The Most Charitable Athletes

Whether you bet at online sportsbooks or daily fantasy sports sites, you’ll be able to wager on a huge array of your favorite teams and players. Often, you can access a diverse array of player prop bets, such as the identity of the next points scorer or the player who will register the next touchdown.

Of course, the best sports stars often have many strings to their bow, while they tend to have a huge following that transcends their chosen disciplines. Highly successful performers also tend to be most charitable athletes, gifting their time, money and additional resources to some incredibly deserving causes.

• Athletes Who Donate to Charity – Delivering Positive Social Impacts
• Lebron James – One of the Leading Athletes for Charity
• Cristiano Ronaldo – An Often Overlooked Philanthropist
• Justin James Watt – A Contributor to Disaster Relief Funds and Veterans
• Michael Phelps – Starting a Foundation With a $1 Million Bonus
• The Bottom Line

Athletes who Donate to Charity – Delivering Positive Social Impacts

Athletes who achieve incredible success are perfectly positioned to make charitable contributions, in a number of different ways too. For example, they can use their reach and social media profiles to raise awareness of specific issues and causes, while also making direct financial contributions or raising further funds through their foundations and specific initiatives.

Of course, sport itself is also a greater equalizer in society. It certainly helps people to work their way out of poverty, while building hope, confidence and the skills that enable you to build a successful future. Some of the most charitable athletes will have emerged from hardship themselves, so they are only too happy to affect positive change in society.

Of the athletes who donate to charity, some of the most prominent play their trades in high value sports such as basketball, football, soccer and tennis. From Lebron James (who has his own family foundation) to soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo, these individuals have committed huge amounts of money to charitable causes. Here’s our pick of the most generous sportsmen for charity!

Lebron James – One of the Leading Athletes for Charity

We’ll start with Lebron James, with the Los Angeles Lakers star a true NBA great and one of the most generous athletes for charity. In fact, he has used much of his $1.2 billion net worth to fund charitable causes and initiatives, while his aforementioned ‘Lebron James Family Foundation’ has given away millions down the years.

Much of his attention (and that of his foundation) is focused on helping underprivileged youngsters in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. In fact, he gave away $2.5 million and 1,000 new computers to the ‘Boys and Girls Club of America’ through this entity, while James himself has previously donated $2.5 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

His foundation has also raised more than $40 million on behalf of the ‘After-School All-Stars’, which is a huge amount of money and a testament to his desire to give back to communities. His ‘I Promise’ scheme works to provide mentors, resources and educational support to around 1,400 qualifying Akron youngsters, with this largely funded by James’ owning earnings.

Outside of his charitable donations, James is widely recognized as one of the greatest NBA players of all-time. In fact, the four-time NBA champion is nicknamed “King James” and regularly compared to Michael Jordan, who was previously considered the greatest basketball player in the history of the sport.

However, James is now the all-time leading points scorer in the NBA and ranks as high as fourth for total assists in his career. What’s more, James has won an impressive four MVP Awards in the NBA, along with four Finals MVP Awards and three All-Star Game MVP Awards.

Cristiano Ronaldo – An Often Overlooked Philanthropist

When you start to consider the athletes who donate to charity, Cristiano Ronaldo may not be the first name that springs to mind. This is largely because the self-proclaimed ‘CR7’ is a modest and anonymous contributor to many charities, while he’s also unfairly perceived as being arrogant and self-obsessed by some.

A misunderstood footballing legend, Ronaldo is one of the greatest players of all time. He’s also one of the richest soccer players in history, with a current net worth slightly north of $622 million. This has been inflated significantly by his $200 million-per-year contract with Al-Nassr, which equates to a monthly salary of $16.6 million.

This has only served to increase Ronaldo’s charitable contributions. However, he has always been one of soccer’s more generous players, previously auctioning his 2011 European Golden Boot award for $1.5 million. All of this money was then donated to schools in Gaza war zones, affording troubled youngsters a much better education in the process.

In 2017, he auctioned another individual trophy for the grand sum of nearly $700,000. This was subsequently gifted to the Make-a-Wish-Foundation, while it followed his decision in 2014 to donate more than $500,000 in win bonuses to four major global charities. He’s also a regular contributor to disaster relief efforts in different jurisdictions all over the world.

On the pitch, CR7 remains the most prolific player of his generation, scoring an incredible 885 goals in just 1,219 matches for club and country. He has won 32 major honors in his career too, including an incredible five Champions League titles and the 2016 European Championships with his beloved Portugal.

Justin James Watt – A Contributor to Disaster Relief Funds and Veterans

James Justin (or ‘JJ’) Watt is probably the NFL’s most famous and recognized philanthropist and undoubtedly one of the most charitable athletes of all time. Despite having a slightly lower net worth of $70 million, he has contributed significantly more than this in personal donations and through his foundation, aiding numerous causes in the process.

His foundation came to global attention in 2017, immediately after the Category Four Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc and made landfall on Texas and Louisiana. The foundation quickly raised in excess of $37 million, which was a huge amount that was donated to help fund the initial clean-up and subsequent rebuild.

This money helped to construct more than 1,100 new homes and close to 1,000 child-care resources. Some of the donation also funded various after-school programs and initiatives, specifically in and around the ravaged state of Houston. Even more impressively, JJ Watt also contributed significant funds from his own pocket.

JJ Watt is also an entrepreneur, having invested in multiple commercial interests including his own Valor shoe line range. All of the cash raised through the sale of Valor footwear is donated directly to various veterans’ organizations, many of which are severely underfunded and often overlooked.

As a player, JJ Watt is considered one of the best defensive linemen of all time, operating both at defensive end and defensive tackle. He also fared well in offense (especially in 2014 when he contributed three touchdowns), while he holds the Houston Texans’ records for both forced fumbles and sacks. In 2017, Sport Illustrated responded to his achievements and philanthropy by naming him Sportsman of the Year.

Michael Phelps – Starting a Foundation With a $1 Million Bonus

Michael Phelps is renowned as the greatest swimmer of all time, winning a combined 28 Olympic medals during his entire career. However, when he earned a $1 million sponsorship bonus at the peak of his powers in 2008, he decided to launch the now famous ‘Michael Phelps Foundation’ rather than buy a new house or sports car.

Phelps has also donated a significant percentage of his $100 million net worth to charitable causes. Unsurprisingly, given how he accumulated his wealth, his official foundation is focused on water, from improving water safety in third-world countries to enabling aspiring young athletes to achieve their sporting goals.

The Michael Phelps Foundation also promotes greater physical and mental health, while it has partnered with various organizations including America’s ‘Boys and Girls Club’ and the Special Olympics. It has also invested heavily in delivering swimming lessons to children across the globe, helping them to learn a valuable life skill and appreciate the importance of water safety.

The world’s most decorated Olympian, Phelps has won a record 23 gold medals at the Summer Games. He also holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals in individual events with 13, claiming a staggering eight alone in 2008 in Beijing. He collected eight medals of various colors at the 2004 Olympics in Athens too, while he was also highly successful during the 2012 Games in London and in Rio four years’ later.

The Bottom Line

As you can see, there are a number of generous athletes for charity causes, including Lebron James, Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Phelps. It’s no coincidence that these individuals are among the most successful sportsmen of all time, as they’ve been able to accumulate tremendous wealth and reinvest this into specific communities and initiatives.

The amounts donated by these and similar sportsmen (and women) is truly incredible, while this money has helped to simultaneously develop third world countries, encourage underprivileged children into sport and fund disaster relief efforts. This generosity can take numerous forms too, especially when dealing with large and established foundations.

Honorable mentions should go to Tom Brady (who also funded the Hurricane Harvey relief effort and donated $100,000 to J.J Watt’ foundation) and John Cena. The latter holds the Make-a-Wish foundation for the amount of time he has donated to the organization, while he also pledged half-a-million dollars to help fight the Californian wildfires in 2019.