Olivia Rodrigo raised $10 million: Daisy Chain Fields connected a music festival with support for women and girls
Olivia Rodrigo announced that her new Daisy Chain Fields festival secured 10 million US dollars for ten nonprofit organizations working with women and girls in the United States and other parts of the world. The amount was presented on August 28, one day before the festival's first edition at Great Park in Irvine, California, during a special gathering with leaders and representatives of the partner organizations. According to a statement by Jhpiego, which is among the recipients of the funds, one hundred percent of the festival's net proceeds are intended for partners whose work covers reproductive and maternal health, protection from gender-based violence, economic security, workers' rights, family support and gender equality. Rodrigo also thanked the audience members who bought tickets, the performers who appeared without fees, sponsors and donors, stating that it was precisely their joint contribution that made it possible to reach the amount of $10 million. The organizers did not announce that each of the ten organizations would receive an equal amount, so the individual distribution of funds has not yet been publicly confirmed.
The festival was conceived as a music event and a platform for social impact
Daisy Chain Fields was presented not only as a one-day concert program, but as a project that seeks to connect music and a large fan base with concrete social engagement. According to official information from the festival and the City of Irvine, the project was launched by Olivia Rodrigo, while C3 Presents is responsible for production. The first edition was scheduled for August 29 at Great Park, a large public space in the heart of Orange County in Southern California, where multiple areas of the park and two stages were used for the festival. The City of Irvine announced before the event that the festival was sold out and that the site had been organized for a significantly larger capacity than the standard Great Park Live amphitheater, with the ability to accommodate up to 45,000 visitors. According to the organizers' schedule, the festival program runs from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Pacific Time. At the time of the latest check, the festival was still underway according to local time in California, so the final number of visitors and any additional financial results had not yet been officially announced.
The charitable result was therefore known even before the end of the first festival day. At the presentation on August 28, Rodrigo emphasized that Daisy Chain Fields grew out of the idea of what can be achieved when people come together to support one another. According to the official statement, all ten nonprofit partners receive support from the festival fund, and their work is not limited to one issue or one country. Some organizations focus on health services and reproductive rights, others on the safety of people who have survived violence, material assistance for families, the health of Indigenous communities or the position of low-paid female workers. This makes the festival's charitable structure broader than the classic model of a benefit concert in which proceeds are directed to one institution or one issue.
Ten organizations share a common focus on rights, health and economic security
According to the list published by the organizers and the City of Irvine, the funds are intended for the following partners:
- Baby2Baby provides basic necessities to children and families living in poverty, including diapers, food, clothing and other products needed in everyday life.
- Black Mamas Matter Alliance focuses on the rights, respect and resources needed by Black mothers before, during and after pregnancy, with particular emphasis on maternal health.
- Center for Reproductive Rights uses legal proceedings and advocacy to protect reproductive rights and access to health care in the United States and internationally.
- FreeFrom works on the economic security of people who have survived gender-based violence, provides direct cash assistance and advocates for survivors' financial independence.
- Jhpiego, an organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, works with communities and health systems in numerous countries to make quality health care more accessible to women, girls and their families.
- Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health works with Indigenous communities in the US on health and well-being programs, research driven by community needs and the development of public health leadership.
- National Domestic Workers Alliance organizes domestic workers in the US and advocates for labor rights, protections and dignified conditions for people who care for children, older people and households.
- National Institute for Reproductive Health works with state and local partners on access to reproductive health care, protection of health data and improving conditions surrounding pregnancy and childbirth.
- National Women’s Law Center works on gender justice through legal proceedings, public policy and advocacy, including issues of discrimination, economic rights and access to health care.
- Planned Parenthood, through a network of health centers, provides sexual and reproductive health care, including contraception, screening for certain types of cancer and other medical services.
The common denominator of these organizations is the effort to view health, legal and economic barriers as interconnected problems. In practice, a woman exposed to violence may simultaneously face problems with housing, income, access to health care or legal protection, while maternal health depends both on the availability of quality care and on the social conditions in which a family lives. That is precisely why the festival fund has been distributed among organizations with different areas of expertise. The official statement does not specify the exact individual amounts for each organization, but confirms that all of them will be beneficiaries of the festival's net proceeds.
The performers waived their fees, and the festival was sold out
An important part of the financial model is the fact that the performers agreed to appear without fees. In an announcement ahead of the festival, Jhpiego stated that all performers on the program were participating without compensation, reducing one of the largest costs of major music events and increasing the amount that can be directed toward nonprofit partners. In her thanks, Rodrigo specifically highlighted the performers, along with the audience, sponsors and donors. This means that the $10 million amount was presented not only as a result of ticket sales, but as the combined effect of several funding sources and the waiving of some customary festival costs. At the same time, the organizers emphasize that this is net revenue, meaning the amount after expenses, rather than the festival's total gross turnover.
The program brought together performers from different generations and musical genres. Among the announced names were Bikini Kill, Chappell Roan, Doechii, Garbage, Mitski, Santigold, The Breeders and Olivia Rodrigo herself, while Karen O, Sarah McLachlan and Stevie Nicks were listed as special guests. According to The Guardian's report ahead of the event, Rodrigo personally invited the performers, and the festival concept deliberately reduced the sense of hierarchy among them: performances were not meant to overlap, and the names on promotional materials were displayed more equally than is customary at major festivals. This approach followed the core idea of Daisy Chain Fields — putting community and collaboration ahead of the usual festival competition for attention.
Connection with Lilith Fair and the tradition of festivals focused on women
Daisy Chain Fields openly builds on the history of festivals that sought to give women more space on stages and beyond them. The Guardian states that Rodrigo's most direct inspiration was Lilith Fair, the touring festival launched by Sarah McLachlan in 1997 as a platform for female musicians at a time when promoters often claimed that multiple female performers could not successfully share the same major concert bill. According to the same report, McLachlan was the first person Rodrigo contacted when she began developing the idea for her own festival, and she later became part of the program in Irvine herself. In that sense, Daisy Chain Fields was not conceived as a nostalgic reconstruction of the format from the 1990s, but as its contemporary version, connected with today's issues of reproductive health, economic security and gender equality.
The broader context of the music industry is also important. Major festivals have increased the number of female performers in recent years, but the debate about the representation of women among the main names on festival lineups has not disappeared. The Guardian, citing a 2025 report by the Book More Women initiative, stated that women accounted for 21.6 percent of headliners at nine major festivals analyzed. Daisy Chain Fields responded to that problem with a radically simple concept: the program was built around women and female-led projects, while the festival grounds were simultaneously used to present organizations dealing with issues that directly affect the lives of women and girls. In this way, cultural representation is connected with a measurable financial contribution.
Activism did not stop with the donation
The organizers expanded the charitable component to include activities within the festival grounds. According to the official statement, an area called Daisy Chain Reaction was designed so that visitors could speak directly with representatives of all ten nonprofit partners, learn about their work and find out how they could get involved. The festival also announced a space for women-owned businesses and enterprises, visual artists, local vendors, art installations and other creative projects. Such a model attempts to avoid a situation in which the charitable message remains merely part of marketing material, without contact between the audience and the organizations receiving the support.
Additional partners involved in volunteering, civic engagement and sustainability were also included in the campaign. According to information published in Jhpiego's statement, L.A. Works, through an initiative linked to the festival, organized nearly 3,000 volunteer hours by more than 600 fans across 20 organizations in the Los Angeles area. The nonpartisan organization HeadCount, which works on voter registration and civic participation, was also expected to be present at the festival site, and its partnership with Daisy Chain Fields had by then, according to the same source, prompted more than 45,000 different civic actions. The organization REVERB was involved in the part of the program dedicated to waste reduction and reuse, including through the sale of reusable water bottles. These figures show that the project was built from the outset as a broader campaign, rather than merely a one-day fundraising event.
Great Park gained an event with festival-level capacity
For Irvine, Daisy Chain Fields also represented an important test of Great Park's expanded capabilities as a major concert and festival venue. The city announced in June that the event would use Great Park Live, the municipal amphitheater, as well as additional park areas where the main stage was installed. The standard capacity of Great Park Live had previously been increased to 10,000 visitors, while the special festival configuration allowed a total capacity of up to 45,000 people. Ahead of the event, the city also announced temporary closures of parts of the park and surrounding roads because of infrastructure setup, security and the expected increase in traffic. This provides an additional measure of the scale of the festival's first edition: from the outset, it was conceived at the level of large American one-day festivals, rather than as a small benefit concert.
In financial terms, the result of $10 million before the end of the first edition sets a high benchmark for any future editions. The organizers have not yet announced whether Daisy Chain Fields will become a regular annual festival, nor have they confirmed a model for future financing. What has been confirmed is that the net proceeds from the first edition will go to ten partner organizations and that the amount announced by Rodrigo had reached $10 million even before the festival gates opened. Because the final accounting after the event had not been published at the time of the latest check, it is not known whether that amount will increase further.
For Rodrigo, who conceived the project as a combination of a music event and a platform for social impact, the festival's key value can for now be measured by a concrete figure. Ten million dollars placed Daisy Chain Fields among the year's more notable charitable music projects before its first festival day had even ended. Equally importantly, the funds are being directed to organizations that already have established programs, infrastructure and experience in health care, legal protection, economic empowerment and community work. Whether that model becomes a lasting part of the festival scene will depend on future editions, but the first edition has already demonstrated how much financial impact can be increased when ticket sales, donations, sponsorships and the waiving of performers' fees are brought together around one clearly defined purpose.
Sources:
- Jhpiego – official statement on the $10 million donation, ten partner organizations, performers appearing without fees and additional social initiatives (link)
- City of Irvine – official information on the establishment of the festival, production, location, program and expanded capacity of Great Park (link)
- City of Irvine – information on the sold-out festival, schedule and temporary closures in Great Park and the surrounding area (link)
- Daisy Chain Fields – official festival website with information on the program, nonprofit partners and on-site activities (link)
- The Guardian – context on the festival's origins, Rodrigo's personal invitations to performers, the connection with Lilith Fair and the representation of women on festival lineups (link)
- Rolling Stone Australia – independent confirmation of the $10 million announcement and Rodrigo's thanks to the audience, performers, sponsors and donors (link)