Bob Hohler runs ad on Brady's charity endeavors

riboflav

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Bob Hohler article came out over night last night. It's enjoyed a good run on social media with several national journalists congratulating Hohler on his takedown of the Golden Boy's image. In sum, Hohler reports that while Brady raised over 46 million dollars for Best Buddies, BB turned around and donated 3.5 million to other Brady charities of choice. They seem to have had a deal in place since 2011 and BB also appears to very much welcome the arrangement - realizing, of course, that without such a deal there's no way they could raise that kind of cash on their own. Nevertheless, Hohler and his editors view this agreement as shady and worthy of an expose in the Sunday paper. Minihane has already weighed in so it's likely to be a top story in the region this week.

Much of the saner criticism is that Brady, or BB, should have acknowledged the deal sooner and informed donors that it was possible that some (maybe as much as 7.5%) would be going to other TB charities. I'm not sure if this sort of thing is normal but the whole thing seems overblown (surprise!) and may even deter athletes from doing this kind of good work if they're simply exposing themselves to even more criticism than they already receive.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2017/04/22/tom-brady-gives-much-best-buddies-but-takes-millions-for-his-personal-trust/fX6A4ZqPaYAehmHllm9iLI/story.html
 

DJnVa

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Will this get more or less national traction than Eli?
 
As you'd expect, Twitter is making it all about politics. Half are saying the Globe ran a hit piece because of his connection with Trump. The other half criticizes Brady and feels the need to throw in his friendship with the president. Sigh....

@DrewDawg - On one of the Sirius ESPN radio channels the host was discussing it as if it was pretty big news. Not calling it a scandal but says it's "another bad look for Tom Brady".





 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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The donations made by BB are going to schools and other football charities.

What a fucking monster.
 

snowmanny

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Well Yvonne Abraham coincidentally had a piece today about how Kraft's friendship with Trump "imperils an important piece of his own legacy, " which I would submit is crap. Kraft's legacy has to do with the Patriots, not politics.

I'm a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts and I never trust what The Globe is up to. That Brady article is a hit piece, like a thousand others they've done.
 

Marceline

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I'd probably be annoyed if I'd donated to a charity and saw that some of the money was going to other charities (if it wasn't disclosed in advance).

Still, it's not really worthy of outrage, nor is it comparable to Trump, who actually used his foundation's money to buy shit for his own private companies. (response to the quoted tweet above)
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Having worked in the non-profit world for quite some time and being aware of bad athlete charities (hey! what happened to Curt's Pitch the moment he retired?) I expected some really nasty stuff in there but never found it. Yeah, it would be nice if Brady put his own cash into his foundation, but at least he's not using it to wash his money into salaries for cronies like many athlete's foundations do. He does give a whole lot of time to Best Buddies and if they put some of their cash in his charity it isn't the greatest move, but it's also not that much money all things considered.
 
The donations made by BB are going to schools and other football charities.

What a fucking monster.
According to Curran, Brady had some initial hesitation about being the face of Best Buddies because he believed he wouldn't have enough time to raise money for other charities of interest. To solve this problem, their agreement was to let him use a small percentage of the donations (around 7% as @riboflav points out) to help those other causes. Brady is still devoting all his time for free. People are acting as if he's pocketing the money or donating it to The Human Fund.
 

RG33

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The article mentions like a dozen times "which is often done in charities" followed up by "but some watchdog types think it is bad form". Such a waste of space in the Sunday Globe. I would totally assign blame to Brady if at all stunk of any sort of inappropriateness, but it is ultimately payment for all of his time and being the face of the charity that he is heavily involved in -- and it ultimately all goes to charities. I honestly can't understand what the the issue is.
 

Murby

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I root against the Pats and I don't care for the organization as a whole from the top down. I'm a loser Bears fan. Gah.

However, this is a non-story. It's a shame this wasn't transparent from the jump, but as player charities go, this seems like it's legitimate and beneficial.

If this is the best Hohler can do after obviously digging for it, then he didn't really have a story. Lame.
 

nattysez

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(1) If this was not a hit piece, Hohler would've researched a number of athlete charities and used Brady's "issue" as one example of "bad" behavior. I'd bet my bottom dollar that Brady's issue pales in comparison to issues with other athletes' charitable foundations. Hell, if you compare this to the "charities" that the NFL donates to in connection with "breast cancer awareness" and "prostate cancer awareness," there is no scandal here.

(2) As other have said, the whole article can basically be summarized as "This doesn't look great, but it's totally legal and done throughout the non-profit world." Which means it's just clickbait, a hit piece, or both.
 

kolbitr

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This is specious journalism at best. I don't know how Hohler sleeps at night. But this isn't a huge surprise from Joe Sullivan.

Is there some unfortunate accounting and are there some unpleasant unrealities associated with a multimillion dollar charity? Yeah.

Is this ever more proof that Tom Brady does not really deserve all the adulation and hero-worship that comes his way? Yeah, sure.

I can't stand the Trump association either...but all that is left here is acknowledgment that some $48 million dollars was raised for a good cause, and could have been a better cause.
 

jsinger121

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I hope the Globe gets the middle finger from Brady and the Pats next season during media availability.
 

lexrageorge

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The league Brady plays for supports the United Way. If Bob Hohler wants to generate real outrage, perhaps he should dig into that relationship a bit deeper.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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I hate the Orange Dictator. I hate his small hands and hate his politics. I also hate that Brady Belichick and Kraft are friends with him. But this is a straight up hit piece that's in the same ball park as the Tito one. It never would have run if he supported Secretary Clinton over Trump. Bob Hohler only has a job at the globe because he'll write hit pieces that his higher ups want written.
 

edmunddantes

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Can't link to as on mobile right now, but McCann at SI has a good piece on this.

If you are trying to hide something nefarious, this is the worst possible way to do it because of all the reporting non-profits have to do. McCann still couches a lot about it might look bad, but this is literally a nothingburger unless there is some other bad act being talked about (there isn't in this piece).
 

Ed Hillel

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I actually see an issue in that some of his "charities" are bullshit, for example his kids' private school. If I donated money to Best Buddies and found out it was being partially filtered to help Tom Brady's kids have a better parking lot in their 25k/year private school or whatever, I'd be unhappy.

But it's still not some horrible scam, and the work has raised tens of millions for a cause that otherwise would not have had it. It's like a piping hot bowl of yummy yum soup with just the tiniest pinch of scum.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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I actually see an issue in that some of his "charities" are bullshit, for example his kids' private school. If I donated money to Best Buddies and found out it was being partially filtered to help Tom Brady's kids have a better parking lot in their 25k/year private school or whatever, I'd be unhappy.

But it's still not some horrible scam, and the work has raised tens of millions for a cause that otherwise would not have had it. It's like a piping hot bowl of yummy yum soup with just the tiniest pinch of scum.
He gives to charity and in turn they give to his. I'm not really seeing much of an issue here. Again if he stumped for Hillary in November I would bet millions that the article never sees the light of day.
 

GreenMonster49

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Best Buddies got some unwelcome publicity in 2010 after Brady crashed an Audi S8, one that Audi donated to Best Buddies, and Best Buddies loaned to Brady. The charity's curious use of its assets was a lot more worrisome than the (perfectly legal) donations described in Hohler's article. (While it's not proof that Best Buddies does not do that anymore, the lack of any mention of this arrangement in Hohler's article after the Globe mentioned it in 2010 indicates that it is a thing of the past.)
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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This is probably making waves only because of the size of it vs. the fact that it happens right? I went to a David Ortiz thing Friday night that was for the benefit of NH military families and vets. I'm sure that to get David there they had an agreed upon appearance fee of some 5 figure amount that was given to either him or his own charitable foundation and that was just a 3-4 hour commitment on a very small scale. Brady's foundation getting $.5MM isn't really that surprising to me.
 

B H Kim

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I am having a hard time finding fault with publishing the subject matter contained in this article (although I agree that the tone is a problem). It's a transparency issue and certainly worth discussing. Lots of charities donate to other charities, and it certainly appears that this arrangement is a way to maximize donations to Best Buddies. But, if I'm making donations to a charity that claims to be using the money for helping the disabled, I would be upset to find out that some of that money is going to other, completely unrelated entities. I would be particularly upset to see some of that money going to private schools.
 

snowmanny

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You have a point BHK. But let's not be naive to the fact that the Brady piece - and the Kraft column- aren't driven by some other motivating factor at the Globe. Whether that's Trump-related or just the joy of bringing down golden boys I don't know, but it's something.

When do we get the Red Sox Foundation expose?
 

Lose Remerswaal

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I am having a hard time finding fault with publishing the subject matter contained in this article (although I agree that the tone is a problem). It's a transparency issue and certainly worth discussing. Lots of charities donate to other charities, and it certainly appears that this arrangement is a way to maximize donations to Best Buddies. But, if I'm making donations to a charity that claims to be using the money for helping the disabled, I would be upset to find out that some of that money is going to other, completely unrelated entities. I would be particularly upset to see some of that money going to private schools.
Far less than 10% is going to Brady's charity. I assure you, far more than that is going to pay a couple dozen salaries, downtown crossing (and seaport) rents, and lots of other expenses.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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You have a point BHK. But let's not be naive to the fact that the Brady piece - and the Kraft column- aren't driven by some other motivating factor at the Globe. Whether that's Trump-related or just the joy of bringing down golden boys I don't know, but it's something.

When do we get the Red Sox Foundation expose?
By the Globe? Never. But since I've volunteered for them for 7 seasons now, I do check their 990 annually and just realized I never saw the 2015 report (2016 is still a few months away from posting) and their practices look pretty good. The team pays most of their expenses, other than their executive director, who makes a reasonable salary considering how many hours I know she works every week.
 

B H Kim

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Far less than 10% is going to Brady's charity. I assure you, far more than that is going to pay a couple dozen salaries, downtown crossing (and seaport) rents, and lots of other expenses.
True, but irrelevant. There's a reasonable expectation that every charitable organization uses a portion of donations to cover overhead. This isn't overhead. And Best Buddies isn't a foundation or similar organization where one would expect direct donations to be redirected to other, unrelated groups. Like I said, this is a transparency issue and it's a newsworthy story if handled properly.
 

Kliq

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True, but irrelevant. There's a reasonable expectation that every charitable organization uses a portion of donations to cover overhead. This isn't overhead. And Best Buddies isn't a foundation or similar organization where one would expect direct donations to be redirected to other, unrelated groups. Like I said, this is a transparency issue and it's a newsworthy story if handled properly.
You can literally go online and find out all this information. Non-profits have tons of laws to make it so that they are transparent with what the money is going to. The Globe didn't even do all that much digging for the story; all the info is right online.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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True, but irrelevant. There's a reasonable expectation that every charitable organization uses a portion of donations to cover overhead. This isn't overhead. And Best Buddies isn't a foundation or similar organization where one would expect direct donations to be redirected to other, unrelated groups. Like I said, this is a transparency issue and it's a newsworthy story if handled properly.
I get what you're saying. However, you have to look at who is reporting the subject matter. Why doesn't the Globe report on say Devin McCourty or Dustin Pedroia's charitable endeavors? Wouldn't you agree that Brady's party affiliation is a huge reason why this article was actually written? This is Brady raising 40 million for a charity and as payment they donate money into his endeavors. Endeveors that I'm sure he also donates to himself. Bob Hohler is the globes hitman. Anytime someone wants a one sided column written gives it to him.
 

Kliq

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I get what you're saying. However, you have to look at who is reporting the subject matter. Why doesn't the Globe report on say Devin McCourty or Dustin Pedroia's charitable endeavors? Wouldn't you agree that Brady's party affiliation is a huge reason why this article was actually written? This is Brady raising 40 million for a charity and as payment they donate money into his endeavors. Endeveors that I'm sure he also donates to himself. Bob Hohler is the globes hitman. Anytime someone wants a one sided column written gives it to him.
One of the midday guys summed it up pretty well and that is if BB just anyone else to be the face of their organization, they wouldn't raise anywhere near that 40 million. Who cares if a small percentage of that goes to other charities? Nobody else would have raised close to 40 million.
 

GammonsSpecialPerson

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Pieces like this are why a growing portion of the population does not trust the media. Full stop.
Exactly. Nuance and detail are swamped by 140-character-or-less "thoughts", as well as TL;DR laziness. The entitlement to comment without reading, or thinking, are ruining discourse. And that's without mentioning that blind homers, partisans, and pom-pom waving idiots dominate whatever conversation does ensue.

My takeaway from having read the Hohler article is that the headline writer did a great job of selling a mostly empty story. At best, it's a context-free glance at how one athlete handles the quid pro quo of charitable giving, but lacking detail on how it compares to others, or other charities, I have a hard time caring. I won't be canceling my subscription over it, though.
 

Ale Xander

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This is such a non-story. Of the New England donors, I bet a large percentage of them are donating because of Brady's involvement. If 7% goes to Brady's charities the either don't care or are happy about it.

And if you look at Charity Navigator, Best Buddies's ranking is very close to even Dana-Farber, 87.40 to 89.82 (and has a higher overall score than the Red Cross and a much higher financial score)
 

nighthob

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You can literally go online and find out all this information. Non-profits have tons of laws to make it so that they are transparent with what the money is going to. The Globe didn't even do all that much digging for the story; all the info is right online.
It really is just how the charity sector works. One of my friends used to direct a literacy foundation and every headliner they had doing fundraisers for them required either a flat donation to one of their chosen foundations or that a percentage of the money raised be distributed thusly. This is just the Glob taking advantage of its readers not knowing,
 

B H Kim

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It really is just how the charity sector works. One of my friends used to direct a literacy foundation and every headliner they had doing fundraisers for them required either a flat donation to one of their chosen foundations or that a percentage of the money raised be distributed thusly. This is just the Glob taking advantage of its readers not knowing,
If their readers don't know about this practice, then that proves my point. Isn't that part of their mission, to inform their readers? Like I said, the accusatory tone of the piece is wrong and I don't disagree with people who object to this particular article. My broader point, however, is that the overall subject is newsworthy. If this is a common practice that most people don't know about, then explaining it to their readers seems like a worthwhile exercise for a newspaper.
 
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mauf

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I am having a hard time finding fault with publishing the subject matter contained in this article (although I agree that the tone is a problem). It's a transparency issue and certainly worth discussing. Lots of charities donate to other charities, and it certainly appears that this arrangement is a way to maximize donations to Best Buddies. But, if I'm making donations to a charity that claims to be using the money for helping the disabled, I would be upset to find out that some of that money is going to other, completely unrelated entities. I would be particularly upset to see some of that money going to private schools.
True, but irrelevant. There's a reasonable expectation that every charitable organization uses a portion of donations to cover overhead. This isn't overhead. And Best Buddies isn't a foundation or similar organization where one would expect direct donations to be redirected to other, unrelated groups. Like I said, this is a transparency issue and it's a newsworthy story if handled properly.
I agree. I refuse to give Hohler a click, but it sounds like the problem here is his tone (made worse by his reputation), not the substance of his report, or the Globe's determination that it was ethical to publish it.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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There wasn't a lot of context within the piece. It was hust, "This is what Brady does ..." and the reader is supposed to define the rest. Is this what other celebrities do? Is this SOP for all charities? Is this unique to only Brady?

I have no idea. You make the call and infer what you want.

There were also two sources that maintain this isn't illegal or really a big deal but that's quickly followed up by someone else saying, "this isn't a good look" or "it looks bad".

I can understand that if you pledge money to BB, you hope that every nickel goes to BB. That could be frustrating But if you know even a little bit about charities, especially celeb charities, you know that's not true. Maybe that's an eye opener for some people.

Also, I look at it as the $3.5 is Brady's salary. He does a lot of work for this organization and has raised a ton of cash. If he wants less than 5% of the money he brought in to go somewhere, fine with me.

The good far outweighs the bad here.
 

PBDWake

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The problem is that this "story" is all in the presentation, and this piece is clearly designed to drag Brady through the mud. If this was presented as (not that this would ever be a story that would make it to print) the following, people would have no problem with it:

"Best Buddies came to Brady years ago to be the face of their charity. Brady was uncertain, as he wanted to distribute his time doing work across several charities and schools he is associated with. Best Buddies came up with a solution though. They would give 7% of what Brady helped them earn across the organizations Brady supports, and in return, Brady would spend his time with Best Buddies. It was a win-win, all of Brady's charitable interests were taken care of, and Best Buddies raises more money than it ever has under the banner of TB12."
 

Lose Remerswaal

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That would have been a totally different (and probably more accurate) article.

What the Globe should do is a series on athlete's personal foundations, like Brady's, and explain how the money gets washed there. TB's seems relatively clean: although one might not agree with where his donations go, you can't deny they are going to non-profits, and it seems to be his money. It's the ones that take funds from the public and then have huge overheads, where both the public's money and the athlete's money gets washed through a layer of administration made up of friends and families that are the ones that need to be questioned.

And the Yawkey Foundation article did start to go there, but didn't follow up.
 

CantKeepmedown

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The problem is that this "story" is all in the presentation, and this piece is clearly designed to drag Brady through the mud.
And that's all it takes for certain radio hosts to get a good weeks worth of content and continue to pile on Brady. Minihane had a lot of help from his buddy Tomase this morning. They kept talking about how bad of a look it was for Brady. And more than a few callers agreeing with them.

Minihane clearly is looking for the best angle to generate ratings, I get that. Between this and the Alex Guerrero connection, he's given it to Brady pretty good over the past year or two. I would love to see Brady pass on the EEI Monday morning segments and call into the midday/afternoon shows instead.
 

edmunddantes

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The problem is that this "story" is all in the presentation, and this piece is clearly designed to drag Brady through the mud. If this was presented as (not that this would ever be a story that would make it to print) the following, people would have no problem with it:

"Best Buddies came to Brady years ago to be the face of their charity. Brady was uncertain, as he wanted to distribute his time doing work across several charities and schools he is associated with. Best Buddies came up with a solution though. They would give 7% of what Brady helped them earn across the organizations Brady supports, and in return, Brady would spend his time with Best Buddies. It was a win-win, all of Brady's charitable interests were taken care of, and Best Buddies raises more money than it ever has under the banner of TB12."
And we'll make sure we note it in our documentation that must show how we spend our money that is freely available to anyone that wants to donate to us or enterprising reporters looking for a story.

Don't forget that part. There was nothing hidden here. This is literally a "these are the mechanics of how charities work. Scandal!!!!!!!!"
 

nighthob

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If their readers don't know about this practice, then that proves my point. Isn't that part of their mission, to inform their readers? Like I said, the accusatory tone of the piece is wrong and I don't disagree with people who object to this particular article. My broader point, however, is that the overall subject is newsworthy. If this is a common practice that most people don't know about, then explaining it to their readers seems like a worthwhile exercise for a newspaper.
They explicitly didn't inform their readers that that's just how the business works. Because then they would have to accuse a lot of iconic figures (to their readers) of financial impropriety. The tone consisted of accusing the one person of impropriety, not informing their readers that this is how the business works.

And there's nothing fucking wrong with this. Getting famous people to turn out to fundraisers is how you raise money you could never get otherwise. One of my clients is a county library association out in Colorado, whose publicity director had a contact in the Broncos' front office, and after the last Superbowl victory they had a banner summer fundraising season by getting team members to turn out for events (readings, meet & greets, etc.). But a percentage of the funds raised were donated to other charities. That was the price of getting famous people to devote their time.
 

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When do we get the Red Sox Foundation expose?
When Mrs Pizutti Onassis Henry hits a sufficient number of milestones in her prenup.

The Globe is a tool for the Red Sox to compete with the Patriots through low key slander, and to grind axes with employees who left on bad terms, in addition to their primary mission as PR division.