Power Play Extra: Celtics’ $200 million record gift
We’ve got a bonus Power Play today — or as basketball fans would say an “and-one.” Shirley has the inside scoop on why the Celtics ownership group decided to make a transformative gift to Boston Children’s Hospital. We’ll be back tomorrow with our regular edition.
Featuring: Bill Chisholm, Rob Hale, Karen Hale, Dr. Kevin Churchwell, Aditya Mittal, Wyc Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca, Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, Jean Yawkey, and more.
Talk about making a statement about what’s bigger than basketball: The Celtics ownership group led by Bill Chisholm is making a record $200 million donation today to Boston Children’s Hospital.
Rob Hale and his wife, Karen, represent half the donation, with their previously disclosed $100 million to help build the new Children’s psychiatric campus in Brighton. That December gift inspired the rest of the ownership team to chip in and ultimately match what the Hales gave.
The group decided to pour their money into five areas: the new $640 million behavioral health campus in Brighton, pediatric nurse training, research on emerging therapies for childhood diseases, an innovation fund for children’s health, and family-centered programs.
The contribution from the two dozen team owners is in line with the more than $198 million the Red Sox have raised for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund over several decades. It is also the single biggest donation Children’s has received.
Hale credits the Sox ties to the Jimmy Fund as a model on how a sports franchise can align itself with a good cause — and one that’s become the longest-standing philanthropic partnership in professional sports. (Principal Sox owner John Henry also owns the Globe.)
“The Jimmy Fund and the Red Sox are a wonderful blueprint to absorb and learn from,” Hale said.
The ownership group includes San Francisco private equity firm Sixth Street and billionaires like Hale, Chisholm, global steel magnate Aditya Mittal, Klaviyo cofounder Andrew Bialecki, and New York real estate developer Bruce Beal Jr. Neither the Celtics nor Children’s would reveal individual donation amounts. Hale said two owners donated $10 million each early this year, which quickly snowballed into $60 million from others.
Giving back to the community has been a Celtics tradition championed by legendary coach Red Auerbach and the previous ownership group led by Wyc Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca, and Robert Epstein when they launched the Shamrock Foundation in 2004. And after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the Celtics — a franchise that drafted the first Black player in the NBA (Chuck Cooper, 1950) and hired the first Black coach in the league (Bill Russell, 1966) — committed $25 million to fighting racial injustice and providing social support in Black communities.
Chisholm, a North Shore native, took the reins of the C’s last year after organizing the winning $6.1 billion bid. He said the new ownership group knew from the get-go it wanted community investment to remain a priority. The Children’s gift does not replace the work of the Shamrock Foundation, which doled out about $7.5 million last year to some 500 nonprofits across New England, ranging from early childhood programs to renovating gyms and basketball courts.
“Everyone came with a real interest in the Celtics, just the passion for the team, but I think with an understanding that there’s just more to it than the team on the court,” Chisholm told me. “This was a platform for good.”
Chisholm made his money as cofounder and CEO of private equity firm STG Partners in the San Francisco Bay Area. He said his charitable giving has focused on research and developing treatments for Type 1 diabetes, since his oldest son was diagnosed at age 11.
The Celtics’ relationship with Children’s dates back decades, with players visiting patients in the hospital or hosting them at games and practices. Children’s also has received grants from the Shamrock Foundation.
Over the past year, Celtics owners met individually with Children’s development staff to get a sense of how their money could support the Harvard-affiliated pediatric teaching hospital. Some had never given to Children’s before.
Children’s CEO Dr. Kevin Churchwell said the big financial injection means a lot to the staff. “They know they’re being supported — the work that happens here every day — and that truly makes a big difference.”
JON’S TAKE
THANKS FOR READING POWER PLAY.
This newsletter was written by Shirley Leung and Jon Chesto, edited by Beth Healy, and produced by Dana Gerber.
Have a question for the team? Email us at powerplay@globe.com.
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Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at shirley.leung@globe.com. Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.