Osi Umenyiora’s Charity To Regroup After Mistakes Exposed

New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora and his brother Jim started the “Strike 4 a Cure” charity weekend in Atlanta two years ago as a way to raise money to combat HIV in the United States and Africa.

They hosted parties — most recently in mid-May — full of celebrities and athletes at Atlanta’s swanky nightspots. The charity’s flashy Web site stated the charity planned to raise $1 million this year for the brothers’ Make Plays for Africa Foundation.

But the “Strike 4 a Cure” weekend — centered on a celebrity bowling tournament — wasn’t the success it claimed. It was a financial flop, costing the brothers hundreds of thousands of dollars — $40,000 this year alone, Jim Umenyiora said.

And The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found misleading claims on the charity’s Web site and in its promotional material. The charity claimed the May weekend had raised lots of money and that “Strike 4 a Cure” had federal tax-exempt status. Both assertions are false.

Jim Umenyiora, the head of Make Plays for Africa, told the AJC: “I’m not disputing anything you’re saying. You’re right.”

The brothers have canceled any further charity weekends. Jim Umenyiora said he also was firing the public relations company and shutting down the charity Web site. From now on, Make Plays for Africa will not accept donations unless it gets federal tax-exempt status, he said.

Osi Umenyiora, 26, is one of the most successful athletes in sports. In 2005, he signed a $41 million, six-year contract with the New York Giants. The sons of Nigerian parents, Osi and Jim Umenyiora decided two years ago to set up Make Plays for Africa in Atlanta, their adopted home. They wanted it to become a self-sustaining charity that would sponsor HIV clinics in Nigeria. The brothers have an uncle who died of AIDS there.

The Umenyioras’ story is a cautionary tale for people who set up a charity without thinking through legal requirements, mapping out clear goals and getting a handle on costs. It’s also a warning to potential donors in the Internet age, when small or troubled charities can appear to be major operations flush with donors, support and staff.

Dropped the ball

The “Strike 4 a Cure” Web site, the public face of a organization that has no office, prominently displayed Osi Umenyiora’s football career and posted video of key plays. It also displayed photos of the parties. It had no video or photographs of anything to do with charity work. Jim Umenyiora blamed the people handling promotions, saying they presented to the public “stuff that isn’t true.”

Mark Green, the IRS’s spokesman in Atlanta, said the agency does not recommend donating money to organizations that do not have tax exemption. Green, who would not comment on any specific charity, said that if organizations “knowingly mislead” donors about having tax-exempt status, “they can be subject to Internal Revenue Service enforcement actions.”

Jim Umenyiora said he didn’t set out to mislead anyone. He said what little money was raised through donations was all passed on to tax-exempt organizations, with nothing taken out for administration.

The goal now, a seemingly chastened Jim Umenyiora said, is to refocus on good works, not good times.

“The parties did nothing. They didn’t help anybody,” said Umenyiora, a 31-year-old financial planner.

It started out promising, he said. He hired an attorney to draft bylaws. He registered Make Plays for Africa as a nonprofit organization with the state of Georgia in March 2006. But the organization didn’t file paperwork for a federal tax exemption with the IRS until April of this year, he said. The site urged donors to contact them about the group’s 501(c)3 status. “Strike 4 a Cure” claimed to have raised $70,000 that first year, but Jim Umenyiora said that’s not true.

“It was all out of my brother’s pocket,” he said. “It’s not bringing in any money.”

Osi Umenyiora could not be reached for this story. His agent did not return calls.

Plans to try again

David Brennen, a University of Georgia law professor who runs a blog on charities and tax law, wrote in an e-mail to the AJC that many people start charities but don’t do all the legal paperwork to make sure everything is in order before they start raising funds or holding events.

“I often encounter individuals and groups that take the first step of forming the organization properly, but often forgo the second formal step of seeking federal 501(c)(3) tax exemption,” Brennen wrote.

The foundation, at this point, is just Jim Umenyiora. The foundation’s headquarters is his house. It has no permanent staff.

You wouldn’t have known it from the charity’s Web site.

Instead of stressing charity work, the site touted brand marketing opportunities and posh events, some of which never actually took place. The charity offered “available sponsorship opportunities” and “access to A & B-List Celebrity Clientele” to corporate sponsors willing to pay as much $40,000.

None did. Any sponsors they found only gave away products or rent-free space for events.

Jim Umenyiora said the recent charity weekend raised about $4,000, but cost the Umenyioras about $40,000 to put on.

He said the brothers donated all money raised to the Georgia chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and to the National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities Inc., based in Atlanta.

Last week, after meeting with the AJC, Umenyiora said he fired the public relations person, Nicole Garner.

Garner told the AJC she was not fired, but simply finished her contract.

Umenyiora said he plans to launch a revamped Web site, MakePlaysforAfrica.org, in about two weeks.

He said the charity eventually is going to succeed.

“In three years, we will get there,” he said. “My brother and I want this to work.”

- Cameron McWhorter, AJC