Russell Wilson's charity only spent 24.3 cents of every dollar on charitable activities

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Twenty-three of the past 26 NFL Man of the Year award winners have founded a nonprofit organization since the accolade was named in honor of Payton, the 1977 recipient, shortly after his death in 1999.

A six-month investigation by The USA TODAY Network into nonprofits founded by Payton award winners found that Wilson’s organization reported it spent almost $600,000 — or just 24.3 cents of every dollar — on charitable activities in 2020 and 2021 combined and nearly twice as much, $1.1 million, on salaries and employee benefits in that span, according to federal tax records.

This includes more than $200,000 a year for an executive who also worked for Ciara and Russell Wilson’s family office, the nonprofit confirmed, which raises questions about excess benefit transactions, private inurement and the organization’s “free-for-all” governance structure, nonprofit experts said.

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