Donations from a number of celebrities, business leaders, and philanthropists have poured in to support Saturday’s March for Our Lives anti-gun-violence rally in Washington, D.C., which will be led by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students just over a month after the massacre at their high school in Parkland, Fla.
Celebrity Donors
Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, donated $200,000 to the march on behalf of Chicago, Wade’s hometown. “I’m asking my NBA fam to join us in raising money to send kids from underserved communities to March,” Wade tweeted last week.
John Legend and Chrissy Teigen said they are donating $25,000 to the march. “We believe that our gun culture needs to change in America. We stand out among other major countries in the world when it comes to these kinds of massacres but also in the everyday gun violence that people have to deal with,” Legend said.
In February, actor George Clooney and his wife, Amal Clooney, a human-rights lawyer, gave $500,000 to the GoFundMe campaign started by student survivors of the school shooting. Other Hollywood luminaries Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Jeffrey Katzenberg each pledged to match the couple’s gift for a combined $2 million.
According to CNN, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Miley Cyrus, and Demi Lovato will join the march.
Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon also vowed to march with the students on Saturday. “What they had to live through, and what they have to live with, is something that I can’t even imagine,” he said.
Business Leaders’ Support
Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff pledged $1 million to the cause. “Motivated to join the many who are passionate about the safety of all kids,” Benioff wrote on Twitter. “Together all of us can make children’s health and safety our number-one priority.”
Eli Broad, the philanthropist and billionaire businessman, also made a pledge to the gun-control movement. “I’m personally donating $1 million to Everytown and joining the courageous students of Parkland and millions of Americans demanding common-sense solutions to end the gun-violence crisis,” he said.
Joshua Kushner, brother of President Trump son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner, gave $50,000. He is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. After Trump’s inauguration, he was spotted at the Women’s March on Washington.
Italian fashion house Gucci also gave $500,000, saying in a statement to Women’s Wear Daily that it stands with “the fearless students across the country who demand that their lives and safety become a priority. We have all been directly or indirectly impacted by these senseless tragedies.”
Businesses like Starbucks, AT&T, Office Depot, and Ultimate Software have donated to the student victims fund. The Miami Dolphins football team contributed $100,000. Ride-sharing service Lyft said it will offer free rides to the march.
Where the Money Is Going
Money raised for the March for Our Lives Action Fund will go toward expenses for the rally. Its board includes Nina Vinik, director of the Joyce Foundation’s Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform Program, and Vernetta Walker, vice president for programs at BoardSource. Deena Katz, an Emmy-nominated producer and the co-executive director of the Women’s March Los Angeles Foundation, serves as president.
Thousands of dollars raised in support of the march have also gone to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit backed by Michael Bloomberg. “We must demand our government act to protect its citizens,” he tweeted the day after the shooting.
A GoFundMe campaign for student victims has raised over $4 million.
Planned Parenthood and a group called Giffords, the organization founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband, retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, will also support the march.
According to the March for Our Lives website, more than 800 affiliated events will take place on Saturday.
