This year’s Super Bowl halftime show star, Rihanna, hasn’t released a new album since 2016, but she’s been plenty busy putting some of her estimated $1.4 billion fortune to good use. While fans have been waiting for new music, Rihanna has been building a reputation as a groundbreaking philanthropist with her Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF). Named for her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite, Rihanna launched the foundation in 2012.
Its early work focused on projects in Barbados, with its first grant ($452,000) going to help a hospital there advance clinical care for cancer patients. Rihanna, whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, lost her grandmother to cancer in 2012. Since then CLF’s scope has broadened from personal to global, funding work in all 50 U.S. states and seven Caribbean countries. CLF has now “leveraged” $100 million in grants (meaning that some of the money has come from outside donors and was distributed by CLF, a spokeswoman said). In the process, Rihanna’s foundation has distinguished itself with “trailblazing” work seeking social change through a multi-racial, community-led lens, said Tyeshia Wilson, an expert on Black philanthropy with the nonprofit Philanthropy Together. “Her philanthropic efforts need to be celebrated and honored on …