Beyonce Uses The Formation Tour To Raise Awareness

Ever get depressed because war, global warming, and sexism seem like they're conspiring to flush the world down the crapper? Never fear, Queen Bey's here. Entertainment Weekly has just announced that on Beyonce's Formation Tour she will team up with three different charities as part of her #BeyGOOD Initiative, which is her charity initiative to help, according to USA Today, "the homeless, sick children and the unemployed."

While almost nothing is known about Beyoncé's Formation tour, we now know that community nonprofit United Way, charity for girls and women around the world CHIME FOR CHANGE, and anti-"extreme poverty" initiative Global Citizen will have "a presence" at every date on the tour. And, according to Beyoncé's PR representative, “The Formation World Tour creates another exciting global opportunity for people everywhere to BeyGOOD, pay it forward and lend support to those in need. Through our collaborations with our strategic charity partners, we’ve created simple ways for everyone to participate. Because we believe together we can make the world better — standing, living and giving in Good Formation.”

YASS, QUEEN. But is this the first time Beyoncé's got involved in the charity sector? Absolutely not. Want to get up to speed on what the First Lady of pop's been lending her support to up until this point? Let's do this.

Beyoncé's Charity Controversy

In 2012, legendary civil rights activist/singer Harry Belafonte reportedly told The Hollywood Reporter:

“It is sad. And I think one of the great abuses of this modern time is that we should have had such high-profile artists, powerful celebrities. But they have turned their back on social responsibility. That goes for Jay-Z and Beyonce, for example. Give me Bruce Springsteen, and now you’re talking. I really think he is black.”

Beyoncé's representative responded with “an abbreviated list of the unselfish work Beyoncé has done and continues to do.” Items on the list included co-founding The Survivor Foundation “a multi-purpose community outreach facility in downtown Houston,” donating “100K in 2008 to the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund to aid Texas victims of Hurricane Ike,” performing in “MTV’s Hope For Haiti Now! Benefit in addition to making a generous monetary donation,” among many other charitable activities.

#BeyGOOD

In 2013, Beyoncé launched her charity initiative, #BeyGOOD, which you can totally follow on Twitter, and which you should do because it's just a stream of one inspiring post after the next. Unlike most celebrity charities, the initiative doesn't have one specific area of focus, which means it's been great at staying flexible to raise funds for whatever issue is most pressing at the time, including raising funds five years after the Haiti Earthquake via selling Bey Good t-shirts and thanking everyone for their support:

Fact: Superman isn't real, but Beyoncé is and she's going to single-handedly save the world. If you want to help her, I'd suggest checking back on Twitter with the hashtag #standinformation for more information at a later date. Because we're stronger together than we are solo.

Images: beyoncévevo; Beyoncé/Youtube; Giphy (3)