Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s charity, Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation, is shutting down after a loss of donors. According to Variety, the A-list spouses are closing their charity after a significant drop-off in donations. The foundation’s tax filings show major donors, such as CAA and American Airlines, bailed after Will infamously slapped Chris Rocks at the 2022 Oscar’s. The foundation allegedly went from bringing in over $2 million in 2021 to less than $400,000 in 2022.
Per the organization’s website, The Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation “has invested millions of dollars and invaluable resources to accelerate the growth of initiatives that focus on deepening individual and collective empowerment.” The foundation’s Instagram account hasn’t been updated since late 2022, the Facebook was last updated in June 2023, and the website has an updated 2024 copyright notice at the bottom. According to tax information, the foundation has some questionable transactions such as reportedly having $3,000 in bank overdraft fees, over $25,000 donated to seemingly defunct mental health organizations and no paid staffers as of 2022. According to Variety, Will and Jada were planning to close their charity even before the Oscar’s drama because they wanted to focus on making private charitable donations.
Taking a look at their 2022 charitable donations, Will And Jada Smith Family Foundation gave fairly large donations to prominent organizations such as $100,000 to the American Film Institute and $2,500 to Big Brothers Big Sisters. They also donated to significantly smaller organizations such as Rebecoming and World Rebirth Foundation. According to its website, Rebecoming is “dedicated to understanding and unlocking the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness through clinical research into the mechanism-of-action behind trauma release.”
Will’s career is seemingly unaffected after the Oscar’s drama in 2022. He currently has at least 4 active projects in pre-production, including the highly-anticipated “I Am Legend” sequel film, along with being reunited with Martin Lawrence for the fourth ‘Bad Boys’ film, which comes out this summer.