Philanthropy and advocacy
In 2013, Styles and Liam Payne became ambassadors for the cancer charity Trekstock, raising over US$800,000 through the online fundraising platform Prizeo. When the Westboro Baptist Church picketed a One Direction concert in 2013, Styles spoke up on Twitter, responding that he "believes in equal rights for everyone." In 2014, Styles joined LGBT rights charity Stonewall's #FirstSnog campaign in celebration of their 25th anniversary and showed support for Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team, by wearing his jersey onstage during One Direction's concert in St. Louis. Styles regularly waves pride flags thrown onstage by fans at concerts and assists fans with coming out publicly during sections of the show where he engages in banter with the audience. LGBT fans have referred to Styles's concerts as "a safe space." He received a Gay Times Honour for LGBTQ Advocate in 2018, and has been nominated three times at the British LGBT Awards. The Los Angeles Times called Styles a "champion of the LGBT community" and that "Styles' ability to exist comfortably, and extremely publicly, in a fluid space along the gender spectrum is particularly resonant with young gender-nonconforming fans."
In 2014, Styles endorsed Emma Watson's HeForShe gender equality campaign. In 2015, he sponsored water wells in India via Drop4Drop in support of Life Water's World Water Day campaign. The following year, he donated his hair to the UK charity Little Princess Trust, which supplies and funds wigs made of real hair to children who have hair loss as a result of illnesses.
In May 2017, to celebrate the release of his debut album, he played intimate shows at The Garage in London and at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, with all proceeds benefiting charities. That October, he performed at CBS Radio's We Can Survive concert at the Hollywood Bowl for breast cancer awareness. Styles's first tour raised US$1.2 million in charity donations from ticket sales, Live Nation's contributions, and GLSEN's Pride campaign toward 62 charities around the world, while his second tour raised more than US$6.5 million for its charity partners Physicians for Reproductive Health, Black Voters Matter and Choose Love, as well as local efforts including aid for food-insecure families in need during the holidays. Both tours also promoted water conservation via recycling and reducing plastic water bottle usage. Styles also made an additional $100,000 joint donation with the United Center in Chicago to the creation of the arts and creative entrepreneurship incubator at the former St. Laurence Elementary School as a celebration of his six-night concert residency in Chicago.
In 2018, his online store sold T-shirts with the slogan "Treat People with Kindness" in a rainbow print for Pride Month, with profits benefiting GLSEN. That year, Styles also tweeted in support of the March for Our Lives petition, and added "Black Lives Matter" and "End Gun Violence" stickers to his guitar. Styles identifies as a feminist. In December 2019, in response to an interview question about not using his influence more often to support specific causes, Styles stated: Because of dilution. Because I'd prefer, when I say something, for people to think I mean it. To be honest, I'm still searching for that one thing, y'know. Something I can really stand up for, and get behind, and be like: This Is My Life Fight. There's a power to doing the one thing. You want your whole weight behind it.
On the impact of events such as Brexit, the Black Lives Matter movement and Donald Trump's presidency on his song "Sign of the Times", he said that "We're in a difficult time, and I think we've been in many difficult times before. But we happen to be in a time where things happening around the world are absolutely impossible to ignore. I think it would've been strange to not acknowledge what was going on at all." Styles leans to the political left, and he visited the House of Lords in 2016 to attend a debate on Brexit following an invitation by Labour peer Lord Winston. Regarding Brexit, he stated that "anything that brings people together is better than things that pull people apart" and stated that it symbolises "the opposite of the world [he] would like to be in."
In light of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, Styles showed support for Black Lives Matter, urging fans to share and donate in support, and pledged to donate to a bail fund for arrested Black Lives Matter activists. He attended a Los Angeles Black Lives Matter protest the following month. Despite being a British citizen, Styles endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election. Styles also endorsed Texas' gubernatorial race candidate Beto O'Rourke by inviting him to his shows in Austin, Texas.
Styles is also an advocate for abortion rights. Speaking to Howard Stern, Styles said the then potential overturning of Roe v. Wade was "scary" and "going backwards" and that "there should be backlash and uproar for these things." When the ruling was overturned in June 2022, Styles tweeted: "I'm absolutely devastated for the people of America today. [...] We're all in this together, and the fight is just beginning. A truly dark day for America." Styles referenced the ruling at his concert in Austin, Texas, telling the crowd that "No one can tell you what to do with your own body, it's yours."
On 2 June 2022, Styles announced he was donating his appearance fee from Apple's AirPods' spatial audio campaign to the International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian aid organisation that is responding to the more than six million refugees being forced to flee Ukraine. Continuing the partnership, Styles also invited three Ukrainian refugees supported by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to Love On Tour at his show at Warsaw's PGE Narodowy Stadium in July 2023. Styles also donated the fee for the use of his song "Treat People with Kindness" featured in Marks & Spencer's 2022 Christmas advert to Centrepoint, a charity helping homeless young adults in the UK.
In 2022 and 2023, following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Styles partnered with the nonprofit organisation Everytown for Gun Safety for 44 shows across five cities in North America as part of his Love On Tour. Styles and Live Nation donated $1 million to the Everytown Support Fund, the education, research, and litigation arm of Everytown. Throughout the partnership, volunteers with Students Demand Action, one of Everytown's grassroots networks, tabled at shows to spread awareness about the gun safety movement and encourage fans to join efforts to end gun violence in America. The partnership won a Pollstar Award for Brand Partnership/Live Campaign of the Year in 2023.
Styles is a patron of the MusiCares non profit organisation, and joined Fleetwood Mac for a performance of The Chain when the band were honored with the MusiCares Person of the Year award in 2018. Styles donates items to the organisation's annual charity relief auction, including multiple autographed Gibson and Gretsch electric guitars, and signed versions of his albums.
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Styles released t-shirts with the slogan 'Stay Home. Stay Safe. Protect Each Other,' on the front and 'This t-shirt fights COVID-19. Treat people with kindness' on the back with 100% of the profits going towards the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund by the World Health Organization. Styles also paid his core tour crew's salaries for the duration of the postponed dates until the end of 2020.
In May 2026, during a concert in Amsterdam, Styles voiced his support for Palestinians affected by the Gaza war. During his Together, Together tour, Styles once again worked with Choose Love, whose partners fund aid, food, and life-saving treatments in Palestine, Lebanon, and Sudan, among others.
