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Jalen Rose: Assists On Court and Off

STAR JOINS THE GIVING BACK FUND TO MAXIMIZE HIS GENEROSITY

By MARC POLLICK, Staff Writer

Published: December, 2004

Jalen Rose with a young fan.

Philanthropy begins in the heart, and NBA star Jalen Rose’s heart is full. Few celebrities and even fewer professional athletes ever gain a true appreciation for their potential as philanthropists.

Rose is an exception. He knows in his bones not only how lucky he is to be a professional
basketball player, but even more important, he realizes better than most how beneficent he can be by leveraging his wealth, power and celebrity.

Working with professional athletes and entertainers on a day-to-day basis, one gets very attuned to who does philanthropy for reasons of the heart, and who for other, less noble reasons. Make no mistake, a $10,000 grant to send a kid to college, whether given by a donor who believes in the transformative power of education or by a donor looking only for a quick tax deduction, has the same net result. A kid can go to college who might otherwise not have been able. However, donors who develop an appreciation for the opportunities success provides can have impact far beyond their own largesse. They can become role models for others.

The Giving Back Fund is approached often by celebrities and others wishing to start foundations. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, and even bad for business, we actually discourage most of them from starting foundations. Starting a charitable foundation is not about opening another new bank account or having a big press conference to announce to the public your intention to do something good. It requires vision, commitment (financial and otherwise), and understanding.

Unless a donor is serious about all of the above requirements, a charitable foundation is usually not the best philanthropic choice. Our process is simple and often helps to clarify
which option best fits the needs of the donor. After an initial no-strings-attached informationgathering meeting with a potential donor, we assess that person’s interests, resources, and perhaps most important, the seriousness of their intent. Based on all three we provide them with a range of philanthropic choices that we feel best meets their
needs and maximizes their resources. Very often we will recommend that a celebrity donor make a financial contribution to an existing charity that is tried and tested and working in the area in which they wish to have impact. Not only can they further the goals and mission of the like-minded charity by contributing dollars, but they can align themselves with that charity publicly, which provides an additional means of support that often attracts the attention of other potential donors. Supporting an existing charity eliminates all the overhead of a new foundation and also saves valuable time required to start something from scratch. We believe strongly that charitable dollars are precious and
scarce. Creating efficiencies wherever possible, and maximizing available dollars to deliver the greatest possible good, are therefore important facets of our service to both donors and the causes they serve.

If a donor has a specific mission that is not addressed elsewhere, or a new or unique approach to problems that have not yet been solved, it might make sense to start a new foundation. If a donor can be used strategically to bring a new set of donors or increased awareness to bear on a problem, it could be advantageous to create a new foundation. In
some cases, a donor may wish to institutionalize philanthropy within their family and create an entity that will carry on their philanthropic mission throughout their lives and their children’s lives.

In all cases, however, the donor establishing the foundation needs to realize that foundations are serious commitments that have financial and legal requirements.

I met Jalen Rose six years ago when he established a foundation at The Giving Back Fund. At our first meeting to discuss his philanthropic goals, his interests were almost unbounded. He wanted to help single-parent families, provide college scholarships
for kids, clothe the needy and feed the hungry. And those were just a few of his intentions. So many goals—ambitious even for a person with a heart as big as Jalen’s and a multi-million–dollar contract to play professional basketball. We worked with him and his advisors to craft a mission and a giving program that would reflect his broad interests, yet be focused in ways that would strategically maximize impact and create the greatest possible results.

At the press conference to announce the Jalen Rose Foundation to the public, Jalen spoke from his heart without notes of any kind. “I’ve always wanted to be in a position where I could influenceothers in a positive way,” he said. “Not that I’m a perfect person, but at the same time I understand what it’s like to be on the top and have everything in a given day that most people don’t have in a lifetime.” We could not have scripted him better.

He has impacted in significant ways each community where he has lived and played,
from Indianapolis to Chicago to Toronto to his hometown of Detroit. He has endowed a
scholarship at his alma mater, the University of Michigan, where he was once a member
of the vaunted Fab Five. He provides five additional college scholarships each year to
deserving students in the city of Detroit. His foundation created The Rose Garden, which
has purchased several thousand tickets to bring deserving kids to every home game in
each city where Jalen has played. Working in collaboration with Goodwill Industries, he
has headed winter coat drives and provide support to food pantries. In association with
the Boys and Girls Clubs, the Jalen Rose Foundation donates $50 for every assist Jalen
makes on the court (Rose is the assist leader on his team, averaging almost 400
assists per year).

Professional athletes know that their time in the spotlight can be extremely limited. At any moment a leg can break, a knee can buckle, an Achilles tendon can rupture. Few worldclass athletes ever recapture their former glory after significant injury. Even in the absence of injury, the average career of professional athletes is just a few years. Jalen Rose came to us with very large philanthropic ambitions.

Armed with generosity, a genuine concern for others and a strategy for deployment, he
has accomplished an extraordinary amount in a relatively short time. But best of all, he
has developed a keen aptitude for leveraging his wealth and celebrity on behalf of those
less fortunate than he. This makes him a role model among celebrities, a valued member of his community, and a great success story at The Giving Back Fund. May we continue to
be blessed by donors who follow his example and who reach his level of understanding.