"I never tire of hearing these stories because they are always better than what I imagined."
Jill Painter shares an impressive story about the positive role Tiger's foundation is playing, profiling UCLA pre-med student Stephen Pham, an Earl Woods scholar who has started an outreach group offering medical aid to Vietnam's less fortunate.
Pham recently learned that Woods, who is hosting the Chevron World Challenge this week at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, read his essay and was speechless.
Not everyone, however, can be saved. Pham and his team gathered enough money to send a dying man from a remote area on a bus ride to the hospital. The group learned the man died en route.
"We were so close. If we had just had little more time, but time is life," said Pham, who held back tears. "This is what medicine is.
"There's a face to it."
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 01:18 PM
Reader Comments (17)
You are getting soft.
You actually said something nice about Tiger.
Good on you.
Second, the TWF in my visits, is about helping kids education in a real world sense
(computers, environmental etc).
Seems the gazillions the USGA and PGA take in should be under the microscope in relation
tp public golf, more than a foundation that is trying to help educate
The foundation had 45 million in assets and made only 2.2 million in grants. It had $709,532 in salaries, $26,473 in pension costs and $154,348 in other employee benefits.
Greg Mclaughlin made $94,644 in salary and worked an average of 25 hours per week on the foundation. The treasurer Jim Thatcher made $104,500 and worked an average of 5 (FIVE) hours per week.
It made some nominal distributions to golf charities, mainly First Tee organizations that totaled less than $20,000. It made a $100,000 grant to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.
This is a foundation that is run by IMG and Woods ass hole buddies that has no direction or solid business plan.
What you see is no money going to outside organizations, but again, in my time there, I have seen the resources spent on the kids that actually attend the site in Anaheim, and it is impressive.
Don't get too caught up in the spending outside the foundation, look at, or talk with the kids who have gained some pretty cool experiences through the TW center
Now reading the above I'd question the motives of those setting it up, Tiger included. It's a shame because the clout he has for fund raising course really do some good if most of the cast actually went out the door to CHARITY!
-if most of the CASH actually went out the door to charity!
They do offer grants, but their mission always seemed to me, to provide education on site.
We've had a couple of kids in our foundation, have an opportunity to go through the TW program in the past, and they both went through a 3 or 4 week program learning how to program, set up and more completely use a computer. They also were able take home the computer that they basically put together. This was when the TW program first started, but They were thrilled.
The Gates Foundation, is a giving foundation, providing staggering amounts of money to other projects and programs. The LA84 Foundation is the same, funded from the LA olympics, and still providing funds for youth sports programs. The TW Foundation is not a funding foundation, it provides the opportunities itself. Argue the salaries, argue pay, fine, but I hate to see things bashed because they don't do something they were not supposed to do
Finally, as fatgoalie points out the foundation seems to be about providing and funding educational programs, not just funding them. This would by efinition mean that most of the money stays internal to fund those programs, and not much would be donated to outside charities. I know that the foundation is providing all the of the money to staff and operate the two new learning centers in DC, this is internal money and hence wouldn't show up as a donation. Therefore, bashing the foundation because they do not donate a lot of money, seems to fundamentally miss the purpose of the foundation.
Could the foundation merely be a front for syphoning money off to TW's cronies? yes, of course it could. But none of the information supplied in this thread supports that information, and anecdotal evidence would suggest otherwise.
what's the deal on anal probing?
I would also like to know what % of their total income is used to help students build computers and to learn and what % of their income is used to pay for their 55 or so employees?
That is a simple request and one that must be known. As a potential donor I would need to know that fact and I would like to see my cash used for kids and not to pay TW friends salaries. How does the TW foundation compare with other charitable foundations in this regard?
donating, it is pretty easy to find out what % of monies is going to the kids,
and the numbers going to administration costs (where most {if any} "interesting" monies are spent in non profits).
I do not know the inner workings of the TW Foundation, but we have participated in programs run by
them, and have SOME knowledge of what the kids do there.
From what I've heard, and experienced, the "non-profit" called the PGA Tour has the money issues when it comes to waste/bureaucracy/BS, than the TW foundation.
Now I have no doubt that what is actually done for kids by the TW Foundation is helping them learn and develop.
That said, they would do more good if 90 cents out of every dollar donated went to the kids then if only 10 cents went to kids and 90 cents to administrative costs for salaries, limos and plane fare for golfers to show up at Sherwood. Were I to be a donator my money would go to charities that spend most of it on kids.
All I ask is what those numbers are for TW Foundation? Do you know the answer?
I'd be happy to share what we do!! :)))
I have participated in, and helped run events not stratosperally different than Sherwood, and and I think
we probably agree on more than disagree, but the numbers from sponsors are there because of the players. Would it be nice if players didn't make gazillions on the back of charity? Sure, but putting on this event raises more than it spends, and is a fundraiser for the charity, not payoff (in my opinion at least! haha)