Selena Gomez is bringing Leon Bridges and Bella Kay to the Hollywood Palladium on Wednesday for the fourth annual Rare Impact Fund Benefit, with Sean Hayes stepping in as emcee for an event that has quietly grown into one of the entertainment industry's biggest youth mental health fundraisers. The gala supports Gomez's six-year-old push to raise $100 million for expanding access to mental health services for young people around the world.
According to MyNewsLA.com, Gomez said she's grateful to sponsors and to Bridges and Kay for supporting the fund this year, adding that youth mental health advocacy “cannot be done alone” and that support for the fund touches millions of young people worldwide. Bridges, for his part, called participating in the event a privilege, saying Gomez is setting a standard for artists to drive change. Kay said she's honored to perform at Gomez's benefit, noting that music has helped her make sense of her own mental health and vulnerabilities.
A Fundraising Engine Built Over Six Years
Gomez launched the Rare Impact Fund in 2020, and the organization says it has since raised more than $30 million, supporting 30 nonprofit partners across five continents and reaching 3.5 million young people annually, per the same MyNewsLA report. Rare Beauty, the cosmetics brand Gomez founded, donates one percent of all its sales to the fund, which also draws contributions from philanthropic foundations, individual donors and corporate partners.
That funding model runs deeper than ticket sales and product donations. The fund is fiscally sponsored by the Hopewell Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) public charity. In March 2026, the fund launched its first public Request for Proposals, putting more than $2.5 million — bolstered by a $500,000 grant from the Enlight Foundation — toward grants of $250,000 to $500,000 for nonprofits working to expand the nonclinical youth mental health workforce, according to Instrumentl.
Retail Partners Widen the Reach
Beauty retailer Sephora has served as Rare Beauty's primary retail partner since the brand launched in 2020, and the two have run annual “Make a Rare Impact” campaigns tied to World Mental Health Day. In 2025, the campaign donated 100% of sales of new Rare Beauty fine fragrance from October 10 through 12 in 25 markets, subject to donation caps, as reported by PR Newswire. Teen retailer Pacsun joined the effort in 2024 through a partnership, and Pacsun CEO Brieane Olson has since joined this year's benefit's inaugural host committee. That committee also includes Benny Blanco and Becky G, along with representation from the UCLA hospital system and Lululemon, per MyNewsLA's reporting.
Rare Beauty's broader social impact strategy, including the Rare Impact Fund, is directed by Chief Impact Officer and Fund President Elyse Cohen, while a Mental Health Council of practicing psychiatrists, researchers and mental health advocates contributes to the strategy, according to Forbes.
From Nya Studios to the Palladium
The benefit's trajectory has grown steadily since its October 2023 debut at Nya Studios in Los Angeles, where Martin Short hosted and H.E.R. and Marshmello performed, establishing the format of pairing comedy emcees with live musical sets, per PR Newswire's original announcement. The following year, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, the Los Angeles-based provider recognized for its youth suicide prevention and crisis services, was honored at the second annual benefit.
Last year's benefit, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and featuring performances from The Marías and Grammy-winning singer Laufey, raised more than $2 million, according to the MyNewsLA report. This year's gathering returns to the Hollywood Palladium, the Sunset Boulevard concert hall that opened in 1940 and remains a marquee venue for Los Angeles entertainment events. The Palladium added a 1970s Japanese-inspired hi-fi listening lounge and dining space called the Vinyl Room in Hoodline's earlier report on the venue's expansion for ticketed guests and members.
Why the Urgency Behind the Glitz
The benefit lands against a sobering public health backdrop. Federal survey data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October 2024 found that 39.7% of U.S. high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, while 20.4% seriously considered attempting suicide, with female and LGBTQ+ students facing disproportionately high distress rates.
Taken together, the fund's grantmaking rounds, retail partnerships and annual Hollywood gala function less as a single celebrity gala and more as the public-facing piece of a broader philanthropic operation aimed at youth mental health access. Wednesday's event at the Palladium will be the latest test of how much that combination of star power and corporate backing can raise for a cause the CDC's own numbers suggest remains far from resolved.
