4 minBusiness
Rare Beauty's Rare Impact Fund Hits $30 Million for Youth Mental Health
Selena Gomez's cosmetics brand has raised $30 million for youth mental health through the Rare Impact Fund, supporting 30 nonprofits across five continents and reaching 3.5 million young people.
Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty has raised $30 million for youth mental health through its nonprofit arm, the Rare Impact Fund, since the cosmetics brand launched in 2020. The fund, which receives 1% of all Rare Beauty sales, has supported 30 nonprofits across five continents, trained 208,000 educators, and reached 3.5 million young people, according to figures shared at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York.
Gomez, a recording artist, actress, and entrepreneur, said the mission-driven structure is central to how she views the company. «It is a business, but I just don't ever like to see it that way,» Gomez said. «I always like to believe we are super mission driven and I'm very proud of what the company will evolve in. But when I think about the $30 million we've raised and the 3.1 million teams we have across the world, it's that makes business worth.»
The Rare Impact Fund was established alongside Rare Beauty in 2020 with a goal of mobilizing $100 million over 10 years. Its grants and contributions go to nonprofit partners that connect young people with mental health resources. The fund's reach has expanded as the brand has entered new markets, including the United Kingdom and Southeast Asia.
Elyse Cohen, chief impact officer and president of Rare Beauty and the Rare Impact Fund, said the international growth required working with local experts rather than importing a single approach. «When we went global and we entered the UK market and we entered Southeast Asia, we worked with on the ground folks, experts to really help us identify organizations within those spaces,» Cohen said. «I will say that mental health and the conversation around it is very different in different regions, and we're very careful about knowing what we don't know and not entering a market trying to be an expert. It's certainly about who's doing what already there and how can we amplify and mobilize a bit more in that space.»
Cohen described the fund's expansion as a natural evolution and pointed to the Rare Beauty community's engagement with the mission. The Rare Impact Fund deliberately does not maintain its own Instagram account. Instead, all fund-related content is published through Rare Beauty's page, which has more than 15 million followers. «It allows us to bring the resources and the content of what the fund does directly to the people that the brand serves,» Cohen said.
Product naming is also tied to the brand's message. Rare Beauty items carry names Gomez associates with empowerment, such as the blush shade Happy and the lip liner shade Intuitive. «The moment you pick up a product, we want you to feel empowered,» Gomez said. «So I think words and everything are crucial, but I love that we can talk about it.»
Gomez said she welcomes other companies that have approached Rare Beauty to learn from its model of linking a nonprofit fund to a commercial business, and that she does not view the approach as a competitive advantage. «In a way, I think there's room for everyone,» she said. «I don't think what we're doing is better or worse than anyone else.»
The $30 million raised so far represents less than a third of the fund's 10-year target. As Rare Beauty continues to expand into new markets, the fund is expected to grow alongside it, with the company maintaining its commitment to donate 1% of sales to the mental health initiative.
