Aspect of Madonna's career
Madonna has been known for her philanthropic endeavors, activism and political commentaries. She began as one of the first mainstream musicians to advocate in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Throughout her career, Madonna has advocated and supporting different causes including human rights, such as women's and LGBT rights. She has used her social media channels to motivate her followers and raise awareness about various social concerns. Since her early career, Madonna has defined that with her fame comes the responsibility to be a spokesperson.
She has donated time and money in sizeable quantities to numerous charitable organizations, and sometimes made it as a quiet donor. Her endeavors also include performing in various benefit concerts or participating in different charity records. Madonna founded her own charitable organizations in 1998 (Ray of Light Foundation) and 2006 (Raising Malawi). The first serves areas all over the world, while the second focuses their efforts on Malawi. 
Madonna's activism and political commentaries are also known for her sometimes outrage views, bold statements, provocative tones and supporting manner, which have garnered her criticism. From a broader sense, many authors have included her, in the generalized criticism of activism or philanthropy made by public figures. Her humanitarian efforts in Malawi were polarized by a series of events, including the adoptions she made. Despite the all sorts of criticism she has encountered, various have appreciated her endeavors describing her views as "outspoken" but "candorous" while maintaining a view of Madonna as a person who is "firm in her convictions" despite any backlash or treatment directed at her persona and popularity. During the height of her fame, reviewers from academic Douglas Kellner to journalist Matt Cain have remarked on how she helped bring some social concerns into the mainstream in her generation. Others have emphasized and underlined Madonna's effect on subsequent generations of musicians in various ways. Named a "Goodwill Ambassador for Child Welfare" by Malawian president Peter Mutharika, her charitable efforts have been recognized in some ceremony awards, including the AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) and American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) by her help in the AIDS crisis.
Noteworthy charity supports.
Madonna's philanthropic endeavors include different causes. In "Women Icons of Popular Music" (2009), Carrie Havranek comments that "she downplays much of [...] her philanthropic efforts, despite the fact that she is a regular donor to AIDS charities and a quiet donor to a charity for breast cancer". Conversely, after the advent of social media, Sarah Ezzy from Global Philanthropy Group, commented "she's not shy about using her social media to highlight her giving and encourage others to give directly to those efforts". Mel Ottenberg from "Interview" said "Madonna does so much charitable work".
Selected fundraising and charity on AIDS and LGBT causes.
Biographer Carol Gnojewski said she has "donated millions" to AIDS organizations. Writing for "Billboard" in 2001, Wayne Hoffman commented that her AIDS charity involves "money and time". She is considered to be one of the first musicians to advocate in response to the AIDS crisis, or one of the first "notable names" from the entertainment industry in the cause.
Madonna regularly donated concert proceeds, and appeared in numerous radio and TV announcements. She purchased a back page of a "Billboard" magazine to enlist financial assistance for various AIDS relief and research organizations. In her first international tour, Who's That Girl World Tour (1987), she raised $400,000 for amfAR with a Madison Square Garden concert. It became one of the first AIDS benefits given by a celebrity according to "Out", and "Rolling Stone" labeled Madonna as the "first major American pop star" to stage such a large-scale fund-raiser. She also donated to the French Association of Artists Against AIDS from her Paris concert. She continued donating with her Blond Ambition World Tour. Madonna also donated to AIDS Project Los Angeles, the AIDS Action Foundation, and amfAR after the premiere of "". Madonna took part in Elizabeth Taylor's 65th birthday in 1997, considered by Guinness World Records to be the most money raised by a birthday fundraiser. In 1999, Madonna lent her name to the AIDS Walk in Detroit.
Madonna became a patron of Crusaid in 2002, donating signed items to raise money. In 2007, she donated to the Mobilization Against AIDS. She auctioned a private concert in 2008, raising more than $560,000 for amfAR at the 61st Cannes Film Festival's Cinema Against AIDS. Madonna bestowed Jeremy Scott with the Award of Courage at the amfAR Gala in Los Angeles in November 2021, contributing also to the fundraising efforts. That year, Madonna helped raise $100,000 for LGBTQ+ organizations during a Pride party at the Standard Hotels of New York. She premiered a Pride-themed video installation titled "No Fear, Courage, Resist", which was screened on displays in Times Square the same day.
She offered moral and financial support to her HIV/AIDS-affected friends, including artist Keith Haring. She had attended a fashion fundraiser event by November 1986, and a benefit dance marathon in 1989 with her friend and mentor, Christopher Flynn also diagnosed with the disease. Madonna endorsed other groups including ACT UP and Bid 2 Beat AIDS. Madonna has remembered World AIDS Days multiple times; during the 2015 Rebel Heart Tour she dedicated a performance and speech honoring survivors and victims. She participated in "Sing", a song released during the World AIDS Day in 2007. Madonna allowed her B-side song "Supernatural" to appear in the AIDS charity album "Red Hot + Dance" (1992), with a remix provided by Sly and Robbie. In 2011, after Elizabeth Taylor's death, Madonna praised her efforts declaring: "I admired and respected her not only as an actress but for her amazing and inspiring work as an AIDS activist".
Education and child welfare.
Her efforts have significantly focused on child welfare and education over the years. The Ray of Light Foundation, established in 1998, has supported the education of girls in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries, and in Malawi through Raising Malawi which started in 2006.
Outside of her own charitable organizations, she has donated money and time by causes established by others. She attended Sport Aid's Race Against Time in 1988, designed for children's charities. By February 1987, the Make-A-Wish Foundation had arranged a meeting between Madonna and a young leukemia patient, then 9 years old. A week prior, a spokesman for Warner Records stated she had "done similar things in the past", but without publicity. In early 2003, Madonna kept in touch with a 17-year-old girl with liver cancer through her final days via the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada. She has made visits to orphanages, and through the years, Madonna has been reported to have taken all her children on trips to do charitable work, particularly in Malawi. After her stop on the 2016 Rebel Heart Tour in Philippines, she visited the Bahay Tuluyan Foundation, a center that provides shelter for orphans and street children and also the Hospicio de San Jose. That year, she visited Kenya in Africa.
Madonna became a patron of UK-based charity Children of Peace. She was part of the organizational committee at a 2009 Raisa Gorbachev Foundation charity gala. That year, she donated a personal Dior shoes to benefit Gypsy child education in Romania, and also made a donation in 2007, to an organization that sets up playgrounds in Russia.
Motivated by her spiritual enthusiasm at that time, Mary Cross, said in "Madonna: A Biography" (2007), she has reportedly donated $21 million to the establishment of Spirituality for Kids, in Los Angeles, a Kabbalah school and an organization working for schools and young community centers to help children develop into "strong, clear, happy human beings". According to Lucy O'Brien in "", she donated "all her profits from her children's books to the foundation". Some sources reported she donated about $22 million for the establishment of the Kabbalist Grammar School For Children (a.k.a The K School) in New York City; a source claimed one of her motivations was because "education means a lot to her".
Responses to some humanitarian crisis.
Madonna made monetary responses to a number of crisis and disasters. She became one of the first recording artists to make a donation to charities helping the victims of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in September 2001. She granted $1 million from the proceeds of three Los Angeles concerts of her Drowned World Tour to children orphaned by the disaster. Helen Studd, a correspondent for the "Irish Independent" reported about her immediate response: "Her generosity has started a wave of contributions from designers and pop bands".
She also responded to the extreme earthquakes that occurred in 2009 in Pacentro, Italy with $500,000 and at least $250,000 for the 2010 Haiti earthquake, through Partners in Health. As part of her fundraising efforts for Hurricane Sandy victims, Madonna exposed her buttocks during a MDNA Tour concert to encourage her audience to throw money at the stage. She visited victims in Queens, New York and by 2013 it was announced she would donate clothing used in that tour to raise money. The following year, in 2014, Madonna responded to the Flint water crisis with a monetary donation granted to Community Foundation of Greater Flint. According to some reports, Madonna helped raise $5.5 million to support people affected by the 2015 Malawi flood crisis.
Shortly after the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand in 2019, Madonna donated $10,000 to GoFundMe as part of a goal to raise $100,000. It was reported that she donated about $1.1 million toward the development of a COVID-19 vaccine in 2020, to Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation. She also donated, in association with the Reform Alliance 100,000 masks to prisons and jails across the country.
Benefit concerts, charity events and other causes.
Madonna joined various benefit concerts, including Live Aid (1985), Live 8 (2005) and Live Earth (2007). She headlined the London concert of the lattermost event, and wrote "Hey You" for their campaign. Initially released as a free downloadable track, within these terms the song was available on MSN.com, and for each of the first one million free downloads, $0.25 cents were announced to be donated to the Alliance for Climate Protection.
Madonna participated in the 1998 concert for the Rainforest Foundation Fund to support indigenous people and rainforests. According to the Guinness World Records, it was the largest environmental fundraising event held. Madonna's song "Freedom" had previously appeared on their charity album "Carnival! The Rainforest Foundation" in 1997.
Madonna participated in the Tsunami Aid, to raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami by performing a cover of "Imagine". She invited her audience through her official website to donate the red cross. The next year, Madonna joined the BBC telethon, "Children in Need 2005". In 2010, Madonna performed at the "Hope for Haiti Now" with the song "Like a Prayer".
Aside from benefit concerts, she has been part of various charity records. In 1987, she contributed a cover of "Santa Baby" to the series' first charity album, "A Very Special Christmas" to benefit the Special Olympics. In 2004, Madonna introduced the Band Aid 20 video of the charity supergroup, Band Aid. She was part of the 2011 soundtrack "Every Mother Counts" from documentary "No Woman, No Cry".
She participated at a 1993 "The Arsenio Hall Show" to benefit Magic Johnson Foundation, and in 1995 she presented a plaque to Muhammed Ali from Parkinson's Disease Foundation. In 1997, assisted to a fund-raising gala honoring Gianni Versace. In 2013, Madonna gave a speech at the Chime for Change concert to benefit education, health and justice. In 2017, Madonna made a surprise performance at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation's annual charity auction, helping raise money for the cause as well. Over the years, she donated more than $8 million to the Kabbalah Centre in London. "Vegetarian Times" reported that with her first international tour, Who's That Girl? in 1987, she donated a portion of the receipts from each concert to charities; aside from AIDS causes, she gave money to a charity in Chicago that refurbishes playgrounds with new equipment and soft ground surfaces.
Activism and advocacy.
Madonna has spoken out in favor of and on behalf of numerous groups and individuals, through statements or works (songs, videos, or concerts). By the early 1990s, academic Douglas Kellner in "Oh Fashion" (1994), describes her as becoming "political" making "statements on behalf of AIDS victims, the homeless, saving the rain forests, and women's rights".