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When it comes to popular opinion about professional athletes, much of it comes from their actions after the whistle blows: Their individual images can be either bolstered or tarnished by what goes on in the off-season, which is perhaps why so many pros have founded or are associated with charitable causes.
“It’s no surprise that celebrities like to have their name associated with good causes. It’s good PR, and the more good they do, the more the public loves them,” writes Anderson Antunes for Forbes.
Case in point: Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, whose “public esteem sank toward the end of his six-plus seasons in Boston,” writes Callum Borchers for the Boston Globe. However, “two things often redeemed the pitcher in the eyes of Red Sox fans: his spectacular playoff performance during the team’s 2007 championship season and the generosity of his Josh Beckett Foundation.”
That is, until the foundation’s numbers were analyzed. After studying more than 150 Internal Revenue Service filings by 50 nonprofits run by professional athletes, the Globe found that only 37 cents of each dollar raised by the Josh Beckett Foundation actually went toward its mission to “improve the health and well-being of children.”
Sadly, this is not an uncommon case. “Many nonprofits that help burnish the reputations of pro athletes fall well short” of the standard acceptable minimum, Borchers says, which is about 65 to 75 cents per dollar. “Among the 50 nonprofits examined, nearly half spent less than 65 percent of revenues on charitable programs and donations.”
While Beckett’s meager 37 cents may seem paltry, compare it to the A-Rod Family Foundation, started by New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. During its first year of operation (in 2006), the foundation gave just 1 percent of its proceeds to charity, according to the IRS reports. Though the foundation’s website still labels the group as a nonprofit organization, it soon stopped submitting the required financial reports to the IRS and was stripped of its tax-exempt status.
Where does the money go? High overhead costs eat much of the funds, the Globe reports, and lavish fundraising events can drain even more. Baltimore Ravens receiver Anquan Boldin’s nonprofit, for example, “raised $53,005 at its annual Q-Festival in 2010 — the foundation’s sixth year in existence — but spent $46,879 staging the three-day event,” according to the Globe.
But not all athletes are slacking in the off-season. In Forbes’s look at the 30 most generous celebrities of 2011, a number of pros made the list. At No. 6 was NFL player Ndamukong Suh, who set a record with his donation of $2 million to the athletic department of his alma mater, Nebraska University. The Detroit Lions defensive tackle also donated another $600,000 to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Engineering to endow a scholarship. Forbes notes it’s the largest single gift from a former football player ever made.
Also from the NFL is Eli Manning, of the New York Giants, coming in at No. 19 with his wife, Abby, for their $1 million donation to the University of Mississippi’s Ole Miss Opportunity Scholarship. The New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony represents the NBA on the list at No. 22 for donations totaling $837,200, going to various charities. Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera came in close behind at No. 25 with $627,500 in donations given by himself and his namesake charity, and pro golfer Davis Love ended the athlete involvement on the list at No. 28 with $424,379 in total donations given.
The Globe named the top performers on its report, lauding the foundations of Alex Smith, Steve Young and Carmelo Anthony. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback’s Alex Smith Foundation, which helps foster teens attend college and transition to adulthood, raised $839,244 from 2008-2010 and donated 91 percent. Former NFL star and current ESPN analyst Steve Young’s Forever Young Foundation for Children raised $6.2 million during those same two years and donated 75 percent toward its mission to provide “academic, athletic and therapeutic support for children facing physical, emotional and financial challenges.” The Globe cites the “personal generosity” of Anthony, who donated $2.9 million in the same time frame, for keeping fundraising costs for the Carmelo Anthony Foundation down, resulting in 87 percent being donated to charitable causes.
