Celebrate Taylor Swift through her favorite charitable causes
(CNN) — It’s fair to say Taylor Swift had a big year.
From dominating the album and streaming charts to her record-breaking “Eras Tour” and concert film, the reported new billionaire and Time Magazine’s Person of the Year boosted whole economic sectors ranging from small businesses to the global travel industry.
Throughout her massively successful career, Swift has often used her enormous platform for good. Here are some of the causes and organizations close to her heart (and signature heart hands) that she has supported.
Music
The 12-time GRAMMY Award winner’s support of the music community includes promoting music education, preserving music history, and helping music industry employees.
Swift has been a longtime supporter of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the museum’s Taylor Swift Education Center. It offers a variety of programs for students and visitors of all ages – serving more than 200,000 people this year alone.
“The Center was made possible by Taylor’s landmark gift to the museum as part of its capital campaign, which allowed the museum to nearly double its size,” the non-profit said in a written statement. “That she had the foresight to invest in the institution’s service capacity as a 23-year-old is remarkable, and her gift helped the museum expand its educational and community offerings significantly.”
While Swift lent items to display at the Nashville museum, she also donated many guitars to several charity auctions over her career. Earlier this year, an autographed guitar featuring artwork of her “evermore” album raised $25,000 for MusiCares, a non-profit founded by the Recording Academy to help industry members with financial assistance, addiction recovery, and heath care services. Swift also donated guitars to auctions benefitting another Recording Academy-related organization, the GRAMMY Museum.
In 2020, Swift gave a guitar she played onstage at the Academy of Country Music Awards show to an auction raising money for its philanthropic arm, ACM Lifting Lives. The sale benefited the non-profit’s Covid-19 Response Fund for members of the country music industry who experienced hardship due to the pandemic.
LGBTQ rights
Swift went public with her political support of the LGBTQ community in the 2018 Tennessee midterm race, writing “I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG.”
For years, the singer-songwriter advocated passage of the Equality Act, which, if passed, would amend the Civil Rights Act to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (The legislation passed the House in 2021 but has since stalled in the Senate.)
She delivered a powerful Pride Month message at an “Eras Tour” stop in Chicago this summer, proclaiming the concerts as “safe space” amid “so many harmful pieces of legislation that have put people in the LGBTQ and queer community at risk.”
“Taylor Swift is undeniably one of the most influential people in the world, and when she speaks about why and how she supports the LGBTQ community, people listen,” said Anthony Allen Ramos, Vice President of Communications and Talent at GLAAD. “Her authentic and vocal allyship is invaluable for our community, especially at a time when our rights are being challenged and questioned daily in states across the country.”
Swift made “a very generous donation” to GLAAD in 2019 and memorably referenced the non-profit in her song “You Need to Calm Down” with the lyrics “Why are you mad? / When you could be GLAAD?”
Hunger relief
Swift made headlines this year not only for her blockbuster concerts, but also her generosity supporting food banks in cities she played across the country.
Her donations came after the expiration of federal pandemic food stamp funding as food demand and costs skyrocketed.
While it’s not publicly known how much Swift donated, her gifts had real impact, allowing food banks to buy tens of thousands of pounds of fresh food and support programs helping eligible children and seniors avoid hunger.
Swift’s support also drew publicity and awareness to the issue affecting one in six Americans, according to Feeding America. Many food banks in the organization’s network reported increased donations and interest after Swift’s announcements.
“We are profoundly grateful that Feeding America partner food banks across the country were included among Taylor Swift’s philanthropic contributions,” said Casey Marsh, Chief Development Officer for Feeding America. “With her remarkable show of generosity, Ms. Swift has supported our efforts to ensure that people have access to the food they need to thrive.”
Crowdfunding
Swift is one of the 150 million people and organizations that are part of GoFundMe’s global community. In recent years, she has helped a boy with autism get a service dog, assisted with medical bills for a fan with cancer and a family struggling to make ends meet, pitched in to help two moms keep up with rent, and helped support a Covid widow with five children.
In 2015, Swift even inspired the fundraising platform to raise its maximum donation cap to $50,000 after she and her mother, Andrea, made several donations to help a young fan with leukemia.
The singer’s generosity has inspired her large and devoted fanbase to give back as well. In honor of Swift’s favorite number, 13, GoFundMe reports $13 donations more than doubled this year. Swifties have rallied around the same crowdfunding campaigns and supported each other after a fellow fan was killed in a car crash following an “Eras Tour” concert this spring.
“Taylor Swift’s generous support of many GoFundMe fundraisers over many years highlights the power of help,” said GoFundMe Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Margaret Richardson. “Her generosity brings people together, creates community and inspires others to pay it forward, as does every person who donates on GoFundMe.”