{"id":978494,"date":"2026-08-03T19:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/978494\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T19:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:35:13","slug":"taylor-swifts-wedding-spurs-fandom-led-philanthropy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/978494\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift\u2019s wedding spurs fandom-led philanthropy"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a love story beyond the New York City nonprofit sector\u2019s wildest dreams \u2013 as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce\u2019s Madison Square Garden wedding last month continues to inspire Swifties to fill the blank space on volunteer applications and donor rolls.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, over two hundred Swift fans gathered for an evening of volunteering at P.S. 20 Anna Silver on the Lower East Side, to pack over 2,200 backpacks for students in need across New York City. Hosted by New York Cares, one of the 20 recipients of Swift and Kelce\u2019s $26 million in charitable contributions<\/a> ahead of their July 3 nuptials, the event seized on the growing spark of fandom inspired philanthropy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this really became for us, a gift three times over,\u201d New York Cares Executive Director Sapreet Kaur Saluja said about the celebrity couple\u2019s donation \u2013 which inspired fans to also give. \u201cWhat we noticed was that a couple donations came through at very particular numbers, and very quickly we thought to ourselves, \u2018Oh my gosh, this is one of the most values-aligned, passionate fandoms in the world.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What followed was a donor campaign aimed at harnessing that fandom, as New York Cares began offering donation suggestions of $13, $26, $87 and $198.90 \u2013 numbers symbolic to the Swift fanbase.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe donations kept coming in. And then we put a call out: what if we could raise donations from 1989 individuals?\u201d Saluja said, referring to Swift\u2019s album named after her birth year. \u201cWe’re at just about 800 now and we’re very close to $25,000 raised.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the giving didn\u2019t stop there. New York Cares sought to galvanize this donor base through its Stand with Students campaign, by converting them into first-time volunteers. With 350 partner organizations, the nonprofit boasts one of the city\u2019s largest volunteer forces \u2013 with its flagship annual coat drive<\/a> having distributed 52,732 coats during the last 37 years.<\/p>\n

At Thursday\u2019s fully booked \u201cAre You Ready For It: Pack Backpacks for Students\u201d event, volunteers filled a gymnasium blasting Swift\u2019s hits, clad in Taylor Swift Eras Tour t-shirts and friendship bracelets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love volunteering, but it\u2019s my first time with New York Cares,\u201d said Mona Ghounem. \u201cWouldn’t it be smart if they did this with each celebrity that donates? People will be like, \u2018This is where the money’s going, come and volunteer with us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Many others also noted that the event\u2019s Taylor Swift theme was a major pull.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy younger daughter saw the event posted online and sent it to me, and was mom will you come with us,\u201d said Katie Smith, wearing matching Eras Tour t-shirts with her daughter.<\/p>\n

For organizations like New York Cares, this growing turnout indicates a hopeful shift within a sector that continues to struggle to meet demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have seen is our partners really having a hard time,\u201d said Saluja. \u201cThey have had budget cuts. They have anxiety. They have more clients than ever, and they’re coming to us consistently asking, \u2018What more can our volunteers take on?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But increasing need continues to be met with a growing number of volunteers. New York Cares is aiming to reach over 70,000 volunteers this year, and has already counted over 66,000 participants.<\/p>\n

And Swifties are among those stepping up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that donating is the easiest route,\u201d said Ghounem. \u201cTaking a couple buses and going and doing this thing is a lot harder. But it\u2019s even more rewarding because you actually see the fruits of the money.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a love story beyond the New York City nonprofit sector\u2019s wildest dreams \u2013 as Taylor Swift and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":978495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,15418,5228,5227,46521,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-978494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-nonprofits","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyn-media","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117033260475608252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/978495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}