Damar Hamlin, the 25-year-old Buffalo Bills defensive back who almost died of a cardiac arrest during a football game in January, intends to direct the more than $10 million raised after the accident to his own nonprofit, the Chasing M’s Foundation, the Associated Press reports.

To date, $9.1 million has been raised through Hamlin’s GoFundMe fundraising page and nearly $1 million through a fundraising portal on the nonprofit Giving Back Fund (GBF) platform. In January, the AP reported that the Hamlin family intended to have GBF serve as a fiscal sponsor for the funds given to GoFundMe, although the funds have not been transferred.

According to Sportico, recent reports of management and compliance issues at GBF “cast doubt on the tax-deductible status of donations to Hamlin’s GoFundMe campaign,” which prompted Hamlin to state, “My charity is not connected to the challenges being faced by the leadership of GBF....Donors will have full tax-exempt status.”

In April, the foundation (incorporated in Pennsylvania in 2020) applied for a retroactive tax-exempt status determination from the Internal Revenue Service and recently refiled its articles of incorporation, which now include as part of its mission support for “the aspirations of youth and community members through sports, education, [and to] promote health and safety in sports through CPR and AED training.”

While only 11 percent of filers are likely to claim a tax deduction on their contribution, Lisa Delpy Neirotti, the director of sport management programs at George Washington University School of Business, told the AP, “[T]he public needs to be educated a little bit more on checking whenever they give money and if they really think [what] they’re giving [is] tax deductible.” She added that GoFundMe also needs “to distinguish more clearly between fundraisers that are set up by tax-exempt organizations and those that are not.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Bryan Bennet)