The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Lady Gaga Joins Forces
With Prominent Funds

By Caroline Preston

The pop star known for thundering dance beats and outlandish outfits like the “meat dress” she wore to 2010’s Video Music Awards landed the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and other choice cuts from the academic and philanthropy worlds to help her foundation make its debut last week.

Lady Gaga, the 25-year-old
singer from New York’s Up-
per West Side, unveiled her
Born This Way Foundation on
a stage at Harvard University
where Winston Churchill and
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
once spoke. Harvard’s Berkman
Center for Internet and Society
is advising the star on her foun-
dation,
Top officials from the Mac-
Arthur fund and the California
Endowment, which are backing
Lady Gaga’s foray into philan-
thropy, were on hand, as well as

The pop star
“adds something
that we simply don’t
have, and that
is reach.”

18 youths from the California fund’s programs. So was Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Oprah Win-frey.

Lady Gaga (nee Stefani Germanotta) assembled that chorus of support from such a dissonant bunch of people in the name of building self-esteem among young people. The Born This Way Foundation will seek to fight bullying and “inspire bravery” among youths, online and off.

With a budget of more than $2.5-million—$1.2-million from Lady Gaga, $500,000 from MacArthur, and much of the rest from a deal with the Barneys New York retail chain—Born This Way and its supporters will share proposals on how schools and policy makers can keep young people safe, hold competitions for youths working in digital media, and engage community groups and teenagers in cities that Lady Gaga visits on her concert tour next year.

Intellectual Weight

For Lady Gaga’s foundation, the benefits of working with big-name nonprofits are many. Harvard and the foundations have helped connect Born This Way, which is led by the pop star’s mother, Cynthia Germanotta, to the latest research on youth civility. Their imprimatur also lends intellectual heft.

But how does the Lady Gaga
brand help MacArthur and the
California Endowment? Does it
make sense for buttoned-down
philanthropy to work so close-
ly with a star who has such a
flamboyant reputation?

Taking Risks

Impressive or not, Lady Gaga and her brand do carry risks.

“Institutional philanthropy has more reputation and brand capital than we care to spend.”

The singer has built her success on shocking people. Her song “Judas” angered religious leaders. Some animal-rights activists decried her meat dress, which was made from slabs of steak.

Dr. Ross says questions about working with Lady Gaga are “ legitimate” but that philanthropy is far too concerned about negative publicity.

“Institutional philanthropy has a great deal more reputa-

Lady Gaga’s foundation starts with $1.2-million from the musician and $1.3-million from other private sources. Among the early efforts: a bus that will provide learning opportunities to youngsters.

STEVE MACK/FILMMAGIC/GET T Y IMAGES

tion and brand capital than we care to spend,” he says.

Born on an Airplane

The Born This Way Foundation was conceived, according to Lady Gaga’s mother, on a plane ride home from a European tour last spring. Cynthia Germanotta says her daughter had been troubled by recent incidents of online hazing of gay youths. (This fall, she dedicated a live performance to a fan, Jamey Rodemeyer, who committed suicide after what his parents say were years of taunting because of his sexual orientation.)

Hunkered under an airline blanket, Lady Gaga started talking about some of her ideas for inspiring young people, her mother says. Ms. Germanotta grabbed a piece of paper and began taking notes.

While the causes that some
celebrities champion are head
scratchers (how did Matt Da-
mon pick water conservation,
for example, or Natalie Port-
man, microfinance?), Lady Ga-
ga’s is a no-brainer. She has
talked openly about feeling
“like a freak” as a teenager. Her
songs—particularly “Born This
Way,” the title track of her 2011
album—are sometimes appeals
for tolerance, social acceptance,
and courage. (“There’s nothing
wrong with loving who you are,”
she sings in the video, in dress
that alternates between black-
and-white underwear and a suit
with a skeleton mask. “So hold
your head up, girl, and you’ll go
far.”)

Bus Tour

Born This Way describes
its approach as “online, on the
road, and down the street.”
It will develop a social-media
campaign to share cutting-edge
research conducted by Harvard
and engage parents, teachers,
and policy makers in discus-
sions about how to protect and
embolden young people. (In ad-
dition to the money it’s giving

Fund will fight
bullying “online,
on the road,
and down
the street.

Born This Way, MacArthur is contributing $500,000 to the Berkman Center to produce research and proposals on youths in the digital age.) A tour bus sponsored by MacArthur and Born This Way will travel the country, providing a place for youths to feel connected and learn about ways to get involved in positive social activities.

The California Endowment is exploring ways to tap Lady Gaga’s influence, perhaps by using her name in youth centers and incorporating arts programs into those places. For the foundation—and for all of big philanthropy, for that matter—the arrangement is very much an experiment.