by Liz Daube
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation is about to receive the 2006 Steve Patterson Sports Philanthropy Award for its innovative, youth-focused programs and grants. And, the staff at the foundation says there’s still plenty of work to do.
“Steve dedicated himself to harnessing the power of professional sports to improve the lives of others,” said Greg Johnson, executive director of the Sports Philanthropy Project. “He’d have been proud of the Jaguars Foundation for their work.”
Jaguars owners Wayne and Delores Weaver started organizing the Jaguars Foundation in 1994, a year before the football team began playing. Delores, the foundation’s chair and CEO, said the programs and grants have come a long way in the last decade or so. Between 1995 and 2005, the foundation awarded more than $9 million in cash grants to local nonprofits and gave away more than $430,000 annually in game tickets earned by disadvantaged youth.
“I’m very pleased with where the foundation finds itself. The work has really just begun,” said Weaver. “I think we’ve learned a lot and what I wish would happen is that measurement of the programs we support was easier to put our arms around.
“It’s very difficult to be able to say, ‘This was a success.’ But I think if we made a difference in one child’s life, we’ve had success.”
The foundation stands out from other sports team charities, according to Peter Racine, Jaguars Foundation executive director. He said the foundation is unique because it carefully researches where grants should go and it doesn’t do fundraisers.
Weaver said charity golf tournaments and other events that raise money compete with other fundraising efforts.
“When we fundraise, we’re just taking money from the very people we’re trying to help,” she said.
Racine said the Jaguars Foundation strategically gives out 25-30 grants a year to nonprofit efforts benefiting disadvantaged youth, which translates to “less grants, but more focus.”
“We investigate where we should be putting the team’s money,” he said. “The vision the Weavers had right from the beginning was that the team can have an impact on the community both on and off the field. The difference for the foundation is that they wanted to fund something that could make a change in the community. That’s the difference between philanthropy and charity.”
Racine explained how the foundation-operated programs, such as Straight Talk and Honor Rows, are carefully tailored to create the most impact.
Straight Talk is a program featured on local news television shows and Web sites. It aims to reduce teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually-transmitted disease. Honor Rows uses seats at Jaguars home games as incentives for young people to set and achieve goals. Participants have to create their own community service projects and meet goals they’ve set, such as losing weight or improving grades.
“Other people (at team foundations) have copied the Honor Rows program,” said Racine. “A lot of teams just give away seats, but this has a tremendous impact.”
Other teams have also followed the Jaguars Foundation’s lead in the anti-tobacco movement.
“We were part of an anti-youth tobacco initiative in ‘97. I don’t think that they had ever worked with a sports team before,” said Racine. He said the Jaguars made the stadium smoke-free and removed tobacco advertisements from gameday publications. “Subsequently, the whole league voted and removed tobacco advertisements from theirs.”
Weaver said the foundation doesn’t plan to expand its four-person staff, but she’s considering the addition of a physical activity program to combat youth obesity. When asked about where the foundation’s focus on children came from, Weaver said she has difficulty pinning it down.
“I really can’t say. I really didn’t know Jacksonville and I really didn’t understand the need that was here, but I guess I just thought that children are our future,” she said. “No child ever asked to be born. I just think they need all the help they can get sometimes to overcome the birth they had.”
The Jaguars Foundation will receive the Steve Patterson award during the Sept. 18 Monday Night Football pregame ceremony.