Daisy Chain Fields Festival Fundraising Hits $10M Before Gates Open

On the eve of its sold-out debut, the Daisy Chain Fields festival fundraising effort has reached $10 million, with every penny of net proceeds directed to the ten nonprofit organisations Olivia Rodrigo has partnered with in support of women and girls. The announcement was made at a press event in Santa Monica on 28 August, according to the East Bay Times, one day before the festival was set to take over Great Park in Irvine, California.

The beneficiary roster is deliberately wide in its scope: Baby2Baby, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Center for Reproductive Rights, FreeFrom, Jhpiego, Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Institute for Reproductive Health, National Women’s Law Center and Planned Parenthood. Collectively, their work spans reproductive rights, maternal health, economic security, gender-based violence and Indigenous health, among other issues affecting women and girls globally.

‘Daisy Chain Fields was created to celebrate the power of what can happen when we come together to support one another,’ Rodrigo said. ‘The organisations we’ve partnered with are doing incredibly important work every single day in the US and globally. I’m so grateful to every person who bought a ticket, every artist who waived their fee, every sponsor for signing onto a brand new festival and every donation that helped get to $10 million dollars to support women and girls. I can’t wait to see everyone tomorrow!’

The Shadow of Lilith Fair Over Daisy Chain Fields Festival Fundraising

The $10 million figure carries its own resonance. As AP News reports, Rodrigo took direct inspiration from Lilith Fair, the all-women festival that raised $10 million for charity across its run from 1997 to 1999. Matching that figure before the first headline act has even taken the stage is not incidental; the parallel is built into the conception of Daisy Chain Fields itself. Rodrigo first announced the festival in June, describing it as an intersection of music, education and activism, a place where ‘joy, community and creativity can inspire meaningful change.’ The fundraising outcome gives that framing a concrete weight.

Produced by C3 Presents and Live Nation, the event’s lineup is led by Bikini Kill, Chappell Roan, Doechii, Garbage, Mitski, Santigold and the Breeders, with Karen O, Sarah McLachlan and Stevie Nicks among the special guests. The artists waiving their fees is a detail Rodrigo acknowledged directly in her statement, and it is worth dwelling on: a festival of this scale running on a model where performers forgo payment is an unusual proposition, one that speaks to the degree of buy-in the project attracted.

Community Action and a Long-Standing Charitable Thread

The activism has not been confined to the festival grounds. In the weeks leading up to opening day, L.A. Works generated nearly 3,000 volunteer hours from more than 600 fans through its Daisy Chain Reactive Drive. The nonpartisan civic-engagement organisation HeadCount drove more than 45,000 civic actions through its partnership with the festival. These numbers suggest an audience that has engaged with the mission well beyond purchasing a ticket.

One of the ten beneficiaries, Jhpiego, represents a thread that predates Daisy Chain Fields itself. The organisation’s Building Resilient and Aware Voices for Empowerment (BRAVE) Project was funded through proceeds from Rodrigo’s concert in the Philippines in October 2024, indicating that the charitable infrastructure around her touring work has been developing for some time before the festival took shape.

Inside the festival, the Daisy Chain Reaction area will give attendees the chance to meet representatives from all ten nonprofit partners, hear about their work and find ways to get involved. Women-led businesses and visual artists will feature across vendors, installations, community art and creative spaces. The commercial dimension extends to a Taco Bell collaboration: ‘You Seem Pretty Pink for a Baja Blast,’ a pink lemonade-inflected version of Taco Bell’s Mountain Dew Baja Blast inspired by Rodrigo’s latest album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, available on-site at Daisy Chain Fields before rolling out to Taco Bell locations nationwide.

With the Daisy Chain Fields festival fundraising total confirmed and the gates opening on 29 August, the ten nonprofit partners are set to receive their share of $10 million from a project that, by Rodrigo’s own account, was always intended to be something larger than a music event.