However low Josh Beckett’s public esteem sank toward the end of his six-plus seasons in Boston, 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.
The nonprofit’s annual Beckett Bowl, a popular celebrity bowling tournament, typically generated about $100,000 for Boston Children’s Hospital. Even in a season of chicken and beer and a historic late-year collapse, who could complain about that?
Comments
Well I won't be looking at Carmelo Anthony the same way. Who knew this idiot had such a big heart?
How about the Kennedy scam charities and nonprofits whereby the Kennedys enrich their favorite people- themselves.
How about commenting on what an article DOES discuss, rather than what it DOESN'T?
Always check the charity giving monitoring websites before you give. Less than 75% going to the people in need--Don't give--someone is scamming you. Never give to phone solicitors.
Good on the Globe to illuminate how many of these "non-profit" organizations are either grossly incompetent or deliberately corrupt. Where is the state attorney general in this regard? How hard is it to require them to post their financials on line? Why wouldn't any "charity" want to be completely open? Isn't it obvious that high profile or politically connected folks are rarely targets of interest (much less routinely audited) by state officials? What is the difference between a "charity" that pays its people well but delivers a fraction of its revenue to the purported charitable goal and outright fraud? Isn't it simply a matter of degree? More, faster here Globe, please.
All of the information is already online, where do you tnink the Globe got it? Anyway, while this is sort of a sad story, it hardly deserves front page outrage. Is anyone actiually surprised that Beckett and A-Rod are nit-wits beyond the baseball field? Or that Ray Allen and Vince Wilfork knows how to do things the right way? The Attorney General has far more important issues to deal with -- no matter who you are, there is still only 24 hours in a day, when the AG Office is investigating one subject, it means they are not looking at something else. At best, maybe Mr. Beckett and Mr. Rodriguez will be embarrassed enough to change their ways (Not likely).
@PL, many good stories are hiding in plain sight. Terrific job by Northeastern alumnus Cal Borchers.
What a pic to accompany point of facts... Josh and the red eyes, the devil's horns, and the children, my God the children, just bawling their eyes out. Bastards.
What part does avoiding US and state taxes have to play in starting a foundation? And it's probably not just athletes, but also movie celebrities. The old Seinfield show with George in charge of a foundation showed this scam long ago.
Callum Borchers seems to be using a statistic without really understanding what that statistic means. It's a concern if the percentage of money going to administrative expenses is high, but that requires further investigation before one denounces the charity. I'm always reminded of Big Brothers when someone brings up this issue. The business model for that charity seems to be that the administrators coordinate the meetings between the "big brothers" and the children. Since the "big brothers" are unpaid volunteers, the charity spends everything on administrative expenses. It's not clear to me, that the service would be improved by paying the volunteers. It's really unfair to denounce these athletes just because the administrative expenses are high unless someone digs deeper. Some of these charities may very well be scams, but we don't have enough information in this article to determine if that is the case.
Great article and I love the suggestion that athletes lend their names and time instead of actually starting a foundation. I started The Seeing Stars Foundation in 2011, our mission is to raise funding for research and education for sports concussion and other mild traumatic brain injury (military etc). We have had a difficult time attracting professional athletes to our events (despite our mission directly benefiting them) as most are already involved in their own foundations.
Curious why you felt the need to start your own foundation? Wouldn't your efforts gone further contributing time and/or money to an already established, well run organization within this field?
Terrific piece! Beckett's stock drops even lower with his no show Job at $50k a year he gave to his buddy.
This article was interesting - the single biggest scam hidding in plain sight along these same lines are the car / boat donation based " charities ". You give them the car - they sell the car and rake in their fees and then make a nominal donation to an organization that no one has ever heard of - who rake off their administrative fees before some tiny dispersion finally trickles out of the pipe line. Globe investigative staff ... we are waiting.
These private charities call to mind many, if not most, public welfare agencies. Fed by confisctory tax policies, they have become, by and large, jobs programs for middle class bureaucrats, with only a small percentage of the money actually finding its way to those truly in need. (Can you say "Chelsea Housing Authority"?) Worse, they have succeeded in deadening that private charitable impulse that should always be alive and well within us, as more and more people respond to the truly needy by saying "I gave at the office".