Research in Sports Philanthropy

RWJF 2008 Anthology Highlights the Sports Philanthropy Project

Because sports philanthropy is a still-emerging field within the larger independent sector, the Sports Philanthropy Project works with researchers, academics, and other partners to expand and improve the knowledge base of sports philanthropy professionals. We do this by supporting and encouraging research that identifies ongoing and emergent issues in the field, and by promoting the development of case studies which foster best practices and innovation. Though small, the body of research on sports philanthropy continues to grow. And it's our goal at SPP to continue to identify and incubate important research, and to make it available to you. Here, you'll find relevant research articles on important topics in the field. We hope to build our library into the most comprehensive research resource available on sports philanthropy.

Sports Philanthropy Project Helps Teams and Athletes Partner With Community Groups to Promote Health and Well-Being - this grant results report, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), summarizes the results and key findings from SPP's work and successes over the past ten years.

Read the report (link to report on RWJF website)

Corporate Social Responsibility and Professional Sport: A Perfect Match? For this session, part of the August 2007 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, SPP's Executive Director Greg Johnson participated on a panel of distinguished academic researchers, to address the issue of “Doing Well by Doing Good” in professional sport, by:

presenting conceptual arguments for the substantial corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts of professional sports teams;
describing the extent of, and the rationale for, such CSR efforts; and
indicating how teams and individuals in sport can have substantial positive, and at times negative, effects on society.

View Greg’s PowerPoint Presentation
View the symposium abstract (PDF, <100kb)
Find out more about the 2007 Academy of Management Annual Meeting

Corporate Social Responsibility in Professional Sport - SPP Executive Director Greg Johnson joined a team of noted academics for this symposium during the 2007 conference of the North American Society for Sport Management, on issues related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in professional sports, from theoretical as well as practitioner perspectives.

View Greg’s PowerPoint Presentation

Read the conference session abstract

View PowerPoint presentations from Greg’s co-presenters:

Cheri Bradish, Brock University

Aubrey Kent, Florida State University

The Pros and Cons of Financial Efficiency Standards - This brief, jointly prepared by the philanthropy centers at the Urban Institute in DC and at IndianaUniversity as part of the Nonprofit Overhead Cost Project (NOCP), discusses the pros and cons of using financial efficiency standards as a measure by which to evaluate the effectiveness of charitable organizations. The NOCP website has an wealth of additional information on on related topics, such as how to read IRS 990 forms, how well nonprofits generally perform completing them, what standards should be used to evaluate a nonprofit’s effectiveness, and more.
View the brief (PDF, 204 kb)

2006 Cone Nonprofit Research Fact Sheet - This survey of 1,022 adults, commissioned by Cone (a Boston company that helps charities and corporations conduct marketing projects), suggests that few donors pick charities based on celebrity involvement, among other findings.
View the fact sheet (PDF, 168kb)

More Than Just a Game? Corporate Social Responsibility and Super Bowl XL - Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown in importance to sport organizations as well as to the mega-events run by these organizations. This paper explores CSR initiatives related to Super Bowl XL in Detroit. The authors outline some of the key community outreach efforts initiated by the NFL and the Super Bowl Host Committee, and further discuss the ways in which these efforts might help in building the NFL’s image as a professional sport league that takes its social responsibility seriously.
View the paper (PDF, 104kb)

An Analysis of the Charitable Foundations of Major League Teams - This 2005 master's thesis by Rebecca Robinson represents, to our knowledge, one of the most comprehensive analyses of the major factors that influence the success and development of major league and team foundations (NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB), and that enable sports philanthropy to attain its maximum level of impact.
View the full thesis (PDF, 1MB)
View the executive summary (PDF, 122kb)

Understanding Sports Philanthropy: The Case of Denver Sports Teams - This case study by Professor Jennifer Wade-Berg at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center explores the world of professional team sports philanthropy through an examination of Denver based teams.
View the case study (PDF, 100kb)

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