Give Gifts a Chance!

The Wall Street Journal published a very interesting article this weekend about professional athletes and how they give to charity.

Next to buying a Hummer and demonstrating wealth by wearing excessive jewelry, it would seem that starting a charitable foundation is one of the most popular pursuits among professional athletes these days.

The problem is, most of these "foundations" may be crumbling from the start.

According to the article, many of pro athletes' charities are contributing much less than the benchmark 75% of assets expected of most charities. World Vision, for example, gives 87% of all moneys donated to its programs, with the rest going to overhead costs.

But most athletes that start up foundations seem to be clueless about what they are doing, and many of them hire their own friends and family to run the organizations. As a result, some foundations have contributed funds in the 15-20 percent range of their total "income." The article said that, in 2005, the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation gave zero percent. ZERO.

How about at least matching your field goal percentage, Dirk?

I realize there's more publicity in having your own foundation. It's "cool" and it makes pro athletes feel good about themselves. But for once, I wish athletes would do something that isn't about them and give them money to someone who knows how to handle it.

After all, this is charity we're talking about.

*EDIT: I should mention that there are a number of athletes out there doing a great job with their charitable foundations. If you can do it right, then I'm all for it.