Daniel Snyder is an entrepreneur best known as the owner of the Washington Football Team, formerly known as the Washington Redskins. He grew up in the D.C. area, where he attended many of the team’s games with his father. Snyder’s love for football continued into adulthood, and he purchased the home team in 1999. Under his leadership, the Washington Football Team has risen to greater prominence within its community and the business world in general. Much of this reputation is due to Snyder’s efforts in raising money for a variety of charitable causes.
Support for Children
Daniel Snyder provides significant support for children’s organizations such as Children’s National Hospital (CNH) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). He is on the board of directors for CNH and campaigned for the construction of the Snyder Family Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center. Snyder also funded the construction of NCMEC’s Daniel M. Snyder and Family Communication Center, which handles hundreds of calls every day about missing children. As a result of these efforts, Snyder and his wife Tanya received the Charles B. Wang International Children’s Award at the 2014 NCMEC’s annual Hope Awards Dinner.
The Beacon House also honored Snyder in 2010 at the dedication of the Edgewood Terrace community football field in Washington, D.C. This neighborhood-based organization supports at-risk youth and families in Edgewood Terrace. Snyder also received the Distinguished Leader Award from Youth For Tomorrow (YFT) for his support of that organization’s facilities in Bristow, Virginia, which include school and a counseling center. YFT also cares for over 900 homeless and at-risk children in Northern Virginia and D. C.
Hall of Fame Washington Football Coach Joe Gibbs presented Snyder with the award at YFT’s 2010 annual Burgundy and Gold Banquet. Gibbs, who is YFT’s Founder and Chairman, said, “Dan Snyder began his support of the kids at Youth For Tomorrow long before I ever considered returning to coach the team in 2004.”
Washington Charitable Foundation
One of Dan Snyder’s first actions after acquiring The Washington Football team was to establish the Washington Charitable Foundation (WCF) in 2000. The primary purpose of this organization is to support the development of youth in the greater Washington, D.C area through partnerships with corporate community leaders. The WCF focuses on several areas of youth development, including education, health and wellness, and community outreach. It has provided $29 million in support since its inception, benefiting millions of lives.
The WCF hosted over 115 in-school workshops and other events for students and their families during the 2019 NFL season. These activities included the Read Program, which was a literacy program for over 38,000 fourth and fifth graders. The WCF also expanded the health and wellness programs in four local school districts, which benefited over 12,000 seventh graders.
In 2020, the WCF expanded its Loads of Love program, which installs laundry facilities in schools and other non-profit organizations. These facilities provide free laundry services for children who are homeless or have unstable homes, which helps to remove one of the many barriers these children have for attending and participating in sports and other programs. As of 2020, Loads of Love has provided over 80 organizations in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area with the funding to open their own laundry center.
Disaster Relief
Daniel Snyder has provided relief efforts for various natural disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He worked with the Maryland National Guard to create a COVID-19 testing facility at FedExField in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Snyder also donated $100,000 to the Capital Area Food Bank during this period to benefit underprivileged families.
He has made additional philanthropic efforts outside the U.S. Snyder delivered significant aid to victims of the 2004 tsunami that destroyed coastlines in Indonesia and Thailand. He also did the same for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
He moved quickly to deliver emergency supplies to the Caribbean after Hurricane Matthew struck that region in the fall of 2016, devastating countries like the Bahamas and Haiti. These efforts began with an air delivery the Bahamas, followed by hand-delivered medical supplies to Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port Au Prince, Haiti. Snyder selected two Washington players of Haitian descent to deliver these supplies, which came directly from the team’s training staff. When asked about his decision to enlist his players in delivering aid, Snyder responded, “What happened in Haiti was obvious. They were in need.”
Obie Wilchcombe, Bahamas Minister of Tourism, thanked Snyder for his efforts, saying, “This organization led by example mobilizing immediately to bring relief to our people who are in need.” He added that he hoped other organizations would follow the example that The Washington Football Team had set.
Racial Justice
Many of Dan Snyder’s charitable efforts have supported racial justice. George Floyd’s death in May 2020 prompted many calls to action to support the Black community. Snyder responded with a $250,000 donation to fund a grassroots effort to help raise awareness of social injustice in the DMV.
He also led the efforts that resulted in a $35,000-donation by Washington Football to restore the Ashburn Colored School in Loudoun County, Virginia, which was vandalized in 2016. This historic site was a single-room schoolhouse in operation from 1892 to 1957 and served Black students from elementary school to high school. The total donations from this fundraising campaign exceeded its target of $100,000 as a result of Washington Football’s donation.
In addition to his charitable efforts, the Washington Football Team has remained one of the world’s most valuable sports franchises under Daniel Snyder’s leadership. He has also launched a retail business to sell merchandise for his team, which has become highly successful. Furthermore, Snyder is a prominent leader in NFL affairs due to his marketing and media experience, which has resulted in his appointment to various NFL committees such as the Business Ventures Committee, Digital Media Committee, and Media Committee. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
