Athletes for Hope
Athletes for Hope is a nonprofit organization that works to educate professional athletes about philanthropy, connect them with charitable causes, recognize these efforts and inspire others to get involved in the community. AFH emphasizes that its focus is on the athlete's time and not their money.[1]
Athletes for Hope has grown from its original Founders to over 2,000 athletes across many sports leagues, including the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and the Olympic movement. These athletes take part in their Causeway program, which provides education workshops and subsequently one-on-one guidance for each athlete through their personal philanthropic journey.[1]
Athletes for Hope has worked with hundreds of professional and Olympic athletes in helping them connect with a variety of charities. As part of this connection program, Athletes for Hope hosts several campaigns throughout the year, such as a September 11th service week and a December Holiday Campaign, that mobilizes athletes across many sports to join together in the spirit of helping others. As part of the 2013 September 11th campaign, Athletes for Hope coordinated a visit for Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving to visit underserved children at the Beech Brook home in Cleveland, OH. Additionally, AFH has worked closely with US Women’s National Soccer Team and Seattle Reign Star Goalie Hope Solo. Over the last several years, Hope has worked with Athletes for Hope to help children all over the world as she donated over 2,000 different pieces of soccer equipment to young girls in Uganda, visited an orphanage with children suffering from HIV in Johannesburg, South Africa, and donated several hundred thousand dollars worth of Nike equipment to GOALS Haiti, an after- school soccer program in Haiti.[2]
Athletes for Hope frequently conducts workshops with groups of professional and Olympic athletes. In 2013 alone, AFH facilitated workshops for all the NBA rookies, USA Track & Field, Real Salt Lake, the WTA tour, and numerous other groups of professional and Olympic athletes.
Athletes for Hope is led by CEO Ivan Blumberg, a former sports agent who represented many athletes including Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, Arthur Ashe and Yannick Noah.[3]
Contents
History
Athletes for Hope was founded in 2007 by Muhammad Ali, Andre Agassi, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr.[4] All of the founding athletes had already established their own foundations and created Athletes for Hope to support athletes who share their desire to help others.[1]
On April 25, 2007, the founding athletes launched Athletes for Hope on Good Morning America.[5][6]
Grants
In 2010, Athletes for Hope was awarded a $2 million grant by the Kellogg Foundation. This grant will be used to fund two new programs: Causeway and Good Game. Causeway will educate professional and Olympic athletes as well as their advisors on philanthropic best practices and will serve as a resource throughout the athlete's philanthropic journey. Causeway will also provide alternatives to forming a foundation and will teach best practices to athletes with established foundations.[7]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Athletes For Hope Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "AFH" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "AFH" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ Washington Post
- ↑ Good Morning America
- ↑ Los Angeles Times
- ↑ [3]
External links
- Pages with reference errors
- Official website not in Wikidata
- 2007 establishments in the United States
- Charities based in the United States
- Health charities in the United States
- Jeff Gordon
- Lance Armstrong
- Muhammad Ali
- Non-profit organizations based in the United States
- Organizations established in 2007
- Tony Hawk
