Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin created international headlines last season when he collapsed on the field after a routine tackle against the Cincinnati Benglas on Monday Night Football.
Miraculously, Hamlin made a full recovery and is expected to return to the gridiron this fall with the Bills.
In the wake of his newfound celebrity, Hamlin partnered with the Giving Fund, a celebrity charity organization, to help raise funds. However, the charity is facing accusations of internal strife largely centered around CEO and founder Marc Pollick.
The partnership started after Hamlin’s expired GoFundMe, “Chasing M’s” toy drive, found itself with a swollen account of over $9 million.
The Giving Fund has a perfect score on the Charity Navigator and has worked with athletes like Yao Ming, Ben Roethlisberger, and Justin Timberlake—just to name a few.
However, according to Sportico, all is not as it seems at the charity.
“A rare peek behind its glittery curtain reveals an organization in strife and falling short of its sterling reputation,” wrote Daniel Libit of Sportico. “Recently, this has included a falling out between GBF and its longtime outside counsel, the resignation of multiple board members and a whistleblower complaint by a current employee about GBF founder and CEO Marc Pollick—the primary source of discontent.”
While Pollick denied the accusations to Sportico, interviews with past and present employees paint a different picture.
“But that is not the full story that emerges from interviews with dozens of sources—including clients, donors, contractors, board members and 24 former GBF employees—as well as a review of hundreds of pages of internal documents. Collectively, they portray an organization struggling to carry out basic oversight and accounting functions, and steeped in fear of its leader,” wrote Libit.
A spokesman for Hamlin repeatedly declined to answer questions about his client’s relationship with the Giving Fund.
[Sportico]
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