Often known for her controversial Instagram and wearing penis-shaped flip flops, pop icon and ‘visual artist’ Miley Cyrus is using her fame to raise awareness of homelessness and the LGBT community.

The "Wrecking Ball" star has officially launched her own charity, The Happy Hippy Foundation, with the mission “to rally young people to fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBT youth and other vulnerable populations.”

To celebrate the launch, Happy Hippy set up a mini concert in Cyrus’ own backyard. Joan Jett performed a duet with Cyrus of "Different", a track off Jett's 2013 album Unvarnished. Cyrus will sing with more musicians as part of a series of music videos named "Backyard Sessions", which she hopes will encourage people to donate. Future collabs involve Laura Jane Grace and Ariana Grande. 

In a statement about the charity, Cyrus said: "Pointless judgment and its effects are unfortunately something that is way to common. All humans have valid feelings and rights! I want to use my voice as a megaphone to young people everywhere and encourage human evolution.”

From the money donated, the charity hopes to help the 1.6 million youth who are homeless in the US and support the 40 per cent of those who leave home after being rejected because they identify as LGBT.

Over the last year Cyrus has been campaigning more and more for homelessness, even writing a letter to the New York governor asking for more of the state’s budget to be spent on providing beds. Her homeless date to the VMAs also raised awareness, although not in the best way (he turned out to be a wanted criminal, oops).

But if Cyrus can inspire people to donate with her passion for the issue, then hopefully this charity will make a massive difference to homelessness in the US. Each performance will be posted on her Facebook, so keep an eye out.

For now we’ll just have to enjoy her and Joan Jett take on "Different", the only performance to be put up so far: