Russell Wilson’s Foundation spent more on employee salaries than charitable activities

Russell Wilson is in the dog house already with the Broncos new head coach, and now he is in the news for his foundation is a pretty crappy one.

Just two years ago Russell Wilson won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award in 2020 partly because of his Why Not You Foundation, and now his foundation is in the news for other reasons.

According to Jason Wolf, Wilson’s foundation reported it spent $600,000 on charity and $1.1 million on employee salaries and benefits from 2020-2021, according to federal tax records.

So basically, the Why Not You Foundation spent 21.3 cents of every dollar on charitable activities in 2020 and 27.2 cents of every dollar on charitable activities in 2021. Over the past eight years, only 39.6 cents of every dollar was spent on charity, per tax documents.

But where is all the money going?

Well, according to Jason Wolf, Ryan Tarpley, the CEO of the foundation who also works for Ciara and Russell Wilson’s family office, made more than $200,000 annually over the past two years, while executive director Carly Young earned more than $150,000 annually during the same timeframe. Scott Pickett, the foundation’s CFO who is also the president of Wilson’s brand management and production company, made around $60,000 a year for part-time work.

In Part 2, we take a closer look at @DangeRussWilson's Why Not You Foundation, which reported $7.5M in revenue & $7M in expenses during its first 8 years.

Less than half — $2.8M, or 39.6¢ of every $1 — has gone to charitable activities, per tax records. https://t.co/LnxVBoSqTn

— Jason Wolf???????? (@JasonWolf) February 9, 2023

Russell Wilson has some explaining to do. This makes him look really bad.