The Brooklyn Nets & NY Liberty Foundation: More Transparent than the Tsais' Social Justice Fund
Some spending bolsters arena allies, some to national causes. Some goes to local Jewish groups. How could the (phantom) Tsai Foundation give $2M to the teams' foundation?
This is part of coverage of the philanthropy of Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, the billionaires who own most of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which includes the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and the Barclays Center operating company. My coverage has focused on the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation’s Social Justice Fund, established in 2020,1
Key points
Philanthropic spending should be seen as an arm of the overall business, especially since the halo helps distract from the tax-exempt arena site
Preceding the Social Justice Fund was a foundation relating to the team(s), which is ongoing, and one related to the arena, which is defunct
The teams’ foundation supports some causes outside New York, or nearby, that aren’t within the Social Justice Fund’s ambit
The foundation supports arena activities like Thanksgiving meals
The Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation has been funded, purportedly, by the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, which, confoundingly, reports zero funding itself
While researching the Social Justice Fund, I also explored other philanthropic enterprises: two foundations connected to the Barclays Center and its tenants (Brooklyn Nets, later joined by New York Liberty), whose owners have, over the years, distributed local and national charitable grants.
The Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation claims “our pillars” include “health & wellness,” “food security & homelessness,” and “equitable development.”
Its charitable spending, though, can seem strategic, aiming to win friends in the local community or to support Barclays Center events, notably the Essential Together COVID response, honoring essential workers during the pandemic with charitable contributions, and the Roots Fund Charity Auction.
While funding for such prominent endeavors was credited to the parent companies, their charitable arms were either ignored or only glancingly mentioned. In other words, as with the Social Justice Fund, the philanthropic enterprises are part of the larger company’s business interests.
Some of the contributions may be driven by the personal passions and ties of the foundations’ leaders, including national and regional causes favored by Clara Wu Tsai, but wouldn’t fit within the Social Justice Fund’s ambit.
For example, the teams’ foundation provides ongoing support for the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), part of the Smithsonian Institution and colloquially known as the Blacksonian.
Also, it’s given significantly to local Jewish causes, helping maintain friendly relations with a part of the local community that’s also not within the Social Justice Fund’s ambit.
Transparency—and a contradiction
Still, the most striking contrast between these foundations and the Social Justice Fund is simply transparency.
The Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation and the now-inactive foundation associated with the arena have reported their annual spending to the Internal Revenue Service, along with certain information about their donors, as required.
The Social Justice Fund’s parent, the La Jolla, CA-based Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, does not report such spending, as it files an annual shell return, in which the only expenditure is paying an accountant to complete it.
I first reported that in April, observing that the Social Justice Fund seems less a true nonprofit than, as one employee put it, “family office–led philanthropy.”
Curiously, records show that the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation—with a claimed address in Brooklyn, not La Jolla—apparently gave $1 million, twice, to the Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation.
We know that only because of the recipient’s reporting, but the donor should have reported it, as well.
Why didn’t it? I asked spokespersons for both the SJF and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment various questions:
Is there a separate Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation located in Brooklyn? If not, why was that address used?
Who or what entity actually provided the money?
If the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation is located in La Jolla, why did it not report any charitable spending in those years—or, for that matter, in any year?
Was this $1 million considered funding from the Social Justice Fund and credited toward its claimed $5 million annual total?
I didn’t get an answer.
A spokesman for the Social Justice Fund wrote, “As for your questions re: SJF and the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, we’re not going to comment further beyond what we’ve already shared.” (See previous coverage.)
My query to Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment went unanswered.
The Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation
The Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation, formerly known as the Brooklyn Nets Foundation and earlier as The Nets Foundation, has operated in some form since 2007.
Below, I’ll go through their annual reports since the Nets’ move to Brooklyn, starting with the most recent.
FY 2025
For the fiscal year ending June 2025, the Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation raised $297,466 and spent $589,850, including $442,876 in contributions and grants.
The grants included $200,000 for the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), which comports with Clara Wu Tsai’s priorities and might be considered “social justice.”
It is not local, however, and thus could not be attributed to the Social Justice Fund.
The foundation also gave $10,000 to the Roots Fund, which “empowers underrepresented communities within the wine and spirits industry,” to support their annual fundraising event, often held at the Barclays Center. It had previously given much more, as described below.2
The Roots Fund Charity Auction on October 28, 2024, was held at the arena’s Crown Club and was supported, according to the fund, by “BSE Global, parent company of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center, which announced a multi-year donation to The Roots Fund in 2023.”
Note that such phrasing doesn’t distinguish between BSE Global, now known as Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, and its charitable arm.3
The teams’ foundation gave $50,000 to the New York-based Jackie Robinson Foundation for four-year college scholarships and $10,000 to the Harvard Black Law Students Association for general support.
It also gave $50,000 to the New Jersey-based Cellus Foundation (which, perplexingly, has no IRS reports), for its Ball Stars Youth Program, a basketball camp for underserved youths, founded by former New Jersey Nets stars and friends Otis Birdsong and Micheal Ray Richardson. It’s also outside the Social Justice Fund’s catchment area.
Contributions also included $112,876 to Levy, the arena’s food vendor, for Thanksgiving meals, an annual charitable expenditure, and $10,000 to the New York-based Kaleidoscope Dreams Foundation, which partners with community-based organizations, for arts program development.
The only contributor to give more than $5,000 was the Brooklyn Nets, which contributed $5,200. Presumably, money was left over from previous years, including from—as described below—the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation.
FY 2024
For the fiscal year ending June 2024, the Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation raised $1,164,019 and spent $752,968, including $602,028 in contributions and grants.
Its largest donor, by far, was the “Joe [&] Clara Tsai Foundation,” which contributed $1 million. Its address was said to be 168 39th Street, 7th Floor, the Industry City offices of the arena company, the Nets, the Liberty, and associated Tsai businesses.
That address is perplexing. The Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation is based in La Jolla, not Brooklyn, and has never reported any contributions. It’s pretty much a phantom, though much philanthropic spending has been announced in its name.
That said, the Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation, as a standard (though misleading) practice, has since 2021 reported all its contributors as having the address of its own corporate office.
Could this $1 million be considered funding from the Social Justice Fund and credited toward its claimed $5 million annual total? Unclear.
Either way, the Social Justice Fund and the parent foundation seem to be alternate platforms for the Tsais’ spending, as I wrote.
Among the grants
The FY 2024 grants included $200,000 for the NMAAHC and $100,000 for Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, both of which comport with Clara Wu Tsai’s priorities. They aren’t local, however.
The contributions included $97,367 to Levy, the arena’s food vendor, for Thanksgiving meals.
Also, the foundation paid final installments of $11,865 toward 2021 pledges for the Essential Together pandemic program to the United Way, New York Cares, the Campaign Against Hunger, and the Coalition for the Homeless.
The foundation also gave $50,000 to the Cellus Foundation for its Ball Stars Youth Program. It contributed $100,000 to the Roots Fund.
It also gave $3,600 to Chabad of Park Slope and Chabad of Prospect Heights, local outposts of the Crown Heights-based Lubavitch Hasidic movement. (Donations to Jewish causes are often made in multiples of 18, as that’s the numerical value of the Hebrew word chai, or “life.”)
If the Social Justice Fund, founded in the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter protests in 2020, can’t give to Jewish causes, well, an alternate platform can, maintaining friendly relations with another part of the Brooklyn community.
FY 2023
In FY 2023, the Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation, on its Form 990, reported paying $1,065,355 in contributions, gifts, and grants.
It gave $150,000 to the Fund for Public Schools for after-school programs. The Fund for Public Schools was a partner on the Social Justice Fund’s Basquiat in Public Schools program.
It again gave $200,000 to the NMAAHC.
It funded some local entities that might not qualify for the Social Justice Fund: $5,000 to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Gala; $25,000 to Maimonides Medical Center; and $15,000 to the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
Then again, for recent galas held by the Prospect Park Alliance and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the list of donors includes the “Social Justice Fund Founded By Clara Wu Tsai,” as I wrote, so the distinction is fuzzy.
In FY 2023, the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty Foundation gave $90,655 for Thanksgiving meals, again to Levy. It gave $10,000 to the Food Education Fund. It gave $10,000 to Brooklyn United Music and Arts, which has also been supported by the Social Justice Fund.
Also, it gave $5,000 to the Book Fairies, which “sources and redistributes books to under-resourced communities on Long Island, NYC and internationally.”
It gave $25,000 to the Bedford-Stuyvesant-based A Little Piece of Light, which “seeks to empower and facilitate healing for women, girls, and gender-fluid individuals who are directly impacted by trauma from and involvement in the criminal justice system.” This could fall within the ambit of the Social Justice Fund.
Oddly, the foundation claimed to have given $50,000 to the Roots Fund for its “Ball Stars Youth Program.” That seems to have mixed up two different recipients.
The foundation gave $10,000 to both the National Mentoring Partnership and the Oakland Parks Foundation in honor of the late basketball star Bill Russell.
Nets connection
The Foundation supported charities honored at the Nets’ home games. It gave $5,000 to Players Philanthropy Fund, DBA (doing business as) Welcome to Chinatown, in honor of AAPI Heritage Night; $10,000 to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, in honor of Hoops for Troops Night; and $10,000 to Aspira of New York, in honor of Noche Latina Night.
The Brooklyn Nets were said to have contributed $35,000 to the foundation.
Note: though a $250,000 donation from the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Webull, the official jersey partner of the Nets and Liberty, was said (according to an Oct. 19, 2022 WeBull press release) to support a new technology hub in Crown Heights for “Digital Girl, Inc., a Brooklyn non-profit with a mission to empower inner city youth - especially young girls - to pursue careers in STEM,” the foundation did not report any donation.
Could most, if not all, of the money have come from WeBull?
Giving to Jewish causes
The foundation that year gave a significant amount to local Jewish causes. (Also, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment CEO Sam Zussman, a native of Israel, chairs a U.S. support group for wounded Israeli veterans and supports more domestic Jewish causes.)
It gave $100,000 to the Anti-Defamation League; $72,000 to the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, for "to eradicate hate and intolerance in surrounding New York City area”; and $18,000 to the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, which is chaired by original arena developer Bruce Ratner.
The foundation gave multiple gifts in multiples of 18.
It gave $3,600 to Chabad of Park Slope; $18,000 each to the Chabad outposts in Windsor Terrace, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights; $18,000 to the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue; $18,000 to the Park Slope Jewish Center; $18,000 to Congregation B’nai Jacob in Park Slope; $18,000 to the Jewish Community Relations Council; $36,000 to the Hebrew Education Society of Brooklyn; and $18,000 to the Institute for Jewish and Community Research.
FY 2022
For FY 2022, the Brooklyn Netes & New York Liberty Foundation Form 990 again reported $200,000 to the NMAAHC. The foundation also gave $25,000 to Maimonides Medical Center, $50,000 to the Cellus Foundation BallStars youth program, and $8,400 to the Global Ballers Foundation, started by former New Jersey Net Otis Birdsong’s son Sean.
It gave $75,000 to the Trust for Public Land for its NYC Community Schoolyard program. That surely relates to the renovated schoolyard at the Juan Morel Campos Secondary School in South Williamsburg, which was supported by the Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation, Kevin Durant Charity Foundation (KDCF), and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection.
That could’ve been tagged “social justice,” as with other SJF playground/basketball court renovations, but it wasn’t. The KDCF, named for the then-Nets superstar, aims to “enrich the lives of at-risk youth from low-income backgrounds through educational, athletic and social programs.”
The foundation gave $25,000 to the Chris Carrino Foundation, founded by the Brooklyn Nets radio announcer, which helps those affected by Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy. It gave $50,000 to the victims of a subway shooting in Sunset Park, not far from the Nets’ practice facility, and $15,000 to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC for victims of a fire in the Bronx.
It gave $25,000 to Hudson Link and $5,000 to A Little Piece of Light. It gave $15,000 to NYC & Company, the city’s tourism arm, for the Invictus Games. It gave $5,000 to support a foundation started by sportscaster Ernie Johnson to help children with special needs, among others.
It gave $5,000 to the Navy SEAL Foundation for their annual gala. (Then-CEO John Abbamondi was a former Navy flight officer.)
The foundation also gave $13,750 to each of the four nonprofits in Essential Together, though the donation to the Coalition for the Homeless was listed—oddly—as “for their annual gala.”
It gave $10,000 to the nonprofit Seeds of Peace, which organizes “dialogue and leadership development programs for youth and educators in communities in conflict across the globe.” It started with a camp involving Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, and American teenagers.
The foundation reported raising $15,825 from “fan experiences,” such as scoreboard messages and “honorary ball kid” requests at the arena.
FY 2021
On Dec. 22, 2020, during the midst of the pandemic, the Nets announced they would honor the city’s essential workers at their 2020-21 NBA Season Opener, in a program known as “Barclays Essential Together,” later shortened to “Essential Together.”
Along with Barclays and other donors, the Nets said they raised more than $2 million for COVID-19 Relief Efforts, to be donated to Coalition for the Homeless, The Campaign Against Hunger, Good Shepherd Services, New York Cares, and United Way’s COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund.
According to the FY 2021 Form 990 for the Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation, the single largest donor was the “Joe [&] Clara Tsai Foundation,” giving $1 million. Again, all the donors listed were claimed to have the recipient’s headquarters as their address.
The second largest donor, giving $500,000, was BSE Global (now Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment) Vice-Chairman Oliver Weisberg, who also heads Joe Tsai’s investment firm, Blue Pool Capital.
Notably, the press release claimed “Full list of donors below,” but omitted the Tsais and Weisberg:
Contributing donors to the COVID-19 Relief Efforts include Barclays; Ainslie Foundation; Coatue Foundation; Golub Capital; Joe Bae & KKR; Ken Griffin, Citadel; Owl Rock Capital Partners; Stephen Schwarzman, Jon Gray, and Michael Chae of Blackstone; WeWork; BDT & Company; Chris English, Rockfence Capital; Daniel S. Loeb & Third Point LLC; Dyal Capital; Larry Gagosian, Gagosian; Arctos Sports Partners; and VIA.
The foundation gave $200,000 to four organizations in the Essential Together campaign: United Way, New York Cares, Campaign Against Hunger, and Coalition for the Homeless.
(It did not give to Good Shepherd Services, the fifth organization in Essential Together, which instead got $1 million from Barclays Charitable Trust, related to the arena naming rights sponsor. By my math, the Nets and their foundation contributed $902,460 of the stated “more than $2 million raised.” If Barclays gave $1 million, that suggests a relatively small gap.)
The foundation also gave $20,000 to St. John’s Law School to support a program for high school students to learn sports law. Also, it gave $8,000 in total to support Brooklyn United and an unspecified food bank.
FY 2020
For FY 2020, a transition year to the Tsais’ ownership, the Form 990 for the Nets Foundation reported just $23,077 in grants, including $2,500 for Borough President Eric Adams’ One Brooklyn Gala; $1,800 to Chabad of Park Slope; $5,000 to the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative; and $5,000 to the Pearl 31 Inc Foundation, founded by the family of the late Brownsville basketball legend Dwayne “Pearl” Washington.
It also gave $8,152 to the Chris Long Foundation in Missouri for a Hoops2O event.
FY 2019
For FY 2019, the Nets Foundation’s Form 990 reported $21,000 in grants, including $8,500 to the Borough President’s One Brooklyn Fund; $5,000 to the New Heights Youth sports organization; and $7,500 in honor of then-Nets player Allen Crabbe to his alma mater, Frederick K.C. Price III Christian Schools in Los Angeles, which he was also supporting.
FY 2018
For FY 2018, the Nets Foundation’s Form 990 reported $43,400 in grants, including $10,000 to the Prospect Park Alliance and also to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The foundation gave $5,000 to Borough President Adams’ summer Wingate Concert Series and $5,000 to support the Read Ahead mentoring program.
It also gave $2,000 each to three individuals for scholarships, $5,000 to the organization Athlete Ally, and $2,000 to a Brooklyn organization called Beyond the Game. Oddly, it also gave $400 to its allied Brooklyn Events Center Foundation, which was connected to the arena, described below.
FY 2017
For some reason, the 2017 filing is not available.
FY 2016
For FY 2016, the Nets Foundation’s Form 990 cites $90,650 in grants.
That included $12,000 to the Utopia Network for youth basketball uniforms; $15,450 for uniforms at a Brooklyn Bridge Park youth basketball tournament; $5,000 for Bed-Stuy Against Hunger; $15,000 to sponsor a youth basketball tournament; $10,800 to the associated Brooklyn Events Center Foundation for its scoreboard messages program; and $5,000 to Groundswell, which works with teenagers, for a summer mural campaign.
FY 2015
For FY 2015, the Nets Foundation’s Form 990 reported contributions of $25,000 to the Brooklyn Academy of Music; $20,000 to the Brooklyn Nets for the NBA China Court dedication; $3,160 in auction proceeds to the new Brooklyn Events Center Foundation; $11,800 to a Build A Bike event; and $10,000 to City Harvest for Nets' employee volunteer projects.
The Foundation also gave $10,000 to the Daily News Charities for the families of two slain police officers, and another $5,930 to each of the families.
The contributions included $1,000 payments to 18 educators for classroom education incentives, as well as $30,000 to support the high school Cristo Rey Brooklyn's ten-student work-study program.
The total distributed was $161,749, so I’m omitting various smaller grants.
FY 2014
For FY 2014, the Nets Foundation’s Form 990 disclosed $119,350 in grants, including $10,000 to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum; $5,000 to the Brooklyn Public Library; and $2,500 to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
It gave $12,500 to sponsor the Municipal Art Society Gala, which was (controversially) honoring arena developer Bruce Ratner and his deputy, MaryAnne Gilmartin, with the Jacqueline Onassis Medal.
The Foundation gave $35,000 to the Bed-Stuy-based Children of Promise for a gym floor renovation; $25,000 to City Harvest; and $11,000 to Groundswell. It gave $2,500 to the social services organization Man Up for college tours.
Among the contributors were NJ Basketball, the parent of the Nets, which gave $43,601, and Barclays, which gave $17,000.
FY 2013
For FY 2013, including the Brooklyn Nets’ first season, the Nets Foundation’s Form 990 disclosed a more robust $348,500 in grants, as befits the team’s new presence. The emphasis was on established nonprofit organizations, which gained $145,000.
The foundation gave $75,000 to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (where Ratner once chaired the board); $20,000 to the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music; and $10,000 each to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Historical Society, BRIC Arts Media, City Parks Foundation, and the New York Transit Museum.
All told, that’s $145,000 to established local nonprofits.
It gave $5,000 to the Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger, the Brooklyn Youth Sports Club, and Families United’s Jammin Jumpers Annual Double Dutch Program. It gave $10,000 to Body Sculpt of New York for a children’s sports & fitness expo and the same sum to the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club.
It gave $40,000 to Borough President Marty Markowitz’s Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series and $45,000 to the Prospect Park Alliance. It gave $25,000 to BK Bubble Foundation, offering nutrition and fitness education programs.
It also gave $5,000 to Dean Kids, dba Rose Classic Hoops, which operates tournaments for female basketball players. It also gave $5,000 to the Back to Our Roots basketball tournament.
The largest contributor was NJ Basketball, giving $124,369.
Barclays Center Cares/Arena Foundation (defunct)
Let’s look at the curious entity known as “Barclays Center Cares,” which attributed a warmhearted emotional activity to a commercial business but was the platform for a foundation with multiple names, connected to the Barclays Center operating company, but which is no longer in operation.
Those names included the Brooklyn Events Center Foundation and the Onexim Foundation.
Through January 2026, the Community Notices regarding arena events sent to neighbors, such as the example below, were purportedly sent by Barclays Center Cares. Belatedly, starting in February 2026, the sender was identified as Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment.
The Barclays Center Cares name and platform had actually been defunct for a while.
Barclays Center Cares was the dba name for the Onexim Foundation, connected to former Brooklyn Nets and arena company owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who sold 49% of both in 2017 to Joe Tsai, who acquired the remainder in 2019.
Its 2020 and 2019 tax returns indicate little spending, not surprisingly.
The foundation’s anodyne mission, truncated, was “to provide access and/or exposure for youths and adults in the Brooklyn community to athletic, cultural and community events with the expressed goal of enhancing quality of life and affording greater opportunities for personal growth and development.”
In other words, what might be broadly termed “community relations.”
That also might describe some of the Social Justice Fund’s work, though the latter is more ambitious and more focused.
What did it do in 2018?
The 2018 tax return of the Onexim Foundation (dba Barclays Center Cares) indicates $324,800 in spending and $991,507 in public support over the previous five years.
Its gifts included $50,000 to each of the Trust for Public Land, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and Edible Schoolyard NYC; $25,000 to the girls’ sports organization PowerPlay; and $10,000 to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
It also counted $97,911 in event tickets, surely to Barclays Center events, as non-cash contributions, with the sum calculated as “fair market value.” In other words, apparently, a tax write-off.
The tax return noted that the Onexim Foundation had previously been known as the Brooklyn Events Center Foundation, associated with the arena and incorporated on July 17, 2013, during the arena’s first year of operation.
A fundraising gala, the foundation’s second, was held at The Liberty Warehouse in Red Hook.
The gala honored, according to the producers, “Brooklyn community icons including Stephen Espinoza, President, Sports & Event Programming Showtime Networks, Inc.; Ben Lovett, Co-founder & CEO of Communion Music and band member of Mumford & Sons; Blue Marble Ice Cream; and National Grid, an electricity, natural gas & clean energy delivery company.”
It took in $608,124 in revenue and had expenses of $152,619.
The program included performances by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and Dmitry Razumov, Chairman of the Board of Directors for both the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center.
Unrelated to the gala (I think): the Mastroianni Family Foundation, the charity of EB-5 middleman Nicholas Mastroianni II, who raised investor visa funds for Atlantic Yards, gave $10,000 to the Brooklyn Events Center Foundation in 2018, according to that family foundation’s Form 990.
What did it do before 2018?
The 2017 tax return was from Brooklyn Events Center Foundation, dba Barclays Center Cares. It did not indicate any grants but did cite $125,200 in program service costs and also $45,100 in tickets as a noncash contribution.
In October 2017, the arena held a gala to celebrate its five-year anniversary, with proceeds benefiting Barclays Center Cares.
Among those honored were agent/manager Scooter Braun (music); Brooklyn Nets player Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, New York Islanders player Anders Lee ), boxer Daniel Jacobs, boxer Heather Hardy, and Gleason’s Gym owner Bruce Silverglade (Athletics); Barclays Center food operator Levy Restaurants and Alan Rosen of Junior’s restaurants (culinary arts); and Brooklyn Botanic Garden President Scot Medbury (Sustainability).
The gala took in $507,527, but had expenses of $382,399.
Its 2016 tax return indicated just $19,817 in spending, including $10,000 for pediatric cancer research (via Connor’s Cure Foundation); $7,500 for financial literacy (via the High Water Woman Foundation); $700 to St. Francis College in Brooklyn, and $1,617 to Borough President Adams’ One Brooklyn Fund.
Unusually, the document listed contributors, including $26,450 from Brooklyn Events Center and $4,400 from the separate Nets Foundation.
Public emergence
As I wrote in January 2016, the Brooklyn Events Center Foundation emerged publicly with a “Brooklyn Open Skate,” heralding the New York Islanders, “with all proceeds benefiting the BEC Foundation.” It was the team’s first season in Brooklyn.
Its 2015 tax return listed just a $5,000 grant to St. Mary’s Healthcare in Bayside. Contributors included $9,920 from the Nets Foundation and $3,000 from the United Federation of Teachers.
Its 2014 tax return listed no activity.
An umbrella for the “franchises”
The Barclays Center Cares page on the arena website used to state, “Barclays Center Cares serves as the umbrella for all Barclays Center franchises. We believe that the community should have access to our programs.”
It added, without links, “Our foundations are 501c3 non profit.”
It raises the question: How much of a difference is there between a logo from Barclays Center Cares and one from the Social Justice Fund, which is not, apparently, a similarly situated nonprofit?
The arena website, as of Spring 2020, hailed the previous Barclays Center Cares Gala, supported by Barclays Center Cares and the Brooklyn Nets Foundation.
“Barclays Center Cares supports more than 300 schools, food pantries, homeless shelters, health facilities and non-profit organizations,” the page stated. That presumably included both funding streams.
The page also cited renovations to Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Park in nearby Gowanus:
The courts were funded and renovated by Barclays Center Cares and the Brooklyn Nets Foundation for $324,000. Originally named the Gowanus Houses Playground, in 2001 it was renamed for Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. (1981-1994), a local resident who was fatally shot by a New York City Housing Authority police officer in the nearby housing complex. Nicholas regularly practiced basketball in this park and made his school’s basketball team just days before his death.
That, too, might be considered social justice, just as the Social Justice Fund has renovated basketball courts at four playgrounds, spending some $2.1 million.
The hyperlink includes all articles tagged with the Social Justice Fund, including an initial one Feb. 4, 2026, headlined Has the Tsais’ Social Justice Fund Really Invested $25M “In Brooklyn” Since 2020?, and a cluster of articles after that.
The 2025 Roots Fund Charity Auction was also held at the Crown Club in October, with support from BSE, now known as Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. The IRS report for that fiscal year hasn’t been made public yet.
That said, the press release stated, confusingly, “BSE Global, the Brooklyn Nets, and the New York Liberty Foundation are dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals of all ages by focusing on health, wellness, and creating a more equitable society.”
Syntactically, that suggests the involvement of two companies, BSE Global and the Brooklyn Nets, plus the New York Liberty Foundation, though it’s actually one company, BSE Global, and the combined Brooklyn Nets & New York Liberty Foundation.