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Rays Baseball Foundation Snapshot

Zach Dubin

— 2 min read
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Despite ranking second to last in both team revenue and franchise valuation, the Rays Baseball Foundation shows you don't need either to make a difference in your community. Its Impact+ score of 103.5 puts it at #13 of 29, right around league average.

Revenue of $2.7M ranks 22nd, and grants paid of $2.4M rank 13th. The foundation also spent about $400K more than it took in during 2024, a sign of commitment to keeping up its support for the community.

The foundation's focus is kids and the families around them, and several of its programs have run for years.

  • Reading with the Rays has run since 2006, with the Tampa Bay Times and public libraries in nine counties. More than 555,000 students have taken part.
  • The Rays Jersey Program has outfitted more than 105,000 tee-ball players and coaches since 2014, across 80+ leagues. The foundation says it has saved leagues more than $1M in equipment costs, and some leagues used the savings to fix scoreboards, dugouts and fencing.
  • The Big Game James Club brings foster children to home games in a suite, and the ballpark hosts a permanent Heart Gallery of children waiting to be adopted. More than 500 foster children have joined.
  • Team Smile has provided free dental care at Tropicana Field since 2018. In 2024, 162 children received care, and the lifetime value of care is nearly $298,000.
  • Scholarships of $205,000 went through nonprofit partners to students in five counties.

The grantmaking itself leans toward education and basic needs. The three largest recipients were United Way of Suncoast ($201K), Feeding America Tampa Bay ($150K) and the Pinellas Community Foundation ($100K). The foundation also gave $20K to each of the three Academy Prep centers, where Rays baseball operations staff taught more than 1,600 hours of STEM lessons.

Giving did step up in 2023 and 2024, but about $1M of each year went to hurricane relief, for Ian in 2023 and for Helene and Milton in 2024. Without it, community dollars still grew each year, from $1.26M in 2021 to $1.86M in 2024. That is worth watching with the new $2.3B stadium set to open in 2029. Roughly 46% of the cost is public money, mostly from Hillsborough County and Tampa, and I hope the foundation's giving keeps growing with it.

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