Boston Celtics Owner Donated $1 Million a Week to Nonprofits Last Year
My father used to tell me that "self discipline is doing the right thing when no one is looking."
Well, someone must have told Boston Celtics Co-owner Rob Hale the same thing.
Every week in 2022, Rob Hale and his wife Karen have been donating about $1,000,000 to various nonprofits.
Seriously, according to reports from John Hyatt for Forbes, billionaires Rob and Karen Hale have donated about $1 million a week this year across 52 nonprofits.
Most of the nonprofit donations went to small organizations fighting climate change, cancer, and homelessness, or serving young people.
"The Hales wrote their first endowment check in March to the New England Wildlife Center, which provides veterinary care to injured and orphaned wildlife," according to a Forbes article. "Since then, the Hales have given (or are in the process of giving) endowment gifts to another 21 organizations; of these, 15 have net assets (what they own, minus any debt) of less than $10 million."
“These are great, impactful organizations, but they’re on a wing and a prayer," said Hale in a Fortune article. "They have no financial certainty,”
This statement by the Celtics co-owner is interesting, as many of the donations have been for the purpose of creating endowment funds for the nonprofits. This helps the nonprofits have a steady stream of income for the starting decade, and many years following that.
“That gives them more of a stable future and it gives them the ability to say, ‘OK, we know where money is coming from and we can focus on doing great work,’” said Hale to Fortune.
In May of 2022, the Hales donated $1 million to both the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida and the Save the Manatee Club, according to a TC Palm article. The Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida used the money to "replant eight acres of seagrass at six spots in the Indian River Lagoon," spokesperson Michelle Ashton said, according to TC Palm. "The lagoon is the epicenter of the die-off that contributed to 1,600 manatee deaths in 2021 and 2022, as decades of human-caused pollution continues to choke out the seagrasses manatees eat."
According to Forbes, "Hale has personally donated over $280 million towards cancer research, educational institutions, and other charitable causes."
Who knew this guy was such a giver! Seriously, hats off to the Hales. Such outstanding generosity and a great representation of the kindness that is all around New England.