Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Creates Charity Power Couple

The philanthropic community may have something to look forward to besides dresses and flowers at Saturday’s royal wedding.

The union of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could bring a rush of attention to little-known nonprofits.

In lieu of wedding gifts, the couple has asked for donations to seven small organizations focused on women’s health, the environment, children of veterans, and more.

“They’re not doing a garden club or one of those big children’s charities or the Red Cross,” says Eileen Heisman, president of the National Philanthropic Trust. “They’re just looking at the world through a slightly different lens.”

In announcing their engagement in November, Markle said she would leave acting to focus on philanthropy. She’s previously advocated for women’s health care and worked with the United Nations in Africa.

“She had a pretty substantial footprint in philanthropy for somebody who has been in entertainment a lot of her life,” Heisman says. “She’s not afraid of hard issues” she adds, citing Markle’s work with the Myna Mahila Foundation, which produces affordable menstrual hygiene products for women in India.

In recent years, Harry, who is sixth in line to the British throne, has launched various efforts that support veterans as well as organizations focused on erasing stigma behind AIDS and mental health.

“I think we’re at the tip of the iceberg,” says Heisman. “If they get more comfortable in their roles together, it will even expand.”

Royal Family History

For their first official engagement in December, the couple attended a World AIDS Day event in Nottingham and met with AIDS prevention and advocacy groups. Harry follows in the footsteps of his mother, Princess Diana, who famously supported AIDS-related charities.

Much of Harry’s work has supported veterans. He served in the British Armed Forces for 10 years, including two tours in Afghanistan.

In 2014, he founded the Invictus Games, an annual international sporting event where wounded veterans participate in sports such as wheelchair basketball, indoor rowing, and sitting volleyball.

Last year, Harry and brother William and sister-in-law Kate, started Heads Together, which brings together eight mental-health charities in Britain. According to Kensington Palace, the campaign aims “to build on existing progress nationwide in tackling stigma, raising awareness, and providing vital help for people with mental-health problems.”

“I think supporting the smaller charities is a way for them to put a spotlight on newer, maybe more entrepreneurial, creative ways to solve social problems,” Heisman said.

The seven charities the couple is seeking money for are: Chiva, the Children’s HIV Association; Crisis, which focuses on ending homelessness; the Myna Mahila Foundation; Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity for bereaved children of the armed forced; StreetGames, which brings sports to disadvantaged communities; Surfers Against Sewage, a conservation charity working to protect oceans; and the Wilderness Foundation UK.