Pop star and actress Ariana Grande has officially launched the Brighter Days Ahead Foundation, bringing her years of private charitable giving under one public initiative focused on LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive health, immigrant rights and mental health.
The foundation, launched in May, builds on Grande's long history of supporting these causes through donations and fundraising efforts. In the past, she quietly donated to England's Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, gave concert proceeds to nonprofit organisations, funded a holiday gift drive for transgender youth and launched a $3 million fundraising campaign for transgender young people in 2022.
According to Grande's philanthropic adviser Shauna Nep, the foundation comes at a time when financial support for many of these causes is declining while political and social opposition is increasing.
This summer, Grande is using her Eternal Sunshine Tour to raise awareness and funds for the foundation. At each concert, national and local nonprofit organisations are featured on arena screens before the show, while fans who donate are entered into a sweepstakes to win a trip to her final tour performance in London.
Tour proceeds will eventually be shared among local nonprofit groups, although grants announced so far have been funded directly by Grande herself, a foundation spokesperson said.
Like many entertainers before her, Grande is turning her public influence into organised philanthropy. Experts say social media now gives celebrities greater ability to promote charitable causes directly to millions of followers, making fundraising and advocacy more effective than in previous generations.
One of the organisations supported by the foundation is Trans Lifeline, a crisis hotline for transgender people. The nonprofit has received $125,000 from Grande, including emergency funding last year and an additional grant when the foundation launched.
The funding helped restart a microgrant programme that distributed $100,000 directly to transgender people across the United States through grassroots organisations. It also supported improved benefits for the group's crisis hotline workers.
Trans Lifeline Executive Director Dante Alviar Horton said celebrity backing has increased the organisation's visibility and helped attract more public support.
Grande had reportedly resisted creating a formal foundation for years because she did not want her charitable work to be viewed as image-building. However, Nep said a structured foundation would allow her to support nonprofit organisations more strategically and work with other funding partners.
The Brighter Days Ahead Foundation operates as a fiscally sponsored project of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a long-established public charity that helps celebrities create charitable initiatives.
Its largest funding programme, Protect and Defend, supports organisations working on legal and policy issues affecting transgender youth, immigrants and reproductive rights. Many of the grassroots groups receiving grants have limited access to government or institutional funding.
Grande has publicly supported these issues for years. In 2019, she donated about $250,000 in concert proceeds to Planned Parenthood after several US states introduced abortion restrictions. She has also spoken openly about living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression, voiced support for LGBTQ+ communities and criticised the Trump administration's immigration policies.
Experts say her approach follows the example of celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Elton John, who established major charitable foundations after becoming deeply involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Anne Aslett, CEO of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, said successful celebrity philanthropy requires more than public support for a cause. While artists often bring empathy and public attention, she said, lasting impact depends on having a strong organisational structure behind their charitable work.