Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce donate $26m to charities ahead of reported wedding

Couple pledges millions to children’s hospitals, food banks and educational programs in advance of their big day

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are donating $26m to charities in advance of their rumored wedding at New York’s Madison Square Garden this weekend, a representative for the couple has confirmed to the Guardian.

The 20 named charities include organizations in meaningful locations to the couple such as Nashville (where Swift got her start in music), Kansas City (the home of Kelce’s Chiefs NFL team) and New York City, where Swift and Kelce’s wedding is reported to take place.

While the announcement doesn’t explicitly mention the wedding, the donations fit in with a practice that Swift has become known for; at the close of the Eras Tour, she gave six-figure bonuses and hand-written letters to her crew.

The release stated: “This week, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift donated $26 million to charities across the United States. They include the following: City Harvest, New York City; Food Bank For NYC; New York Cares; Los Angeles Regional Food Bank; Harvesters – The Community Food Network, Kansas City, MO.”

The list of causes also includes: “The Store, Nashville, TN; Helping Harvest, Reading, PA; Rhode Island Community Food Bank; Feeding America; ASPCA; Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library; Grammy In The Schools; Education Through Music, New York, NY; Answer The Call, New York, NY and Musical Mentors, New York, NY.”

On an appearance on The Graham Norton show last year to promote her album The Life of a Showgirl, Swift said her wedding would be a large-scale and lavish affair.

“It’s huge,” the singer told Norton. “I know it’s gonna be fun to plan because I think the only stressful weddings are the ones where you have a small amount and people are on the bubble. I’m not gonna do that – it’s gonna be fun.”

Norton was spotted arriving in New York this week, as well as Swift’s friends and collaborators including Ed Sheeran, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Sabrina Carpenter.

On Wednesday night, a permit for a “Special Event at MSG” was given by New York City’s permitting office, according to a spokesperson for Zohran Mamdani, the city’s mayor.

The permit shows that 100 guests will arrive at Madison Square Garden at 6.30pm local time on Thursday night for a “pre-party celebration” – probably a rehearsal dinner.

After a full street closure overnight, multiple “entrance and drive-through tents” will be erected around the arena with the “main event” scheduled to last from 5pm on Friday until 4am the following morning, according to Associated Press .

As with everything Swift does, fans are now analyzing the $26m figure for Easter eggs. Many Swifties have noticed that the number 26 is two times her lucky number 13.

The permit to hold an event of this scale that requires street closures can cost as much as $66,000 a day, according to the New York Times. The permit application runs from Thursday evening until midday on Saturday.