Selena Gomez Vows to Donate $100 Million to Mental Health Orgs

Selena Gomez’s beauty line isn’t even out yet, but she’s already pledging to make a huge impact with it. On July 22nd (her birthday), Gomez announced the Rare Impact Fund. The fund’s goal is to raise $100 million to “help address the gaps in mental health services for underserved communities” over the next 10 years. A portion of the money will be raised through sales from Rare Beauty, with 1% of every sale going to the Rare Impact Fund. This will start with the very first sale, which explains why the plan is being announced before any products have even launched.

Gomez spoke with Forbes about the fund and explained that her own experience with her mental health, particularly the effects she has seen by being open about it, is what inspired her to go this route. 

“I have been open with my own personal mental health struggles and have seen myself affected by feeling less than,” Gomez said. “Through my openness, I have heard from many young people over the years struggling as well and so this is something very close to my heart.”

In April, Gomez told Miley Cyrus that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Prior to that, she had been candid about her struggles with depression and anxiety.

Dr. Christine Moutier, the Chief Medical Officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, explained in the Forbes article that the federal investment that goes toward mental health is “a disproportionately minuscule amount.” And according to Mental Health America, “57% of adults with a mental illness receive no treatment.”

That’s a gap that Gomez hopes to fill with the Rare Impact Fund, especially when it comes to communities that are underserved when it comes to mental health care. 

“The mere fact there are ‘underserved’ communities is a problem,” Gomez told Forbes. “There are people that don’t have proper access to the internet to begin to find help, let alone being able to afford resources or the price of any medications that might be needed. Everyone should have access to proper mental health resources as well as medical care in general.”

Rare Beauty is launching this summer, but an exact date has not been announced. The line will be sold at Sephora and on the Rare Beauty website. In addition to sales from Rare Beauty contributing to the Rare Impact Fund, the brand is planning to work with other companies, organizations, and foundations to raise money. The Rare Beauty Mental Health Council has also been established that will “guide the company’s strategy to ensure maximum impact.”

All in all, it sounds like a huge undertaking, but one that Gomez, the Rare Beauty team, and the Rare Beauty Mental Health Council are ready to take on. Now if she’d just launch those products, her fans could help out, too. We’re all ready.