Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Charity Challenge for the third time on January 7th, 2026, earning $35,000 for him to distribute for a charitable cause. However, the funds will not go to Kelce’s own nonprofit, according to reporting by Jason Wolf of The Arizona Republic. Instead, the donation is being directed to Operation Breakthrough, an established Kansas City–based organization that Kelce has supported for years.
The shift comes amid increased scrutiny of Kelce’s charity, the Eighty-Seven and Running Foundation, and highlights broader concerns about governance, transparency, and efficiency in athlete-founded nonprofits.
In previous years, when Kelce won the social-media-driven charity challenge in 2020 and 2024, the prize money went to his own foundation. This year’s decision to direct the funds elsewhere marks a clear departure from that pattern. Kelce’s fiancée, Taylor Swift, also recently donated $250,000 to Operation Breakthrough, underscoring the organization’s prominence as a trusted local nonprofit.
“As for Kelce’s decision to donate his contest winnings to an established charity, in the short term this was the right call,” said CharityWatch CEO and executive director Laurie Styron in her interview with The Arizona Republic. “The people operating the foundation need time to get their accounting, governance, and legal house in order. It was the responsible move under the circumstances.”
Kelce founded the Eighty-Seven and Running Foundation in 2015, and it has partnered with Operation Breakthrough’s Ignition Lab, a workforce development program for teens, for years. But a recent review of federal tax filings by The Arizona Republic raised concerns about how the foundation is structured and how its funds have been reported.
According to those filings, the foundation reported spending about 41 cents of every dollar on charitable activities over the past three years, while paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to A&A Management Group, a firm co-founded by Kelce’s longtime business managers, brothers Aaron and André Eanes. The foundation reportedly has only two board members and lacks officers such as a president, secretary, or treasurer, which does not adhere to commonly accepted governance norms for public charities.
“It appears to function more as an extension of the management company versus as an independent public charity,” Styron said after reviewing the filings. “That’s not how charities work. It’s wrong.”
Aaron Eanes, who serves as the foundation’s executive director, told The Arizona Republic that the organization incorrectly categorized expenses on its IRS Forms 990 for nearly a decade. He said operational costs tied to charitable work were mistakenly reported as management expenses and that the foundation is now correcting its filings.
According to Eanes, management fees declined significantly in 2024 and dropped to zero in 2025, and the foundation plans to expand its board and improve its reporting processes. He stated that the organization is “dedicated to ensuring this foundation operates at the highest standards,” according to The Arizona Republic.
The issues raised in this case are not unique to Kelce’s foundation. Journalist Jason Wolf has found that many charities tied to professional athletes struggle with governance and spend well under half of each donated dollar on actual charitable programs.
At CharityWatch, a nonprofit is considered highly efficient when it spends at least 75 cents of every dollar on charitable activities. Organizations that spend less than 50 cents per dollar on charity typically receive a D or F rating.
The NFL changed its rules in 2025 to require that charities designated by Walter Payton award nominees comply with state and federal nonprofit laws, following investigative reporting into widespread mismanagement. Kelce’s decision to direct funds to an established nonprofit this year reflects a growing recognition that good intentions and public visibility are not substitutes for strong governance.
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