Rihanna’s Tremendous Bowl halftime present is a second to speak about her local weather philanthropy

When Rihanna takes the Tremendous Bowl stage on Sunday for her hotly anticipated halftime present efficiency, tens of thousands and thousands of viewers simply would possibly get a glimpse into the singer’s philanthropy.

If she nods to empowering Black women and girls of colour as leaders, or to the essential significance of making ready Caribbean nations like her personal Barbados for local weather change, she’ll be hinting at greater than a decade’s value of labor achieved by way of her philanthropic group, the Clara Lionel Basis(Opens in a brand new tab) (CLF).

Rihanna based the nonprofit, named after her grandparents, in 2012. The inspiration has primarily targeted on local weather resilience and justice initiatives in communities of colour, with an emphasis on partnering with leaders who’re most affected by the disaster of local weather change however least prone to obtain assist from main foundations. One examine discovered that environmental justice teams teams solely acquired $18 million(Opens in a brand new tab) of $1 billion awarded by environmental grantmakers. In 2022 alone, CLF awarded $15 million in grants to 18 organizations(Opens in a brand new tab) advancing local weather justice within the U.S. and Caribbean.

“On the Clara Lionel Basis, a lot of the work is rooted within the understanding that local weather disasters, that are rising in frequency and depth, don’t impression all communities equally, with communities of colour and island nations going through the brunt of local weather change,” Rihanna mentioned on the CLF web site(Opens in a brand new tab).

To this point, neither the NFL nor Rihanna have recommended her philanthropy will issue into her efficiency. (The NFL did not reply to inquiries despatched by robotechcompany.com.) Justine Lucas, CLF’s government director, instructed robotechcompany.com that she did not know whether or not Rihanna would incorporate the themes of her philanthropy into the present, both. Little doubt most viewers could be simply completely happy to observe a guest-star packed medley that features hits like “Impolite Boy,” “Diamonds,” and “Umbrella.”

If her philanthropy does go unmentioned, it is value remembering that the Tremendous Bowl halftime present is usually a fraught occasion for Black feminine performers, particularly in the event that they’re perceived as political. Janet Jackson endured long-lasting repercussions(Opens in a brand new tab) when Justin Timberlake briefly uncovered a part of her breast due to a “wardrobe malfunction” throughout their 2004 efficiency. Beyoncé confronted an intense backlash when her 2016 look(Opens in a brand new tab) included imagery related to the Black Panthers and Black Lives Matter motion. Rihanna beforehand declined the NFL’s Tremendous Bowl invitation(Opens in a brand new tab), citing the league’s therapy of Colin Kaepernick, the previous 49ers quarterback who kneeled to protest police violence.

Lucas mentioned that no matter what Rihanna options in her efficiency, she needs Tremendous Bowl viewers to know CLF as a basis that’s “on a mission to make the Caribbean the world’s first climate-resilient zone.” Certainly one of its main initiatives invests(Opens in a brand new tab) in emergency preparedness to assist communities higher face up to pure disasters earlier than they strike.

In 2021, the inspiration awarded $7.5 million to greater than 80 companions in seven Caribbean nations. This consists of the Barbados Household Planning Affiliation, together with different well being clinics within the Caribbean, which acquired assist to “harden” their services as a way to ship sexual and reproductive healthcare earlier than, throughout, and after a hurricane. CLF additionally just lately launched the With/Stand local weather pledge that anybody can signal(Opens in a brand new tab).

“It’s our invitation to the world to affix us and assist our imaginative and prescient for a climate-ready Caribbean,” Lucas wrote in an electronic mail.

“That kind of management doesn’t exist within the legacy of what philanthropy seems to be like.”

Isabelle Leighton, government director of the Donors of Colours Community(Opens in a brand new tab), a cross-racial group of excessive internet wealth donors that does not have a proper relationship with CLF, praised Rihanna’s method to philanthropy. She says conventional giving methods, led predominantly by white funders, are likely to “otherize” folks of colour and provides from a “sense of charity.” Against this, CLF factors to a statistic that 95 p.c of its companions deal with or are led by girls, youth, folks of colour, or Black, Indigenous, or LGBTQIA+ communities.

“[Rihanna] is giving again to her house in a really daring approach, and in addition making very public statements about how she’s investing in Black girls and ladies,” says Leighton. “That kind of management doesn’t exist within the legacy of what philanthropy seems to be like.”

Final month, CLF co-signed an open letter to philanthropy(Opens in a brand new tab) difficult foundations and grantmakers to collectively meet a $100 million dedication to the Black Feminist Fund. The marketing campaign launched in 2021 with the objective of supporting “Black girls and Black feminist agendas,” which embrace points like violence prevention, land useful resource rights, and meals and water safety.

Leighton says that she’s excited by the chance that the Tremendous Bowl will draw consideration to the causes that Rihanna helps — and the way in which she helps them. But she additionally understands that the common viewer would possibly understand dialogue in regards to the subject as one other wealthy individual “grandstanding” about their giving.

“That is a type of moments the place you need to perceive you may’t please everyone,” says Leighton.

However for prime internet value donors of colour who can relate to Rihanna’s journey of coming from a humble background and utilizing her wealth to assist empower her group, Leighton says the Tremendous Bowl can be a robust second of illustration.

“Leaders of colour like Rihanna are literally what we want to have the ability to mannequin and to indicate what new methods of energy really want to appear to be for communities which are typically disregarded of the decision-making course of,” says Leighton.