Contents
- Activities and Grants
Ray of Light Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation funded by pop music star Madonna Louise Ciccone, known by the stage name Madonna. The foundation's grantees are a mix of traditional charitable non-profits and left-of-center advocacy groups, especially pro-Palestinian groups. It also provides substantial funding for projects influenced by Madonna's interest in Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical sect.
Madonna's official web site and fan club, featuring news, photos, concert tickets, merchandise, and more. Madonna-Ray.of.light:Madonna-Ray.of.light - Content published on DriveHQ, a leading Enterprise cloud IT service provider since 2003. Our services include Cloud File Server, Online Storage, Backup, Sharing, WebDAV Drive Mapping, FTP, email and web hosting.
The foundation shares its name with Madonna's seventh studio album, released in March 1998, just before the foundation was established. [1]
Activities and Grants
Ray of Light Foundation has a substantial international program, funding projects such as disaster relief in Haiti, programs for street children in the Philippines, and girls' education in Pakistan and Afghanistan. [2] It has also supported charter schools and a boxing gym for at-risk youth in Madonna's native Detroit. [3]
Palestinian Territories
The foundation supports projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and pro-Palestinian advocacy groups. It pays the salaries of teachers in UN-funded schools in the Gaza Strip, stepping in after the Trump administration cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA),[4] which the administration called an 'irredeemably flawed operation' and an impediment to peace efforts. [5]
It also funds a women's farm microloan program through the Palestine Fair Trade Association. [6]
In May 2019, during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest held in Tel Aviv, Israel, Madonna was criticized on the one hand for funding these grantees by pro-Israeli commentators, and on the other by the anti-Israeli Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for attending the contest. [7] In the United States, the foundation has supported the radical-left anti-war group Code Pink,[8] which advocates for Palestinian interests and BDS, though it later criticized Madonna for appearing at Eurovision. [9] The foundation also supports Americans for Peace Now, which advocates for diplomatic recognition of the Palestinian territories as a sovereign state. [10]
LGBT Issues
In response to the 2016 Islamist terror attack by Omar Mateen on the Pulse Nightclub, Madonna announced a partnership with the National LGBTQ Task Force to expand that group's 'violence prevention work, especially as it affects transgender women of color.' [11]
Kabbalah
The foundation gave nearly $4.4 million between 2001 and 2006 to the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles;[12] Kabbalah is a form of Jewish mysticism that Madonna became involved in in the 2000s. In 2007, the Foundation followed up those gifts with more than $2.6 million, the vast bulk of its giving for that year. [13]
With Michael Berg, co-founder of the Kabbalah Center, Madonna founded Raising Malawi, a charity that funds orphanages, schools, and clinics in the East African country. [14]
Ray of Light Foundation is a frequent contributor to Raising Malawi, including a $1.3 million grant in 2016. [15] In 2011, the board of Raising Malawi was terminated and the organization abandoned plans to build a girls' school when auditors discovered 'outlandish expenditures on salaries, cars, office space and a golf course membership, free housing and a car and driver for the school's director.' [16] Of the $3.8 million spent on the project, only $850,000 was paid out in Malawi—the rest being spent in Los Angeles by Berg and the Kabbalah Center—and no construction ever occurred. [17]
People
The foundation's only director is Madonna's sister, Melanie Ciccone. [18]
- 'Ray of Light.' Madonna.com. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.madonna.com/discography/album/7/. ^
- 'Organizations.' Ray of Light Foundation. Accessed December 16, 2019. http://www.rayoflight.org/organizations. ^
- McCollum, Brian. 'Madonna pledges up to $100,000 for Detroit Prep charter school.' Detroit Free-Press. November 1, 2018. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2018/11/01/madonna-detroit-prep-charter-school-donate/1824864002/. ^
- 'Ray of Light 2018 Impact.' Ray of Light Foundation. Accessed December 16, 2019. http://www.rayoflight.org/news/. ^
- DeYoung, Karen; Eglash, Ruth; and Balousha, Hazem. 'U.S. ends aid to United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees.' Washington Post. August 31, 2018. Accessed December 18, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-aid-cuts-wont-end-the-right-of-return-palestinians-say/2018/08/31/8e3f25b4-ad0c-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c_story.html. ^
- 'Palestine Fair Trade Association.' Ray of Light Foundation. Accessed December 16, 2019. http://www.rayoflight.org/palestine-fair-trade-association/. ^
- Trew, Bel. 'Tourists come face-to-face with Eurovision's darker side: ‘No pride in apartheid.'' The Independent. May 22, 2019. Accessed on Westlaw on December 16, 2019 (2019 WLNR 15059607). ^
- Ray of Light Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2014, Part XV, Line 3. ^
- 'Don't artwash Israeli crimes: Cancel your performance at Eurovision.' Code Pink. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.codepink.org/madonna. ^
- 'A New Path Towards Peace.' MadonnaTribe.com. May 14, 2019. Accessed December 16, 2019. http://news.madonnatribe.com/en/2019/a-new-path-towards-peace/. ^
- 'Madonna Supports the National LGBTQ Task Force.' National LGBTQ Task Force. June 26, 2019. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.thetaskforce.org/madonnasupportsthetaskforce/. ^
- Murray, Paula. 'That's how much money Madonna has given to sect: $4,379,397.' Glasgow Daily Record. July 14, 2006. Accessed on Westlaw on December 16, 2019 (2006 WLNR 12464191). ^
- Ray of Light Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2007, Statement 9. ^
- Caruso, Michelle. 'Madonna Opens Her Heart to African Kids.' New York Daily News. August 4, 2006. Accessed on Westlaw on December 19, 2016 (2006 WLNR 22240421). ^
- Ray of Light Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2016, Part XV, Line 3. ^
- Nagourney, Adam. 'Madonna's Charity Fails in Bid to Finance School.' New York Times. March 24, 2011. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/us/25madonna.html. ^
- Barrett, Wayne. 'Madonna's Kabbalah Disaster in Malawi.' Newsweek. April 13, 2011. Access December 18, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/madonnas-kabbalah-disaster-malawi-66447. ^
- Ray of Light Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part I, Line 25 and Part II, Lines 10a-b. ^
Nonprofit Information
Available Filings
| Period | Form Type | Total revenue | Total functional expenses | Total assets (EOY) | Total liabilities (EOY) | Unrelated business income? | Total contributions | Program service revenue | Investment income | Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. | Form 990 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Dec | Form PF | $279,132 | $893,406 | $11,937,069 | $1 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2014 Dec | Form PF | $691,239 | $2,028,096 | $12,500,478 | $1 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2013 Dec | Form PF | $6,879,601 | $2,369,821 | $13,659,643 | $1 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2012 Dec | Form PF | $-106,964 | $1,098,963 | $8,924,558 | $1 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2011 Dec | Form PF | $337,557 | $921,604 | $9,378,226 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Additional Filings (PDFs)
Ray of Light Foundation
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024-3708
- http://www.rayoflight.org/
Biography
Madonna Louise Ciccone, who became Ciccone Ritchie in 2000, was born in Bay City into a many children family of an Italian immigrant and an American woman of French-Canadian descent. According to the genealogical tree of the family, Madonna is a remote relative of Camilla Parker Bowls, the Duchess of Cornwall. Madonna's mother died in 1963, and widowed father married again. The second marriage resulted in two more children, bringing their total number to eight. In such surroundings in the suburbs of Detroit the childhood of the future star passed. However, the girl knew how to amuse herself – she attended ballet classes, got only A-marks at school and was a member of the local cheerleader team. Having finished the high school, Madonna entered the dance department of the University Of Michigan, but quit her studies in 1977. The reason for such a risky decision was her will to become a ballet-dancer. Flying on a plane for the first time in her life, Madonna headed to New York. The city met the girl without anticipation.
She had to work as a model and in cafes in order to pay for her living. With the show of dancer Patrick Hernandez Madonna moved to Paris, where she met musician Dan Gilroy. This meeting was of great significance for the girl, as she and Gilroy formed the band called Breakfast Club, in which Madonna started singing. She left that group for the Emmy collective in 1980. Her recordings came to the hands of DJ and producer Mike Kamins, and finally, in 1982, the promising vocalist was signed to the Sire Records. The rest has become a legend long time ago. The very first artist's album Madonna was sold out in huge amounts, making her a youth icon. Fishnet stockings, platinum blonde hair, heavy make up – all the things that contributed to Madonna's sexual image became the essentials of that time fashion. In 1984, the singer's popularity got so huge after the Like A Virgin disc with the eponymous lead single that the press did not manage to hesitate the audience's love for Madonna even printing her naked photos, shot in the period of her modeling. In 1985 Madonna debuted in cinema, playing the leading part in the picture titled Desperately Seeking Susan.
Since that she played in many films, including the main part in the Evita musical, though she failed to get a desired Oscar for acting. One of her film partners, actor Sean Penn, was Madonna's husband from 1985 to 1989. Then the singer preferred lesbian relations and short romances for a long time. After one of such affections she gave birth to her daughter Lourdes. By that moment Madonna was absolutely deservedly nicknamed the Queen Of Pop. She supported that nickname with the extremely stylish album Ray Of Light, adding an electronica edge to the sound. In two years she astonished everyone again with the forceful disc Music, making the majority of the tracks with the danceable house influence and decorating the ballad Gone and the hit Don't Tell Me with folk guitars. In 2000, Madonna gave birth to her son Rocco. His father was Guy Ritchie, whom Madonna married at the end of the same year. The singer moved to England and started writing books for children, though still singing. The American Life album, written about the other side of the American dream, got attention with singles American Life and Hollywood. In 2005, Madonna reminded of her previous hits with the Grammy-winning Confessions On The Dance Floor disc. In 2006, the press was outrageous of her adopting boy David Banda from Malawi. In 2007, she released the live record The Confessions Tour, which proved to be an extremely fascinating report about her controversial tour of the same name. As soon as The Confession Tour came to an end, the incredibly energetic and creative singer again went to the studio to work on her subsequent album. It was delivered to the stores in 2008 under the title Hard Candy. This beautifully executed record appeared another precious item in Madonna's astonishing discography.
As soon as in a year, the tireless singer presented her subsequent release. Called Celebration, it was another collection of her most famous hits that arrived in the second half of 2009.
Studio Albums
Hard Candy
Confessions on a Dance Floor
Madonna Ray Of Light Rar Programs List
Singles
Activities and Grants
Ray of Light Foundation has a substantial international program, funding projects such as disaster relief in Haiti, programs for street children in the Philippines, and girls' education in Pakistan and Afghanistan. [2] It has also supported charter schools and a boxing gym for at-risk youth in Madonna's native Detroit. [3]
Palestinian Territories
The foundation supports projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and pro-Palestinian advocacy groups. It pays the salaries of teachers in UN-funded schools in the Gaza Strip, stepping in after the Trump administration cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA),[4] which the administration called an 'irredeemably flawed operation' and an impediment to peace efforts. [5]
It also funds a women's farm microloan program through the Palestine Fair Trade Association. [6]
In May 2019, during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest held in Tel Aviv, Israel, Madonna was criticized on the one hand for funding these grantees by pro-Israeli commentators, and on the other by the anti-Israeli Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for attending the contest. [7] In the United States, the foundation has supported the radical-left anti-war group Code Pink,[8] which advocates for Palestinian interests and BDS, though it later criticized Madonna for appearing at Eurovision. [9] The foundation also supports Americans for Peace Now, which advocates for diplomatic recognition of the Palestinian territories as a sovereign state. [10]
LGBT Issues
In response to the 2016 Islamist terror attack by Omar Mateen on the Pulse Nightclub, Madonna announced a partnership with the National LGBTQ Task Force to expand that group's 'violence prevention work, especially as it affects transgender women of color.' [11]
Kabbalah
The foundation gave nearly $4.4 million between 2001 and 2006 to the Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles;[12] Kabbalah is a form of Jewish mysticism that Madonna became involved in in the 2000s. In 2007, the Foundation followed up those gifts with more than $2.6 million, the vast bulk of its giving for that year. [13]
With Michael Berg, co-founder of the Kabbalah Center, Madonna founded Raising Malawi, a charity that funds orphanages, schools, and clinics in the East African country. [14]
Ray of Light Foundation is a frequent contributor to Raising Malawi, including a $1.3 million grant in 2016. [15] In 2011, the board of Raising Malawi was terminated and the organization abandoned plans to build a girls' school when auditors discovered 'outlandish expenditures on salaries, cars, office space and a golf course membership, free housing and a car and driver for the school's director.' [16] Of the $3.8 million spent on the project, only $850,000 was paid out in Malawi—the rest being spent in Los Angeles by Berg and the Kabbalah Center—and no construction ever occurred. [17]
People
The foundation's only director is Madonna's sister, Melanie Ciccone. [18]
- 'Ray of Light.' Madonna.com. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.madonna.com/discography/album/7/. ^
- 'Organizations.' Ray of Light Foundation. Accessed December 16, 2019. http://www.rayoflight.org/organizations. ^
- McCollum, Brian. 'Madonna pledges up to $100,000 for Detroit Prep charter school.' Detroit Free-Press. November 1, 2018. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2018/11/01/madonna-detroit-prep-charter-school-donate/1824864002/. ^
- 'Ray of Light 2018 Impact.' Ray of Light Foundation. Accessed December 16, 2019. http://www.rayoflight.org/news/. ^
- DeYoung, Karen; Eglash, Ruth; and Balousha, Hazem. 'U.S. ends aid to United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees.' Washington Post. August 31, 2018. Accessed December 18, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-aid-cuts-wont-end-the-right-of-return-palestinians-say/2018/08/31/8e3f25b4-ad0c-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c_story.html. ^
- 'Palestine Fair Trade Association.' Ray of Light Foundation. Accessed December 16, 2019. http://www.rayoflight.org/palestine-fair-trade-association/. ^
- Trew, Bel. 'Tourists come face-to-face with Eurovision's darker side: ‘No pride in apartheid.'' The Independent. May 22, 2019. Accessed on Westlaw on December 16, 2019 (2019 WLNR 15059607). ^
- Ray of Light Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2014, Part XV, Line 3. ^
- 'Don't artwash Israeli crimes: Cancel your performance at Eurovision.' Code Pink. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.codepink.org/madonna. ^
- 'A New Path Towards Peace.' MadonnaTribe.com. May 14, 2019. Accessed December 16, 2019. http://news.madonnatribe.com/en/2019/a-new-path-towards-peace/. ^
- 'Madonna Supports the National LGBTQ Task Force.' National LGBTQ Task Force. June 26, 2019. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.thetaskforce.org/madonnasupportsthetaskforce/. ^
- Murray, Paula. 'That's how much money Madonna has given to sect: $4,379,397.' Glasgow Daily Record. July 14, 2006. Accessed on Westlaw on December 16, 2019 (2006 WLNR 12464191). ^
- Ray of Light Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2007, Statement 9. ^
- Caruso, Michelle. 'Madonna Opens Her Heart to African Kids.' New York Daily News. August 4, 2006. Accessed on Westlaw on December 19, 2016 (2006 WLNR 22240421). ^
- Ray of Light Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2016, Part XV, Line 3. ^
- Nagourney, Adam. 'Madonna's Charity Fails in Bid to Finance School.' New York Times. March 24, 2011. Accessed December 16, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/us/25madonna.html. ^
- Barrett, Wayne. 'Madonna's Kabbalah Disaster in Malawi.' Newsweek. April 13, 2011. Access December 18, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/madonnas-kabbalah-disaster-malawi-66447. ^
- Ray of Light Foundation, Return of a Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2017, Part I, Line 25 and Part II, Lines 10a-b. ^
Nonprofit Information
Available Filings
| Period | Form Type | Total revenue | Total functional expenses | Total assets (EOY) | Total liabilities (EOY) | Unrelated business income? | Total contributions | Program service revenue | Investment income | Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. | Form 990 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Dec | Form PF | $279,132 | $893,406 | $11,937,069 | $1 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2014 Dec | Form PF | $691,239 | $2,028,096 | $12,500,478 | $1 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2013 Dec | Form PF | $6,879,601 | $2,369,821 | $13,659,643 | $1 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2012 Dec | Form PF | $-106,964 | $1,098,963 | $8,924,558 | $1 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2011 Dec | Form PF | $337,557 | $921,604 | $9,378,226 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Additional Filings (PDFs)
Ray of Light Foundation
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024-3708
- http://www.rayoflight.org/
Biography
Madonna Louise Ciccone, who became Ciccone Ritchie in 2000, was born in Bay City into a many children family of an Italian immigrant and an American woman of French-Canadian descent. According to the genealogical tree of the family, Madonna is a remote relative of Camilla Parker Bowls, the Duchess of Cornwall. Madonna's mother died in 1963, and widowed father married again. The second marriage resulted in two more children, bringing their total number to eight. In such surroundings in the suburbs of Detroit the childhood of the future star passed. However, the girl knew how to amuse herself – she attended ballet classes, got only A-marks at school and was a member of the local cheerleader team. Having finished the high school, Madonna entered the dance department of the University Of Michigan, but quit her studies in 1977. The reason for such a risky decision was her will to become a ballet-dancer. Flying on a plane for the first time in her life, Madonna headed to New York. The city met the girl without anticipation.
She had to work as a model and in cafes in order to pay for her living. With the show of dancer Patrick Hernandez Madonna moved to Paris, where she met musician Dan Gilroy. This meeting was of great significance for the girl, as she and Gilroy formed the band called Breakfast Club, in which Madonna started singing. She left that group for the Emmy collective in 1980. Her recordings came to the hands of DJ and producer Mike Kamins, and finally, in 1982, the promising vocalist was signed to the Sire Records. The rest has become a legend long time ago. The very first artist's album Madonna was sold out in huge amounts, making her a youth icon. Fishnet stockings, platinum blonde hair, heavy make up – all the things that contributed to Madonna's sexual image became the essentials of that time fashion. In 1984, the singer's popularity got so huge after the Like A Virgin disc with the eponymous lead single that the press did not manage to hesitate the audience's love for Madonna even printing her naked photos, shot in the period of her modeling. In 1985 Madonna debuted in cinema, playing the leading part in the picture titled Desperately Seeking Susan.
Since that she played in many films, including the main part in the Evita musical, though she failed to get a desired Oscar for acting. One of her film partners, actor Sean Penn, was Madonna's husband from 1985 to 1989. Then the singer preferred lesbian relations and short romances for a long time. After one of such affections she gave birth to her daughter Lourdes. By that moment Madonna was absolutely deservedly nicknamed the Queen Of Pop. She supported that nickname with the extremely stylish album Ray Of Light, adding an electronica edge to the sound. In two years she astonished everyone again with the forceful disc Music, making the majority of the tracks with the danceable house influence and decorating the ballad Gone and the hit Don't Tell Me with folk guitars. In 2000, Madonna gave birth to her son Rocco. His father was Guy Ritchie, whom Madonna married at the end of the same year. The singer moved to England and started writing books for children, though still singing. The American Life album, written about the other side of the American dream, got attention with singles American Life and Hollywood. In 2005, Madonna reminded of her previous hits with the Grammy-winning Confessions On The Dance Floor disc. In 2006, the press was outrageous of her adopting boy David Banda from Malawi. In 2007, she released the live record The Confessions Tour, which proved to be an extremely fascinating report about her controversial tour of the same name. As soon as The Confession Tour came to an end, the incredibly energetic and creative singer again went to the studio to work on her subsequent album. It was delivered to the stores in 2008 under the title Hard Candy. This beautifully executed record appeared another precious item in Madonna's astonishing discography.
As soon as in a year, the tireless singer presented her subsequent release. Called Celebration, it was another collection of her most famous hits that arrived in the second half of 2009.
Studio Albums
Hard Candy
Confessions on a Dance Floor
Madonna Ray Of Light Rar Programs List
Singles
Madonna Ray Of Light Cd
Compilation albums
Lives
Remixes
Madonna Ray Of Light Tracklist
