prince Quietly Helped Afghan Orphans for Years
 

Profile of Richard Gere's philanthropic activities in insidephilanthropy.com
 

Dolly Parton's literacy program, Imagination Library
 

A blog that profiles the philanthropic efforts of NFL players Madieu Williams, Nnamdi Asomugha and Israel Idonije
 

Charles Grodin's, who has volunteered with inmates at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York and who advocates for prison sentencing reform.
 

Isabel Allende Foundation, which primarily supports nonprofits in California and Chile that provide vulnerable women and children with access to reproductive care, healthcare, education and protection from violence.
 

Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). Founded in 1942, nonprofit highlights the work of a variety of celebrities regarding a range of causes.
 

Insidephilanthropy.com profiles a variety of celebrity foundations via its Glitzy Giving list and its list of the top 20 philanthropists of color (2016).

Getting Started on Making Philanthropic Activities Impactful

If you want to use your money, fame and/or influence for good, or plan your philanthropic activities more strategically, where do you begin?
 

Accept That You Have Limits

You cannot support every cause you care about. No one can.
 

Create an Overall Purpose Statement for Your Philanthropy & Activism

Just like a business, you should think carefully about defining the purpose of your philanthropic activities and have an overall philosophy or mission for such. A purpose statement or mission statement helps you focus your philanthropy and activism in a more meaningful way and allows you to say "no" more easily - and you are going to be saying "no" a LOT. Creating a purpose statement helps a celebrity target philanthropy and activism so that the person's activities can have maximum impact on a particular cause, or set of causes, or community, or set of communities.
 

You can define an initial mission or purpose for your philanthropy and activism, hold on to it for a year or two, and then revisit it and revise it - don't think that your first mission statement forever. What's more important about trying to have a perfect purpose statement right from the start is simply creating something simple, a work-in-progress statement that provides some boundaries for you for a year or two.
 

Start by making a list of issues that you have a personal connection with. Did you benefit in some way from a music program in your school? From a program that gave you access to a sport or the theater? From a mentor who steered you in the right direction? From having access to a playground? Did you face challenges that harmed you in your life: experiences with domestic violence, with lack of good nutrition, with lack of access to a library, with lack of access to a safe, clean green space, with homelessness, with discrimination, etc.? Don't make this list in just one day: make the list and add to it over many days. As you revisit and update your list, the causes you most want to support will probably emerge. Remember that you can always add to the list of causes you support - it's just a good idea to pick just one or two, or very few, to start. You may already feel strongly about an issue that you have no personal connection with but you know you want to support it. That's okay too!
 

Think about what you would want success to look like in supporting a particular cause. Your support for people experiencing homelessness isn't going to solve homelessness, but would you be satisfied with your support for programs that reduce the number of homeless children in a particular community? Your support for programs that help women experiencing domestic violence isn't going to stop all domestic violence, but would you be satisfied with the launch of the first and only nonprofit in a community helping these women?
 

Consider visiting some nonprofits engaged in the kinds of activities you want to support. Feel free to request that such visits and meetings be done with no publicity, but do remember that you are taking up the time of staff, so consider making a small donation to any nonprofit you visit as a way to cover that time spent briefing you about their work and the issue they address.
 

I would love to help you prepare your CSR mission statement, identify or expand CSR activities, create relationships with nonprofits and other organizations and create effective ways to administer and evaluate your overall philanthropic activities.
 

Picking Programs to Support