logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
    • Glossary
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Orange Bowl Insiders Treated to Island Getaway

Rick Cohen
January 12, 2011
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

January 5, 2011; Source: Inside Higher Ed | Earlier this week, we published a Newswire suggesting that the charitable character of some of the major college football bowl games seemed a bit iffy. Now Playoff PAC, represented pro bono by former IRS tax exempt commissioner Marc Owens, has filed an IRS complaint about the Orange Bowl Committee, charging that it used charitable dollars to send bowl execs and college athletic directors from the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big East, Conference USA, the Mountain West Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference to a four-day "complimentary getaway" in the Bahamas.

According to the PAC, the Bahamas trip was a "junket" lacking, one might say, in charitable purpose related to whatever the charitable purpose of the Orange Bowl is supposed to be. The trip included a cruise on the "Majesty of the Seas", parasailing, drinking, and manicures or pedicures for the attendees and their spouses.

Perhaps they thought they couldn’t have all that fun, especially on the charitable nickel, in Miami where the Orange Bowl is played? Maybe this was meant to be compensation for having to watch Stanford slaughter Virginia Tech on Jan. 3? The business agenda on the cruise ship, in the Bahamas, and at the spa was a little, how shall we say, sparse?

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

One might question whether Playoff PAC is really concerned about the Orange Bowl Committee's nonprofit credentials, given that it was really formed to replace the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) with a college football playoff.

Playoff PAC charged in September that the Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar Bowls "use(d) charitable funds to provide excess compensation to their executives . . . intervene in political campaigns and provide substantial benefit to organization insiders." It also charged the Fiesta Bowl with reimbursing employees who contributed to "friendly politicians." The BCS response? Basically, it's all about the playoffs.

Our feeling? As we noted in this space before, most people would be shocked to think that the bowls are charities. NPQ has absolutely no position to take on the BCS bowl system versus college football playoffs, but calling out entities operating as 501(c)(3)s that fall substantially short of functioning as public charities is a public service.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

summer_sidebar_subscribe
You might also like
What Can a COVID Outbreak at a Writing Conference Teach Us about Community Care?
Alison Stine
In Rejecting Ballot Measure, Ohioans Stood Up for Citizen Power
Isaiah Thompson
Remaking the Economy: Movement Economies
Steve Dubb, Rithika Ramamurthy, Davarian Baldwin, A-dae Romero Briones, Johanna Bozuwa and Maurice Mitchell
Incoherent Policy Threatens Overdose Prevention Sites
Isaiah Thompson
The Promise and Problems of Self-Driving Cars for the Disabled Community
Alison Stine
Thrown In the Deep End
Saphia Suarez

NPQ Webinars

Oct 5th and 6th, 2:00 PM ET

Mastering QuickBooks 2023

Advanced QuickBooks for Nonprofits for Online Users

Register Now
Oct 26th, 2:00 PM ET

Becoming A Great Manager

How to Conspire and Align with the People You Lead

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Summer 2023 issue

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Funders
  • Magazine Art

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.