Watch the ESPN award announcement made on SportsCenter last month.

The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation was honored to be named the recipient of ESPN’s inaugural Sports Philanthropist of the Year honor as part of its 2020 Sports Humanitarian Awards. We’re proud to share and celebrate this recognition with our amazing Project Play Western New York and Project Play Southeast Michigan partners, and incredible grantees that are working each and every day to provide equitable access and a better youth sport experience for all children. 

We are excited to announce that as part of this special recognition ESPN Citizenship is directing a $100,000 charitable donation in our honor. We have requested their donation be split equally between our two regions, to support COVID-safe play initiatives being led by our Project Play partners. This includes a mini-grant program in Western New York and the Project Play Kit project in Southeast Michigan providing sports equipment, games and activity ideas for home play. More details will be shared in the coming weeks. 

And be sure to check out this great recap by Tom Farrey, executive director of Aspen’s Sports & Society Program, reflecting on the #DontRetireKid campaign we helped to launch together nearly a year ago with ESPN and our Project Play 2020 partners.