ORLANDO, Fla. – This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray shares part one of his interview with Josh “JP” Powell, an NBA champion with a spirit of giving back.
Powell said he played professional basketball for 20 years, becoming a two-time champion with the L.A. Lakers — in the 2009 and 2010 NBA Finals, respectively — and a winner of the 2013 EuroLeague with Olympiacos Piraues.
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“The first maybe eight to nine years of being a pro, doing a lot of things just out of my pocket, you know, showing up, going to whatever neighborhoods, going to whatever communities, and just serving,” he said. “When I got with the Lakers, my advisor was like, ‘Man, we got to switch things up,’ and this was back in 2009, ‘10, so he was like, ‘We got to switch things up, become more official, you know what I’m saying, and do it the right way.’ And I’m like, ‘What’s the right way?’ So, learning about 501(c)(3), get you a board, learning all of these different things, putting myself in a different situation.”
A 501(c)(3) organization is what’s commonly referred to as a charitable organization, a nonprofit and so on.
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In 2009, Powell founded his own nonprofit, the 21 Reasons To Give foundation, but he did it his own way.
Instead of focusing on a single mission like the typical nonprofit, Powell sought to address many different needs of youth.
“A lot of times, you get a foundation, you got to have one focus, you know what I’m saying? Like, they want your mission statement, everything to be clean, all of that. So for me, my heart is not set up that way,” Powell said. “There was a lot of back and forth and a lot of fighting and everything else, and I was able to come up with 21 Reasons to Give, with 21 different principles, meaning 21 different ways that we serve the community, which is right up my alley. So, being able to do camps, clinics, speaking engagements, panel discussions, balling events, back to school, you know, taking care of families, doing this, doing that, like whatever; there’s no limit to what we can do and how we can do it.”
Hear Powell’s advice for starting your own 501(c)(3) organization in Season 4, Episode 6 of “Black Men Sundays.”
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