Entertainment

Beyonce's Charity Concert Is Going To Be FIRE

by S. Atkinson

If you like the music of popular recording artists Ms. Beyoncé Knowles and Jay Z, you're based in New York, and you like good being done in the world, then, ka-ching, all your Christmases are coming at once. There's going to be a Beyoncé and Jay Z charity concert in New York on October 15 in collaboration with an amazing, 28-year-old charity that aims to demolish poverty in the city, the Robin Hood Foundation. And more on that in a second. But it's worth noting that this isn't the first time Beyoncé has assisted charities this year.

The first lady of pop is nothing if not seriously generous, as 2016 goes to show. Beyoncé paired with United Way on her Formation World Tour this year, meaning that verified volunteers in Chicago who had completed a project got the chance to win a ticket to her concert, creating an incentive for more people in the area to volunteer. She also teamed up with CHIME FOR CHANGE and Global Citizen for the tour. Donations to United Way also gave Beyoncé fans the chance to win VIP tickets. Later in the year, Beyoncé's entertainment company Parkwood Entertainment, would present United Way of Genesee County with $82,234 to help respond to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

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So what do we know about the charity that Beyoncé is now supporting, the Robin Hood Foundation? According to their website, they're "New York's largest poverty-fighting organization." But what does that mean? Well, first a little background. Robin Hood Foundation executive director David Saltzman states that there are "1.8 million New Yorkers living in poverty."

This isn't the only shocking statistic on the website: apparently "1 in 6 New Yorkers rely on daily emergency food" and "40,000 New York schoolchildren don't have a place to call home." The Robin Hood Foundation finds and selects organizations to fund to tackle poverty, using their system to measure "how much the program is going to increase future earning and income." But it's not all about statistics: the Robin Hood Foundation's work has concrete effects on people's lives:

To me, the coolest thing about the charity is their approach to running it: usually when you make a charity donation, a percentage of it will go to covering overhead at the charity. But the people running the Robin Hood Foundation have such passion for their project that the "board of directors pays all administrative, fundraising, and evaluation costs" so 100 percent of donations go to the organizations helping impoverished New Yorkers. You can't do better than that.

So, if you're based in New York, make sure you show some support to the Robin Hood Foundation and Beyoncé by snapping up tickets for the October 15 Tidal gig.