Private donors play a significant role within the field of global development. Beyoncé Knowles, along with many other celebrities, is a private donor whose role is incredibly helpful in financing the growth of local, national, and international development. Based on the role that media plays on our society today, it is important to recognize the enormous power that celebrities have when it comes to raising awareness and funds for a specific charities or organizations. After the market crash in 2008, celebrities roles in aid relief became significantly more important due to the pressure that governments were experiencing in order to fit a tight budget, which led to a large decrease in aid funding. Therefore, the roles of celebrity private donors, such as Beyoncé, became more critical than ever before. The contents of this page hopes to explore why celebrity aid, specifically Beyoncé’s work, has greatly helped development throughout the world.

      The first positive role that private donors have on development is shown through Beyoncé’s involvement within the United States. Some of her most recognized aid work has been in her hometown of Houston, Texas where she recently donated 7 million dollars to an organization that builds housing for homeless men, women and children. The impact that one celebrity can have on a cause or organization becomes never-ending when multiple celebrities such as Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Brad Pitt and many others join together to make a difference. An example of this teamwork is demonstrated through the “Hope for Haiti” campaign in 2010, where they raised billions of dollars for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. The relatively small amount of effort that a celebrity has to put into their “celebrity aid” work can have a long lasting impact on the organization, the cause and the development of other parts of the world for years to come.

      As mentioned in the fact that private donors became increasingly popular since 2008, in 2009 there were 76,500 foundations that made grants in the United States, with 90% of them being private or independent donors. Furthermore, a year later in 2010, the assets of these US foundations rose, and private foundations gave $32.5 billion. These statistics show the importance of celebrity aid. Thousands of celebrities, such as Beyoncé, make huge impacts in the development industry, as it is their funds that are contributing to the ongoing change throughout the world. Recently, Beyoncé donated $125,000 to “Embrace Innovations,” a charitable organization that helps premature babies in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Ghana. Her donation, which provided necessities such as infant warmers to help with their survival, saved up to nearly 2,000 premature babies. Evidently, private donors, and more specifically celebrity aid, have an enormous impact in allowing development to continue at both the national and international levels.

      As previously demonstrated through Beyoncé’s donation to “Embrace Innovations,” in the past year Beyoncé has contributed in multiple ways to international aid. Specifically, she donated half of a million dollars to her co-founded global “Chime for Change” campaign, in hope of improving the health, education, and justice of girls and women around the world. Furthermore, celebrities have become increasingly active in recent international crises such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Beyoncé specifically donated a song to the Philippines Relief Album, while other celebrities such as David Beckham, raised funds to help the victims. This shows the extent private donor and celebrity aid can have on development at an international level.