DikembeMutombo

Dikembe Mutombo Lists Trump Place Apartment

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping, Sports

Former Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo has made the most of his post-basketball career, raising money through his charitable foundation. He was praised by President Bush in his 2007 State of the Union address for helping to build the first new hospital in the Republic of Congo, Mutombo's homeland, in 40 years. The NY Times Big Deal column reports that the seven-foot-two-inch athlete has put his apartment at Trump Place in New York City up for sale for $4.5 million.

The unit is a three-bedroom condo on the 42nd floor. It is around 1,900 square feet and property records from Property Shark indicate that he bought the unit for $2.576 million in 2004. The apartment has river and skyline views from all three bedrooms. Building amenities include a health club, business center, valet service and party room. The apartment is listed by Heather E. Stein of Brown Harris Stevens.

Gallery: Dikembe Mutombo at Trump Place

Tags: celebrity real estate, Dikembe Mutombo, DikembeMutombo, new york real estate, sports stars home, sports stars real estate

How Much Good Do NBA Player Charities Really Do?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity, Sports

A couple of days ago I wrote about the troubles for Le Bron James's charity foundation. It made me wonder about other NBA player foundations. The Salt Lake Tribune has a fascinating piece on NBA charities. They did an analysis of 89 stand-alone NBA player charities and found that while all together they reported revenue of at least $31 million between 2005 and 2007, only about 44 cents of every dollar raised (around $14 million of that $31 million) went to needy causes. Furthermore, the average NBA player foundation put just 51 cents of each dollar it spent toward charitable programs which is below the 65 cents most philanthropic watchdog groups view as acceptable. Some charities are well-financed and well run but many suffer from poor planning and inflated administrative costs. Part of the problem is that players put family members and friends on their boards and some hold fundraising galas that make a big splash but not a lot of money. About a third of NBA player charities analyzed instead remain funded by the athletes' own wealth. Player charities also fold because of lack of support or because athletes move on.

There are NBA charities that work. Former Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo was praised by President Bush in his 2007 State of the Union address for helping to build the first new hospital in the Republic of Congo, Mutombo's homeland, in 40 years. Some of these charities have budgets of over $1 million. Many however end up wasting money and finding themselves unsure of how to take the leap into making their charities publicly supported enterprises. Without hiring people who have experience in fundraising and nonprofit work, charities often find themselves floundering. The NBA and the NBA Players Association have begun to make education on starting foundations part of the league's annual rookie orientation.

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Tags: charity, dikembe mutombo, DikembeMutombo, nba, philanthropy