Jump: NBA Cares

If you watch sports on television, whether you are a die-hard sports fan or not, you have probably seen at least some promos for each league hyping their involvement, as a league, in giving back to the community. It is easiest to examine the NBA’s community involvement because, believe it or not, when surfing the web for each professional sports league’s publicized charitable involvement, the National Basketball Association has the most information and resources out there. I found that surprising because, as a moderate sports fan, I know that I see more ads about the NFL and United Way than I think I’ve ever seen about “NBA Cares” or anything at all, for that matter, for either the NHL or Major League Baseball’s league commitment to the community.

It seems fitting that the NBA has the most available information because, due to their “bad rap” in the community with various fights, players with a history of legal trouble, and overall negative images, the league executives are continuously trying to create a more positive image as a whole. The NBA is, in fact, desperate for its fans to know how much it does for the community (and they should be!).

In 2005, in an effort to restore a sense of dignity to his league, commissioner David Stern issued a dress code that required “business casual clothing while players were engaged in team or league activities off the court”, and forbade many items “including t-shirts, hats, chains, or anything else that one might associate with a rap star.” The following season, the NBA instituted its NBA Cares community program.

Now, some could argue that the timing of the NBA’s launch of “NBA Cares” was self-serving (because it was right after the infamous fight in Detroit between the Indian Pacers and the Detroit Pistons which caused a media uproar about violence in the NBA), but that does not necessarily mean that the NBA isn’t ‘doing good’ in the community. In fact, the NBA has created some compelling programs with sufficient data and evidence of success to support them!
According to its website (and an article written after the NBA Cares announcement in 2005 ), the NBA, its teams, and its players “committed to donating $100 million to charity, providing a million hours of hands on service to the community and creating 250 places where kids and families can live, learn or play.” For the most part, the NBA seems to be making steady progress toward its goal. According to the website, players, teams, employees, etc. have already raised $62 million and have donated over 450,000 hours of their time. The league has partnered up with 38 leading charities (click for full list) including the American Red Cross, the Make a Wish Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and KaBOOM. Say what you want about the players lack of respect in the community, but these numbers and partner organizations are rather impressive.

Since the launch of NBA Cares, the updated numbers (as of this week) show that the league, players and teams have raised “more than $105 million for charity, donated more than 950,000 hours of hands-on volunteer service to communities worldwide, and built more than 415 places where kids and families can live, learn or play.”
Here is what they say is the mission of NBA Cares: “The NBA is dedicated to demonstrating leadership in social responsibility, using the popularity and visibility of its teams, players and the league to effect positive change around the world. NBA teams and players understand the responsibility they have to giving back to the communities that support them, and they do so through a diverse array of outreach programs and events. The larger NBA Family (including current and former players and coaches, parents, wives, referees, and league and team employees) is committed to giving back, motivated by the unique opportunity to make a profound difference.”

Some programs they support and discuss in the report include the league’s award-winning Read to Achieve program, which encourages young people to develop a lifelong love of reading; The Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA program that helps young people develop the fundamentals of the game with a focus on sportsmanship and teamwork; and Basketball without Borders, an initiative designed to bring international communities together through grassroots basketball and community building efforts. Through NBA CARES, the league also works with internationally-recognized youth-serving programs that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes. The NBA sends out monthly newsletters to its fans and/or anyone who expresses an interest, with updated information about the NBA Cares initiatives and what they’re doing each month. They really do have all angles and various levels of community outreach and support covered in this all-encompassing program, don’t they?

I am open to your opinions, thoughts, and/or findings beyond what I have been able to find about the other leagues. I would like to start an open discussion about the other leagues’ community involvement, in hopes of compiling data to compare the NBA’s, the NFL’s, Major League Baseball’s, and the NHL’s community platforms.

For now, however, this information is extremely impressive, no matter which way you cut it. Even though it seems to me that this entire campaign started out of desperation--in hopes of cleaning up the image of the NBA as a whole--it definitely DOES serve some good to the community in many, many ways. I have a hard time believing any of the other professional sports leagues have done as much or can show such measurable results as the NBA Cares program has in the past 4-5 years.

Posted by Stephanie Cantor