Raising Millions for Charity, And Even More for Golfers

The Tiger Woods Foundation has grown steadily in stature and assets, IRS records show. Its revenue has jumped from $2.7 million in 1998 to $11 million in 2005. Its net worth totals $37 million.

In 2005, Woods's foundation took in $5.6 million in direct gifts from the public. McLaughlin would not say how much of that amount came from Woods, whose income, not including investments, has been estimated at more than $100 million a year.

"All I would say is, Tiger Woods's contribution, in both time and money, far exceeds anything that we've ever received," McLaughlin said.

The traditional way to rate the efficiency of a charity is by gauging the percentage of its revenue spent on administration and fundraising as opposed to the amount spent on program activities -- the charitable purpose that qualifies an organization for tax-exempt status.

Charity Navigator gives the Tiger Woods Foundation four stars -- its highest rating. One reason is that the foundation in 2005 reported spending $1 million, a relatively low percentage of revenue, on management and fundraising expenses. A factor keeping those numbers low, but not considered in the rating, is the foundation's receipt of millions of dollars raised by its sister nonprofit, the Charity Event Corp., which reports its expenses separately.

The Charity Event Corp. is the least known of Woods's charities but brings in the most money. The organization's fundraisers include the Target World Challenge golf tournament at Sherwood Country Club north of Los Angeles and Tiger Jam concerts in Las Vegas.

From 2004 through 2005, Charity Event Corp. raised $29 million and gave $6.7 million in grants and contributions to Woods's foundation and other charities, IRS records show. Much of the remainder went toward expenses, including golf prizes totaling more than $10.25 million. As in the case of many tournaments, officials at the charity said, the PGA Tour subsidizes part of the purse in exchange for television rights.

For golf tournaments, the largest slice of revenue comes from corporations such as AT&T and Target, which pay large sums to have their names associated with the events. Sponsors often cover more than half the cost of a tournament. Other revenue and money to cover expenses come from advertising, ticket sales and -- indirectly, through the PGA Tour -- fees that television outlets pay for the right to air the events.

Woods's Target World Challenge is underwritten by Target stores, Countrywide Financial and the Williams energy company. Financial statements show that the tournament in 2005 featured a purse of $5.5 million and generated more than $13 million in revenue. Proceeds from the tournaments are not taxed as they would be if the events were operated by a for-profit company.

It is impossible for an outsider to determine precisely how much of the $13 million in revenue went to Woods's other charities. On tax returns, money from the tournament is combined with that from the corporation's other fundraisers.

An official news release announced that the 2005 tournament had raised "more than $1 million" for charity. In an interview, McLaughlin said the actual amount was more than $2.5 million, which works out to roughly 19 cents of each dollar collected. McLaughlin and the foundation's chief financial officer, Bob Anderson, later said the $2.5 million figure also was too low, and revised it to $3.2 million.

Anderson said that using those figures to compare expenses with donations was misleading, and offered alternatives. One involved an accounting method not used on the organization's tax return, which allows Anderson to reduce the revenue total by removing payments related to television fees. That adjustment would alter the percentage given to charity in recent years to between 31 percent and 42 percent.