Legal expert says Tom Brady's charity funding is lawful, commonplace

SI.com photo

I'd really like just one off-season with no ridiculous controversy at all, although this one probably won't be dragged out for two-plus years.

The Boston Globe has accused Tom Brady of funding his charity, Change the World, with money raised from another charity he supports, Best Buddies.

Change the World deals with some of Brady's personal interests - funding his high school alma mater, his children's private schools and so on. So by this logic, the Globe thinks children and teenagers with disabilities, which is what Best Buddies focuses on, doesn't matter much to him.

This report is made to make Brady look like some sort of criminal. However, according to legal expert Michael McCann, a backer of Brady's during Deflategate, the practice is "lawful" and "commonplace."

SI.com:

As a starting point, Best Buddies donating to Change the World is both lawful and unexceptional. Charities often donate to other charities. Examples are found among other charities led by superstar NFL quarterbacks.

For example, according to the 2015 990 form filed by Peyton Manning’s “Peyback Foundation”, Peyback donated $7,500 to Catholic Charities of Tennessee, a nonprofit that provides various services to people living in 38 counties across Middle Tennessee. Likewise, per its 2014 990 form, Drew Brees’s “Brees Dream Foundation” donated $25,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge, a nonprofit that builds homes for low-income families

So this isn't the first time an athlete has done something like this, yet they come after Brady because...why?

All of this is also public record.

Best Buddies donating to Change the World is also subject to public notice, as donations made by charities must be publicly disclosed. Anyone, in fact, can read about those donations by reviewing a nonprofit’s 990 form. This form, which nonprofits must file each year with the Internal Revenue Service, provides considerable detail about nonprofits’ finances. Nonprofits’ 990 forms can be viewed online at GuideStar.com without charge.

Contrary to this stupid smear campaign the Globe is running, Brady has been the face of Best Buddies for years and appears at tons of events each year. He has raised about $46.5 million for Best Buddies and his name alone is a benefit to the charity.

The arrangement between Brady and Best Buddies has led to massive amounts of charitable money that might not otherwise have been raised.

Best Buddies credits Brady with helping to raise $46.5 million since 2001, during which time Brady has acted as a volunteer. While some of that money might have been raised without Brady, Brady’s involvement has clearly aided an organization whose mission is to improve the lives of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It stands to reason that such persons and their families are better off with Brady’s involvement. Setting aside more debatable aspects of the Brady-Best Buddies-Change the World arrangement, it’s difficult to ignore this positive outcome.

So now we see this story being spun positively, which is obviously refreshing. Thankfully this hasn't turned into a national story. Otherwise, I'm sure people would be making ridiculous claims about Brady being a bad person, his Super Bowl's should be taken away, he shouldn't be allowed to play football, and everything else under the sun.

Case in point - this is a dumb controversy that shouldn't be a story at all, but at least locally, it is.

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