In a world where authenticity is a prized asset celebrities often find a challenge to provide it as they are directed towards supporting uncontroversial global charities. Harry Styles has bucked the trend however by announcing his support of a series of local organisations and, in the midst of that cohort of charities, making some deep statements about his views on American society. By engaging with gun control, work place harassment and migration issues, he is quietly setting a stall out on 2018’s major issues of US society and politics.
At first glance you think that if you are looking to spend $1.2m on making a difference in the world, the last thing you want to do is to spread it across tens of partners, geographies and causes. Everyone already worries that celebrities are over-managed in their philanthropy, that they give to ‘safe’ brand-name organisations that they know will manage their media well rather than anyone they actually care about. They tend to have one international charity, one kids’ charity and one cancer charity, see them each once a year and be done with it.
So when Harry Styles splits his money between a massive fifty-nine different organisations, some would see him as fulfilling the worst of celebrity behaviour. In fact, what he’s doing is both bucking a trend to support big organisations over local and creating a mixture of engagements that allow him to include gifts that show his views on issues he clearly cares about.
With consistent themes around health and nutrition and education and young people well-covered there are a number of commitment to charities that celebrities would rarely be drawn to or publicly donate to. Supporting March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C. to build cross-party consensus around an end to gun violence is a long way from the normalcy of celebrity philanthropy. This of course is not his first statement on the matter having drawn attention for decorating his guitar with stickers against gun violence during a 2018 gig in Dallas, Texas.
A further donation goes to The International Institute of Minnesota which describes itself as delivering “services and resources to assist New Americans in the transition to a new life leading to economic self-sufficiency” which is not usual celebrity territory by any means.
Meanwhile choosing to fund Time’s Up - a Los Angeles charity supporting people to fight sexual harassment in the work place - feels like a message to his own industry given both timing and location.
What looks like the philanthropic selection of someone who just can’t decide is in fact Styles managing to back smaller organisations that often get overlooked and advance a socio-political agenda he clearly has a passion for. Maybe in doing so, he’s found a route to authenticity after all.
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