Best Basketball and Sport Charity Organizations to Donate to

With the holiday season just around us, now is as good a time as ever to begin considering a charitable organization to give to.  However, with so many charitable organizations, GoFundMe’s and crowdfunding sites vying for your support, it can be difficult to narrow the search down.

That’s why, below, we are going to review the best basketball and sport charity organizations to donate to today.  These organizations, generally, have lower administrative and fundraising costs, meaning that the bulk of their giving’s are redistributed to the people in need.

Why Donate to a Basketball Organization?

While there are a plethora of non-profit, charitable organizations across a wide-swath of causes, giving back to a basketball or sporting organization can help encourage youth involvement in sports and healthy-living.  In fact, many studies have shown that for at-risk youth, joining an after-school sports program is one of the best ways to reduce crime, incarceration rates, and juvenile delinquency.

Furthermore, organized after-school activities and sports programs also make for better students.  As many of these after-school programs require students to both attend school and maintain a minimum grade-point-average, students are more likely to ensure their academic performance is up-to-par to partake in the after-school program.

Lastly, donating to a basketball non-profit or sport charitable organization is a great way to encourage youth activity and healthy habits.  With obesity rates in the United States hovering above 42%, encouraging youth activity and play is one of the best ways to stave off obesity and build a health-focused mindset.

How we Chose the Best Basketball Charities

Unfortunately, too many charitable organizations spend too much on administrative and fundraising efforts, earmarking less of their available funds for their charitable endeavors.  To combat this, we ran all the organizations we recommend below through Charity Navigator.

Charity Navigator rats over 160,000 charities worldwide to ensure that your contribution is making as great an impact as possible.  As featured on the New York Times, CNN, Forbes, and NPR, Charity Navigator is your one-stop-shop for researching the best charitable organizations to give to.

Good Sports

Good Sports is our top recommendation for the best basketball and sport charity organizations to donate to.  With a 98.23 charity score on Charity Navigator, Good Sports is committed to providing all kids with the benefits of sport and physical activity by providing them with new equipment, apparel, and footwear.

Good Sports states that their mission is to increase the total amount of youth participants in sports, enhance their experience, and create new opportunities for physical activities.  This is done by partnering both with global sporting brands and individual donations to provide underserved youth with much-needed apparel and equipment.

Started in 2003, Good Sports has donated over $65 million to youth programs, directly impacting and benefiting over 8.3 million young people.  A great charitable organization, you can donate to help their efforts here.

National Wheelchair Basketball Association

The National Wheelchair Basketball Association looks to provide qualified individuals with a physical disability the opportunity to play, learn, and compete in the game of basketball while in a wheelchair.  It is currently the longest standing disabled sports organization in the world.  And having been founded in 1949, remains one of the best  basketball charitable organizations to give back to.

The National Wheelchair Basketball Association is the organization that is responsible for growing and developing wheelchair basketball in the United States.  In addition, they are in charge of selecting and training both the Paralympic and Parapan Am Games teams.

Rated a 82.48 on Charity Navigator, the National Wheelchair Basketball Association is committed to transparency, providing much needed funding to disabled athletes, and training for the upcoming Paralympic games.  You can donate to the National Wheelchair Basketball Association here.

Adaptive Sports Foundation

The Adaptive Sports Foundation is another great sports and physical activity non-profit that aims to provide profound and life-changing experiences for children, youth, and adults with physical and cognitive disabilities and chronic illnesses through outdoor physical activity.

Started in 1984, the Adaptive Sports Foundation has been providing sports and recreation activities and opportunities to thousands of children and adults nationwide.  They focus on helping those with both cognitive and physical disabilities and are considered one of the premiere and top adaptive sports programs in the country.

Rated an 88.70 on Charity Navigator, this non-profit helps both adults and youth in adaptive sports and is one of the best programs for adaptive sports in the country.  You can donate to the cause here.

Women’s Sports Foundation

The Women’s Sports Foundation is an organization committed to being an ally, advocate, and catalyst for the leaders of tomorrow.  Per their website, they claim to enable girls and women to reach their fullest potential by advancing their lives through sports and physical activity.

The Women’s Sports Foundation’s mission is to, “enable all girls and women to reach their potential in sports and life.  [They] provide financial fuel to aspiring champion athletes.”  An organization committed to women’s betterment through sports and physical activity, they have a 93.85 rating on Charity Navigator.

Donate to the Women’s Sports Foundation here.

National Sports Center for the Disabled

The National Sports Center for the Disabled is one of our favorite non-profit and charitable organizations.  With an “every, body, able” motto, the organization looks for innovative and unique means to enable all athletes to reach their dreams and partake in physical activities.

And having started more than 50-years ago, they know a thing or two about running a non-profit.  The National Sports Center for the Disabled looks to focus on the “abled” portion of disabled and helps both kids, youth, and adults reach their fullest potential.

With an 83.13 rating on Charity Navigator, it is one of the noblest causes you can donate to.