Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady Donated Just Over 50K For 12 Years to Get IRS Tax Exempt Status, Bündchen Separated From Brady With a $400M Fortune 4 Years Later
Fans worldwide were shaken by Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen’s divorce late last month. Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady’s charity hangs in the balance after the player and top Brazilian model finalized their divorce and divided an estimated $770 million in assets. However, it casts uncertainty over the future of a charity they founded together.
In addition to her professional activities, Gisele Bündchen has a non-profit organization that works for the public’s welfare. Despite this, shocking numbers reveal that the organization has donated prudently to other organizations since its inception. Following their split, Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady gained prominence and led their way as they wanted.
Less Than .1% Of Tom Brady And Gisele Bündchen’s Worth Went To Charity
Since its establishment in 2007, however, the Luz Foundation, a Nassau County-based non-profit organization, has only awarded modest donations to other organizations, per the public documents.
Waterkeeper Nicoya Peninsula, an environmental group in Costa Rica where the couple owned a beachfront home, received $300 in 2018. According to tax filings, it donated $900 to the World Wildlife Fund and $1,000 to the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which helps people with disabilities.
The Luz Foundation has donated most of its money to yoga and meditation groups. In 2017, the group donated $25,000 to the David Lynch Foundation, a New York-based organization promoting meditation and yoga in schools. The Waltham, Mass-based group You Go Girl Yoga also received $25,000 in the same year.
During her tenure as a Rainforest Alliance director from 2014 to 2015, Gisele Bündchen significantly contributed to environmental causes in her native Brazil. During those years, the Luz Foundation donated $48,000 to the environmental charity in 2014 and $25,000 in 2015.
Luz Foundation donated $80,000 from its $350,000 budget in 2019 to Pointing Out the Great Way Foundation, a Massachusetts-based charity that promotes Indo-Tibetan meditation. This was the last year for which filings were made available.
Based on the couple’s combined net worth, the Luz Foundation distributed .00008 percent of their combined net worth, a total of $640,402, to various groups between 2007 and 2019.
The Luz Foundation’s Future Will Be Uncertain Amid Tom Brady And Gisele Bündchen’s Divorce
In 2007, Gisele Bündchen founded the Luz Foundation to support and give grants to young females. Three years later, IRS tax-exempt status was granted to the Great Neck-based organization.
Bündchen said in a 2015 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald,
“My life is devoted to this. I know from the outside that people think, ‘This girl just poses for pictures.’ But in my head, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, if I take this job, then I can have more money to put into this [project].’ So that’s what I’m doing because that’s [why] God gave me to do what I can do, right?”
Bündchen separated from Tom Brady late last month with a $400M fortune and reportedly decided to co-parent their kids.
Bündchen’s ex-husband Brady and Peter Mattoon are among the board members of the Luz Foundation. Mattoon, a financier, helps Brady with his investments and entrepreneurial endeavors. Mattoon purchased the couple’s $9.2 million Boston condo in 2021.
Additionally, Bündchen and Brady made headlines when they donated 750,000 meals to Feeding Tampa Bay during the pandemic. The legendary quarterback signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the same period.
Sam Bankman-Fried founded FTX, which is missing an estimated $1 billion in client funds, and hired Bündchen as its environmental and social initiatives director. In April, Bündchen announced Bankman-Fried’s promise to donate $1 billion to charity over the next year.
The collapse of the crypto business, which was reputed to be worth more than $32 billion, has led to investors suing Bündchen, her former husband, and other celebrities who endorse FTX.
Brady also runs his charity, the TB12 Foundation, which gives athletes access to “innovative health and wellness services” in addition to the Luz Foundation. Due to the couple’s divorce, the future of their non-profit organizations appears uncertain.
Source: New York Post
