When Dan Snyder was young, he attended Washington Football (formerly Washington Redskins) games with this father and his brother, Gerald. He developed a passion for the team from an early age, and always knew he wanted to be a part of it in some way. Not only is he passionate about the team, but about the community and the people in it, as well.
Daniel Snyder grew up in the D.C. area, and purchased the Washington team in 1999. Under his direction, the team has consistently grown and improved. The community and business world have taken notice, and seen the team do great things. The more the community has put into the team through support and encouragement, the more Snyder and the team have focused on giving back. It has developed into a great relationship between the team and the fans.
Not only has the team performed well under Snyder’s guidance, but what the organization has accomplished off the field matters, too. Millions of dollars have been raised for charity and the team has maintained its place among the most valuable sports franchises in the world. At 55, Dan Snyder is one of the most prominent members of his community and a philanthropist who is focused on helping others realize their dreams and abilities.
In 2000, just one year after he purchased the team, Snyder created the Washington Charitable Foundation. This foundation is designed to bring corporate and community partners together with the team in order to have a positive impact on the youth in the greater D.C. area. Community outreach, education, and health and wellness issues are all big areas of focus for the foundation and for Snyder himself.
Since the creation of the foundation, it has given back over $29 million to organizations, individuals, and groups throughout the community. Millions of lives have also been impacted by what the foundation has been able to provide to youth and others throughout the area. Dan Snyder is dedicated to the local community, his team, and those around him as he works to help others and build a world-class football team at the same time.
As an example of what Snyder’s foundation has to offer, during the 2019 season there were more than 115 special events and in-school workshops hosted for children and their families. This included a children’s literacy effort that was offered through the Read Program for more than 38,000 children in fourth and fifth grades. A seventh-grade health and wellness program was also expanded and served over 12,000 children throughout four different school districts.
Dan Snyder is focused on a broad range of opportunities when it comes to helping the community, and working to make the lives of children better and healthier is a big part of that. To Snyder, the community is much more than just fans of his football team, and he knows that by working together it is possible to make the community greater and stronger than before. As he works on that and continues to improve and develop the Washington Football program, he gives back to the community in a variety of ways.
The Loads of Love progam has been expanded in the last year, as well, in order to provide laundry facilities to schools and non-profit organizations that serve homeless children or those who don’t have stable living environments. There’s no cost to the children or their families, who are now able to have clean clothing regardless of where they’re living or the amount of money they have. It can be difficult for children to attend school or participate in sports if they can’t clean their clothing regularly, and this helps to remove that barrier.
There are more than 80 schools and non-profits in the area who have received funds so they can open their own Loads of Love center and help families nearby. But the kind of philanthropy that Daniel Snyder focuses on isn’t limited to the area where he owns a football team, or even to the United States as a whole. After the damage done in the Caribbean by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Snyder mobilized efforts to make sure the region received plenty of emergency supplies.
The Bahamas and Haiti were the two main places where Snyder contributed needed supplies, even sending some of his football players to the area to deliver needed items by hand. Snyder is very committed to helping his fellow man, and to making sure disaster relief is a big part of his philanthropic efforts. He also helped out with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the tsunami that struck Indonesia and Thailand in 2004, and other natural and man-made disasters over the years.
He also provides support to the National Children’s Hospital, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and other organizations that are focused on the welfare of children throughout the world. In 2014, he and his wife were awarded the Charles B. Wang International Children’s Award for the work they have done and continue to do in helping keep children safe and protecting them from harm and exploitation.
Among Snyder’s most recent contributions include a $250,000 donation to a grassroots effort to raise awareness about social injustice in the Black community, and a $100,000 donation to a food bank to help families during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has also worked to help set up testing sites, to ensure that more people can be tested for the virus to help reduce the spread. Through donations to help others, restoration of landmarks in the community, and an overall philanthropic focus, Snyder has shown himself to be far more than just an owner of a football team.
He has founded communications companies, improved guest experiences for fans of the Washington Football team, and kept the team growing and improving each year. Training camps have been adjusted to work better for the players, and the goal is to keep players and fans happy with their relationship to one another. No matter what he reaches for Daniel Snyder is determined to grasp it and figure out how to make it better for everyone.
For more on Dan Snyder, visit https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/daniel-snyder.