Leonardo DiCaprio
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Film & Television
FUNDING AREAS: Environment
OVERVIEW: DiCaprio has a singular focus on the environment, and has been donating to climate change and biodiversity causes through Re:Watch. He has given more than $100 million to a variety of programs and initiatives through several different granmaking organizations, including Re:Watch, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF), and Earth Alliance. DiCaprio was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace for climate advocacy.
BACKGROUND: DiCaprio grew up with his mother in Los Angeles, and started acting at a young age. Filming his first commercial when he was 14, he soon landed bit parts on a number of television shows, most notably Growing Pains. His first big screen role was in This Boy’s Life, followed by What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, for which he was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. He has since starred in dozens of films, most notably Titanic, and been nominated for a total of five Academy Awards and ten Golden Globes.
ISSUES:
ENVIRONMENT: Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most prominent celebrities in environmental activism and has established several organizations to help further his environmental philanthropy. He started the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) in 1998 in order to give some structure to his philanthropy and provide funding for environmental causes. In 2019, DiCaprio merged LDF with Earth Alliance, an initiative within Re:Wild, which was established to help protect and rewild the earth. It seeks to serve as “a force multiplier that brings together Indigenous peoples, local communities, influential leaders, nongovernmental organizations, governments, companies and the public to protect and rewild at the scale and speed” needed for maximum impact.
DiCaprio also serves on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, the funders’ collaborative Oceans 5, and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
LDF has awarded over $30 million since 2010 to fund tens of high-impact projects in more than 44 countries across South-East Asia, Central Asia, Africa, North, Central and South America, the Eastern Pacific, the Arctic, Antarctica, the South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. Funding priorities include "Protecting Wildlife," "Saving Our Oceans," and "Restoring Wetlands." Projects include working with partner NRDC on a project that provides an "in-depth review of China’s ivory trade policies and domestic ivory market, providing guidance to the CITES Management Authority of China and the country’s State Forestry Administration."
Earth Alliance (now an initiative within Re:wild) supported projects and initiatives, including the Amazon Forest Fund and the Austrailia Wildlife Fund, to help aid efforts to combat the catastrophic wildfires, and the Virunga Fund in support of the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Through Re:Wild, DiCaprio pledged $43 million to support rewilding the Galapagos Islands. He also announced via an Instagram post that Re:Wild would contribute to a $5 billion dollar effort, along with eight other groups, to protect threatened species and wild areas.
Some of his other projects include partnering with WWF to save the Sumatran rainforest, which is home many large endangered mammals, and making an appeal to get people to donate to save the polar bears on behalf of the NRDC.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: DiCaprio has made grants to Concern Worldwide to provide people in Tanzania, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Darfur with sustainable access to clean water. He also made a $2 million grant to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund in the wake of the earthquake there.
OTHER: DiCaprio partnered with Laurene Powell Jobs, Apple, Ford Foundation and Oprah Winfrey to create America’s Food Fund which raised $45 million for hunger-relief organizations during the coronavirus pandemic.
LOOKING FORWARD: As the appointed UN Messenger, expect DiCaprio to become more involved with environmental policy issues. If there is another area that he is interested in, it is probably global development, but any major movement on an issue other than the environment would come as a surprise.
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