What Do People Want When They Give to Nonprofits?

In June 2017, the New York Yankee’s New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund got called out for not really benefiting those it was set up to serve. The fund, created to offset the fact that the stadium gobbled up 25 acres of public parkland, should eventually give out $40 million in grants and sports equipment, plus over a half-million game day tickets to community groups in the South Bronx.

But, as the New York Times reported, many early gifts have been channeled to neighborhoods that had less need for improvement or inspiration than those now in the shadow of the stadium. In some cases, distributions ended up at groups that share board members with the fund.

That’s just the latest in a long stretch of charitable malfeasance, which in recent years has included the Wounded Warrior Project’s reportedly “lavish spending” on its on own staff instead of programs to reduce combat stress among veterans, and four major cancer charities, all with ties James Reynolds Sr., allegedly diverting a combined $187 million in fundraising to cover the “lucrative employment” of those who worked there, instead of putting the money toward cancer patients.