During his days as an NFL quarterback with the Seattle Seahawks, Russell Wilson would frequently make visits to the sick children at the Seattle Children’s Hospital. In his years as someone who gives back to the community, Wilson and his wife, Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter Ciara, have given lots of time and money toward organizations and causes that help fight food insecurity, increase educational opportunities for children in need, and fight for racial and social justice.
While Wilson and Ciara get a lot of praise for the good work they have done to help people and communities in need, they have not yet started a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
“Doing good deeds and showing care and compassion for other people is something we should all do,” said Laurie Styron, the executive director of CharityWatch, the only independent charity watchdog group in the U.S. “It doesn’t require founding a charity. An important part of how a nonprofit justifies its existence is by quantifying what it is accomplishing relatively to the resources it receives.”
However, Russell Wilson did start a foundation, which does business under the moniker Why Not You Foundation, back in 2014. The NFL star quarterback wanted to create an organization with a mission to “empower change in the world, one individual at a time and one child at a time.”
Wilson’s work with the foundation was part of the reason he received the 2020 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, which is the most prestigious award given to NFL players across the league. The award is presented to players who are excellent both on and off the field and who give their time to the community and philanthropy.
Of the last twenty-six recipients of the NFL Man of the Year award, twenty-three of them have foundation nonprofit organizations to help people in need. The award was named in honor of Walton Payton, the recipient in 1977, after his death in 1999.
Although it seems like Russell Wilson is doing great work on the surface, a deep dive into the federal tax return paperwork of his organization reveals a darker truth. Wilson’s charity reported only $600,000 worth of money going toward services or just 24.3 cents on every dollar during the 2020 and 2021 tax years. Nearly twice as much, $1.1 million, was spent on salaries and employee benefits during the same period of time.
Some $200,000 per year was given to an executive who simultaneously works for Wilson and Ciara’s home office, according to a confirmation from Wilson’s nonprofit. Nonprofit experts find this alarming because it might be a sign of private inurement, excess benefit transactions, and the “free-for-all” organization structure.
Scott Pickett, the Why Not You Foundation’s chief financial officer, argued that the nonprofit’s business model is “built on working with third parties to raise money.”
“Millions of dollars in funds raised by the Why Not You Foundation go through our partners who can deliver that money where it is needed more directly,” Pickett wrote. “Those funds were raised, in large part, through the work of the foundation, but you would not see all of those dollars in the foundation’s tax documents.”
Do you think Russell Wilson’s charity is doing good work or spending too much on salaries?