5 minSociety
Olivia Rodrigo and Melinda French Gates raise $20 million for women’s well-being at benefit festival
Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields festival raised $20 million for women’s health and rights, with Melinda French Gates pledging $10 million and a lineup featuring Chappell Roan, Doechii, and Bikini Kill.
Olivia Rodrigo raised $20 million for women’s well-being with a benefit festival that brought together a women-led lineup and a young audience around issues of health, workplace protections, and legal rights. The event, Daisy Chain Fields, took place Saturday in Irvine, California, and featured queer pop star Chappell Roan, breakout rapper Doechii, and riot grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill.
Rodrigo announced ahead of the show that it had already raised enough to donate $10 million to 10 nonprofit partners, including Planned Parenthood, the National Women’s Law Center, and Black Mamas Matter Alliance. Philanthropist Melinda French Gates then pledged another $10 million through her organization Pivotal Ventures in a surprise appearance at the start of Rodrigo’s set, praising the singer for “showing a new generation how much their voices matter.”
Rodrigo, 23, said the festival’s artists and activists give her hope despite what she described as a “regression of women’s rights” today. She explained the festival’s name as a reminder of how individual parts can come together to create something strong. The three-time Grammy winner has built her career channeling the frustrations of modern romance into chart-topping songs, and she now looks to bridge the gap between Gen Z and nonprofits that have struggled to build relationships with younger donors who prefer informal ways of giving.
Attendees said the connection between music and cause was central to the event’s appeal. Grace Slevin, 24, an Orange County resident who does anti-sex-trafficking advocacy, said people do not mobilize unless they feel connected to the group that is mobilizing. She noted that younger generations expect authenticity beyond a “pseudo-sort-of-progressiveness” and can see how deeply intertwined the music is with the cause.
Nonprofit partners engaged with fans in a “philanthropy village” at the festival. Festivalgoers collected pins from booths as they learned about health services from Planned Parenthood or paid tribute to caregivers through the National Domestic Workers Alliance. An art installation by the Guerilla Girls, anonymous artist activists, invited fans to write their grievances on chalkboards. Handwritten responses included “PROTECT QUEER KIDS!”, “Put women in charge and pay us more!!!”, “ICE OUT!”, and “ABORTION RIGHTS 4 ALL.”
Rodrigo drew inspiration from Lilith Fair, the all-women festival that raised $10 million for charity from 1997 to 1999. Sarah McLachlan, who founded that show to challenge the music industry’s reluctance to book women consecutively, performed with Rodrigo on Saturday. Caren Spruch, Planned Parenthood’s national director of arts and entertainment, worked on Lilith Fair and said concert outreach is an important tool to reach people “where they are.” She noted that such culture-shifting work grows more important as abortion clinics close in restrictive states and anti-abortion groups push courts to limit access to drugs commonly used in abortion.
Spruch said Rodrigo talks about those topics with “no shame or stigma” and has appeared in informational videos on Planned Parenthood’s social media, helping to normalize the full range of reproductive health and rights. The festival also drew multigenerational attendees. Melissa Shaw, 33, drove from Tucson, Arizona, with her 8-year-old daughter, wanting to let her daughter ask questions as they explored the nonprofits and art installations. Shaw said she appreciates that Rodrigo promotes not only well-known organizations but also groups focused on Black maternal health and baby formula access.
The lineup seemed intentionally curated to attract multiple generations, Shaw said, noting her daughter loves Rodrigo and Roan while she grew up listening to Bikini Kill and fellow performer Santigold. FreeFrom founder Sonya Passi said in a statement that at a time when decisions about bodies, health, safety, and futures are being made for women rather than by them, a day built around care and community is its own kind of statement.
