Neil Young, Foo Fighters Concert Nets $1.3 Billion in Pledges
Marked by headlining performances from Neil Young and Crazy Horse, the Foo Fighters, and the Black Keys, last month’s Global Citizen Festival raised a whopping $1.3 billion in pledged donations aimed at ending extreme poverty.
Among the groups that helped raise money were the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, which pledged to raise $500 million by 2015 to help children across the world; the Half the Sky Movement, which looks to raise $167.5 million to benefit women and girls living in extreme poverty; charity: water, which committed to raising $100 million by 2015 to fund clean drinking water projects; and Global Parternship for Education, which is striving for $500 million to help educate five million children living in conflict areas. For a more complete list, check out Global Poverty Project’s website.
Held September 29th at Central Park in New York, the Global Citizen Festival treated 60,000 fans – not to mention the many who tuned in for the live webcast – to sets from the aforementioned rock heavyweights, as well as Band of Horses and K’Naan. Many of the tickets were free, as well, earned by fans who spread awareness of extreme poverty over social media. Read our full report of the concert.