Celebrity Philanthropists: One Direction

One Direction has one of the most rabid fan bases in music today. Rather than use their popularity only to sell concert tickets and make young girls faint, the British boy band also uses its immense popularity to raise money for those in need.

A section of wall that each member of the “What Makes You Beautiful” band signed was cut out and auctioned off for charity this past week. According to Digital Spy, 1D signed the wall in silver pen after visiting with the UK radio station, Free Radio.

“Given the hysteria surrounding One Direction we couldn’t leave it behind and seemed only right [to] do something totally unique with it, and the general consensus was to auction it off for charity,” Free Radio’s Nigel Freshman said.

After a builder extracted the signatures from the station’s “Wall of Fame,” the block of 1D autographs was put on eBay. In just a week, it closed at nearly $2,000. The money will go towards financing an operation for Kelli Smith, a 4-year-old with neuroblastoma.

In another unique fundraising event, Liam Payne and Harry Styles raised money for cancer research through the non-profit Trekstock. For each dollar a fan donated, she would get a single entry for a chance to spend a night out in London with Payne and Styles. Below is Payne and Styles explaining the campaign themselves.

The video attracted 470,00 views, but their campaign page pulled 1.4 millions hits with 240,000 shares on Twitter and Facebook, Forbes reports. During the campaign this summer, #hangwithliamandharry was the number one trending hashtag throughout the world.

After six weeks, the two raised $784,345. Before Payne and Styles, Trekstock’s largest campaigned earned $200,000.

One Direction may be another crooning boy band, but with events like Free Radio and Trekstock, they can promote some worthy causes.

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