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Global Citizen is setting up a major philanthropy push around the FIFA World Cup, aiming to funnel attention from a July 19 halftime show into education funding for underserved children. The antipoverty nonprofit said the entertainment lineup is designed for a global moment, with organizers planning performances during the tournament broadcast that will include Madonna, Shakira and BTS, and said Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin is involved in curating the show.
Global Citizen described its effort as the World Cup’s entertainment appeal translated into sustained support. The group said it is partnering with FIFA through the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which it says is intended to raise $100 million for grassroots organizations offering children access to education and sports.
Shakira, who released the official World Cup song “Dai Dai” featuring Afrobeats artist Burna Boy on Thursday, tied her involvement to education and children left behind. Speaking at the Global Citizen NOW summit in New York, she said she hoped “on the world’s biggest stage, finally, the importance of investing in education steals the show,” and in a separate interview with The Associated Press she said she wanted to help “the many children who are being left behind.” In that AP interview, she added: “That should be our first concern” and said she was “so excited that finally we’re gonna use a global event like this one as a platform to discuss what’s most important: kids’ education.”
Organizers said the education fund has already secured funding and is moving through grantmaking. Global Citizen said speakers at the summit reported that the effort had raised $47 million so far, and it cited corporate contributions including $15 million from Bank of America, MetLife and Cisco. The group also said MetLife is donating an additional $5 for every video fans post online of themselves juggling a soccer ball using the hashtag #FootworkForFutures.
Global Citizen said its grantmaking includes 27 inaugural FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund grantees. Among them, the group pointed to Hit the Books, a Harlem-based nonprofit that uses mixed martial arts as a hook to provide students with additional educational resources, and said grant amounts range from $50,000 to $250,000. Hit the Books executive director Jhae Thompson said the support matters because many nonprofits “support hundreds of children on incredibly small budgets,” and added that the program is focused on “what we are really leveraging is the foundation of what a young person needs in order to build character, to build discipline, to build confidence.”
The World Cup’s scale also raises questions about who can participate and how broadly supporters will engage with the funding mechanism. Global Citizen said a dollar from every World Cup ticket sale will go toward the education fund, but organizers have acknowledged complications tied to the cost of match attendance, travel and lodging, which they said could lead some host cities to lower attendance expectations.
The group’s attempt to emphasize unity through soccer and music is also entering a politically sensitive environment, with Global Citizen and FIFA facing scrutiny about how external relationships could affect the humanitarian message. The AP story noted critics’ concerns that FIFA’s agreements with countries such as Saudi Arabia, whose sovereign wealth fund became an official World Cup supporter on Thursday, amount to sports being used to distract from human-rights records, and it also pointed to criticism of FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s connection to President Donald Trump, including Trump’s restrictive immigration policies and military pursuits.
Global Citizen said it is not focusing on politics as it pursues the education fund. Hugh Evans, the group’s founder, told AP he is “a pragmatist,” and said he has believed that if Global Citizen can do something “so unbelievably positive,” it “has the potential to unite people at a time when the world needs it most.” He said the effort to seek further support could also encourage a human approach rather than what he described as “nationalistic” thinking.
As it looks for additional funding, Evans said Global Citizen is inviting host countries to supplement the education fund. He said he was encouraged by the list of inaugural grantees released earlier this week and said the new fundraising approach has a goal of reaching “the whole world,” with the message that “We are global citizens… We’re all on this amazing planet together. Let’s solve the world’s biggest problems together.”
Global Citizen’s outreach also includes efforts to broaden representation in its leadership and partner base. The AP story said the group added 2PointZero Group vice chair and managing director Mariam AlMheiri to its board, describing her as leading the International Affairs Office at the Presidential Court of the United Arab Emirates, and it quoted her saying: “when you look at a football, everyone’s happy,” adding that she hopes that positive association translates into support for the fund.
In the summit’s discussion, entertainment-adjacent figures also emphasized the World Cup’s reach and geographic spread. The story said Marcus Samuelsson, a James Beard Award-winning chef and soccer fan, noted the tournament is spread across the United States, Mexico and Canada and said it has expanded from a competition largely between South American and European countries to include countries in Africa and Asia as well. Samuelsson said wide geographic spread can prompt curiosity about global issues, adding: “You start thinking about these countries. You maybe want to go there on vacation, maybe you want to go there, volunteer and help out. Whatever gets you going,” and that it “can start by falling in love while watching them.”