You can never go wrong with sports and beer among friends. Throw in a charity and you get ZogSports. Robert Herzog started the organization soon after 9/11 to create community and raise money for charities through adult sports leagues. The NYC-based company organizes sports leagues in seven cities, including Washington, DC, and writes a check to charities selected by winning teams at the end of the season. Robert says since its launch in 2002, ZogSports has donated over $2M to over 2,000 charities ranging from the National Cancer Society to small local organizations. The donations to each of the charities range from $100 to $600.
Robert says it’s less about the money and more about getting the 80,000 people who play in the leagues annually talking about charitable work. The teams have to agree on the charity to get funding when they win. Robert, who narrowly missed being at work on the 96th floor of the North Tower on 9/11, says 15% of the ZogSports profits and 15% of the post-game happy hour bar tab go to teams' charities. The DC operation is expanding and just hired a second full-time employee to help organize leagues for about 8,000 yearly players.
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