Footballers score an own goal by setting up their own charities | Simon Lansley
Even the richest footballer would be annoyed if his latest high-performance sports car broke down after six months. Yet why do we so often hear about their charitable foundations going the same way?
Last month it was revealed that the Charity Commission is investigating the Craig Bellamy Foundation after receiving reports of financial irregularities, with children still living at an academy in Sierra Leone despite its closure in September. The commission’s website shows that the foundation’s annual accounts for 2015 are almost a year overdue.
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This follows a report by Third Sector magazine [£] last year which examined the accounts of 20 sports stars’ foundations and showed that while some have grown to be substantial organisations, others regularly failed to keep on top of their filing requirements. The report concluded that “building a lasting legacy appears to be a problem for many foundations that bear their star’s name”.
Charities set up by former England footballers Glen Johnson and David James have been wound up, and while Didier Drogba’s Foundation was cleared of any wrongdoing in December following a Daily Mail article about funds being misapplied, the Charity Commission found “failures in the charity’s governance, with poor record-keeping and accounts that did not meet regulations”.
None of this is to suggest that footballers are not full of good intentions when they set up foundations in their own name.
But the evidence is clear that what some of these foundations gain in media exposure is more than offset by what they lose in sustainability, transparency and accountability. If they want to actually make a difference, footballers shouldn’t assume their star status is enough. They need to work with the charity sector.
Take, for example, Street League, a charity that uses football programmes to help unemployed young people get into work and training. It has grown rapidly across the UK over the last five years, thanks in part to its transparent reporting and an unrelenting focus on achieving hard outcomes, such as demonstrating clearly and accurately how many 16- to 25-year-olds it helps into education or employment. In short, it’s very clear what funders are investing in.
To make a real difference, we need high-profile athletes supporting the most productive and sustainable charities
Last year the charity supported more than 1,200 young people into employment, education and training – but imagine how many more they could help if the next foundation set up in the name of a Premier League footballer was actually “powered by Street League”. Or if he just donated the money straight to Street League in the first place.
Not only would the player save money on setting his own foundation up, he would get a much better return on his investment.
Indeed, if footballers were to delve a little deeper into the world of sport for social change, they would soon discover a whole host of sustainable charities whose impact they could magnify, at relatively low cost.
If, like Bellamy, they wanted to invest in sustainable organisations making a difference in Africa, they could support Kick4Life, the world’s first football club exclusively devoted to social change, or Tackle Africa, which provides HIV education through football coaching.
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In UK inner cities, charities like Football Beyond Borders focus on educational achievement and social exclusion in economically disadvantaged areas. Even top football club community departments like the Spurs Foundation are carefully tracking their outcomes and justifying expenditure to their investors [pdf].
In recent weeks, two more Premier League stars, Michael Carrick and Troy Deeney, have launched new foundations in their own name. Both look to have commendable aims. Having worked with Deeney myself last year on a PFA-backed charity campaign, I can testify that he is a humble bloke who genuinely cares about the world around him.
But there already exist so many grassroots charities using sport for social change that they risk inadvertently distracting attention away from these worthwhile causes. To make a real difference, we need more high-profile athletes supporting the most productive and sustainable charities. That really would be using their name for good.
Simon Lansley is the founder of ConnectSport, which highlights the power of sport to improve society.
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