The Will and Jada Pinkett Smith Family Foundation, a charitable organization founded by the Hollywood power couple in 1996, is closing its doors due to a significant decline in donations and financial challenges. This decision comes amidst a broader context of the foundation’s struggles, including high bank fees, a decrease in staffing, and a shift in the couple’s philanthropic focus.
The foundation’s revenue saw a drastic drop from $1,760,000 in 2020 and $2,138,660 in 2021 to just $365,870 in 2022, marking an 83% year-over-year decrease. This decline in funding was partly attributed to the incident at the 2022 Oscars, where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, leading to a loss of high-profile contributors such as American Airlines and CAA. The foundation’s tax filings, reviewed by Variety via ProPublica, revealed these departures of major donors.
Key Points:
- The foundation’s closure is a result of a combination of factors, including a significant drop in donations following the Oscars incident and financial challenges such as bank overdrawn fees and a decline in staffing.
- Despite the closure, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith are committed to continuing their philanthropic efforts privately, focusing on making the same amount of contributions to charitable causes.
- The foundation’s mission to advocate for health, wellness, arts education, and sustainability has had a notable impact, with contributions to various organizations and initiatives.
- The incident at the Oscars and the subsequent fallout have had a profound impact on the foundation’s reputation and funding, leading to its eventual closure.
In addition to the financial strain, the foundation faced operational challenges. The organization’s Instagram account was last updated in late 2022, and its Facebook page was updated in June 2023. The website, however, showed an outdated copyright notice at the bottom, indicating a lack of recent updates. Furthermore, the foundation incurred significant expenses, including a $3,304 “bank overdrawn” fee, and experienced a decline in staffing, with no paid staff working at the organization as of 2022.
Despite these challenges, the foundation continued to support various organizations, including prominent ones like the American Film Institute and Big Brothers Big Sisters, as well as smaller organizations such as Rebecoming and World Rebirth Foundation. Rebecoming, dedicated to understanding and unlocking the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness, and World Rebirth Foundation, focused on helping those in need and teaching life skills, received donations from the foundation. However, attempts to contact Rebecoming were unsuccessful, and the World Rebirth Foundation’s official website was not live, with its last tax paperwork posted in 2021.
The foundation’s closure is not solely due to the financial and operational issues. According to Variety, the Smiths were planning to wind down the foundation before the Oscars incident, aiming to focus more on making private charitable donations. This shift in strategy was part of a broader move away from public philanthropy towards more private giving.
The Will and Jada Pinkett Smith Family Foundation’s closure is a result of a combination of factors, including a significant drop in donations, high financial expenses, operational challenges, and a strategic shift by the couple towards more private philanthropic efforts.
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