This study examined factors that may influence highly compensated athletes to contribute to social change. The researchers analyzed data on the world's 100 highest-paid athletes. A logistic regression found that individual athletes were 6.6 times more likely and American athletes 3.5 times more likely to have established a charitable foundation compared to team athletes and non-Americans. Future research could explore charitable giving among female athletes and less highly paid athletes.

1. Examining the Factors Influencing the
Propensity of Highly Compensated
Athletes to Contribute to Social Change
By Jonathan A. Jensen, Kristy L. McCray &
Brian A. Turner, PhD (The Ohio State University)

2. Introduction
“You make a living by what you get; you make a life by
what you give.” –Winston Churchill
•Charitable giving and foundations growing
• 97,941 foundations in 2010
• 2008: $307.65 billion in charitable giving; 13% from
foundations ($41.21 billion)
• 2011: $46.9 billion from foundations

3. Introduction
• Growing trend of philanthropy and activism in sports
world
• Athletes have growing power in society
• “Professional athletes today, for better or for worse,
have substantial impact on society. These individuals
have agency, power and influence they did not have
decades ago” (Babiak et al., 2012, p. 172)

4. Purpose
• The purpose of this study was to explore the potential
factors that may influence the propensity of highly
compensated athletes to contribute to social change.

5. Literature Review
• Demographics have been explored in connection with
general charitable giving and philanthropy
• Growing academic interest in athlete social
responsibility (charitable giving, community outreach,
cause-related marketing, etc.)

6. Literature Review
• Babiak, et al. (2012) explored professional athletes and
factors influencing their charitable giving
• Identified athletes in 4 major North American
professional leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL)
• 36 interviews, including 10 athletes, foundation
directors, league/team executives, sport agent
• Findings indicate that antecedents to foundation
creation include attitudes of altruism and self-
interest, perceived behavior control, subjective
norms, and moral obligations

7. Method
• The dataset utilized for the study was Forbes’ list of
the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes (Badenhausen,
2012)
• Utilized binary logistic regression featuring a
dichotomous variable indicating whether the athlete
has established a non-profit foundation as the
dependent variable
• Factors investigated include the athlete’s earnings,
whether the athlete plays an individual or team
sport, nationality and age

8. Descriptives
• Top Americans on list were Tiger Woods ($114m),
LeBron James ($93.0m), Phil Mickelson ($90.8m),
Floyd Mayweather ($85.0m) & Kobe Bryant ($84.3m)
• Top international athletes were Roger Federer
($97.7m), David Beckham ($83.0m), Manny Pacquiao
($68m) & Cristiano Ronaldo ($64.5m)
Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
SPORT 100 0 1 .22 .416
NATLTY 100 0 1 .65 .479
EARN (MIL) 100 16.7 114.4 32.864 19.6762
AGE 100 23 44 31.13 4.733
Valid N (listwise) 100

9. Examination of Assumptions
Collinearity Statistics
Tolerance VIF
EARN .843 1.186
AGE .908 1.101
NATLTY .860 1.162
SPORT .706 1.416
Correlations
ENDORSE CHARITY SALARY SPORT NATLTY AGE
EARN -.420 .012 1.000 -.052 .270 -.027
SPORT .397 .238 -.052 1.000 -.369 .283
Pearson Correlation
NATLTY -.242 .121 .270 -.369 1.000 -.051
AGE .207 .132 -.027 .283 -.051 1.000

10. Results
• Good model fit was evidenced by non-significant
results on the Hosmer-Lemeshow test (p = .371)
• Whether a highly-compensated athlete plays an
individual or team sport (p = .012) and his or her
nationality (p = .018) were found to be significant
predictors of his or her propensity to establish a
charitable foundation
• Individual athletes were 6.6 times more likely and
Americans 3.5 times more likely to have established
a charitable foundation.

11. Results
Hosmer and Lemeshow Test
Step Chi-square df Sig.
1 8.674 8 .371
Variables in the Equation
B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp(B) 95% C.I.for EXP(B)
Lower Upper
EARN .018 .016 1.267 1 .260 1.018 .987 1.050
SPORT 1.890 .757 6.241 1 .012 6.621 1.503 29.171
Step 1 a
NATLTY 1.252 .530 5.571 1 .018 3.498 1.237 9.893
Constant -1.068 .688 2.409 1 .121 .344
a. Variable(s) entered on step 1: EARN, SPORT, NATLTY.

12. Discussion
• Interestingly, earnings and age were not found to be
significant predictors
• These results contrast with the findings of Babiak et
al. (2012)
• Not surprising that individual athletes were much
more likely to establish a non-profit foundation, but
interesting that American athletes had a much
higher propensity to establish a non-profit
foundation

13. Limitations
• Results only generalizable to highly compensated
athletes (M = $32.86 million in earnings)
• Athlete’s propensity to contribute to social change
operationalized based on whether they have
established a foundation or not
• Some athletes are very active without having
their own foundation
• Some foundations do not contribute to social
change (i.e. Alex Rodriguez)

14. Future Research
• Female athletes and foundation creation and/or
charitable giving
• Examination of other types of charitable giving
• Further examination of individual athletes
• Study of less highly paid athletes
• Connection between player’s career and foundation
creation (age, established career, “brand”)
• Sustainability of foundations established by athletes