While former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson has retired from football to seek a broadcasting career, his involvement in the Pittsburgh area has not ended.
Wilson’s Why Not You Foundation (WNYF) has donated funds and other resources to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania (BGCWPA) since he signed with the Steelers in March 2024, and the foundation plans to continue aiding youth in the Pittsburgh area for years to come.
Wilson founded the nonprofit in 2014, his third season in the NFL, while playing for the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson and his wife, Ciara, are WNYF board members.
“Why Not You Foundation is fortunate to have the founders that we do; both Russell and Ciara are so committed to community,” WNYF Executive Director Janelle Hahn said. “And I’ve often heard both of them say their community impact and how they can give back is what they want to be a core part of their legacy. … And I think our ability to help to save lives one child at a time is just going to continue to increase, and so much of that is a great thanks to both Russell and to Ciara.”
Chris Watts, president and CEO of BGCWPA, said when the Steelers signed Wilson, he talked with Hahn to “explore ways on how (Wilson) can engage locally in our mission and from there build a really meaningful partnership.”
WNYF partnered with BGCWPA to open the first Why Not You Center in Shadyside in December 2024, whose opening ceremony Wilson and Ciara attended.
Ciara was a 2021 inductee of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Alumni Hall of Fame, having grown up in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta system.
“Western Pennsylvania holds a special place in the hearts of everyone on the foundation, including Russell and Ciara. … It no longer depends necessarily on where we live or work, our founders or otherwise,” Hahn said. “We want to keep building those sustainable partnerships.”
Since then, WNYF has opened centers in Atlanta and Pasadena, Calif., with those areas’ Boys & Girls Clubs, and plans to open eight more this year, including one in Pittsburgh in partnership with the Salvation Army Western Pennsylvania Division in late June.
WNYF and the Pittsburgh Steelers each donated $45,000 to the Salvation Army in 2025, aiming to renovate the Family Caring Center to better help people and families who are homeless in the Pittsburgh area.
“We were fortunate to spend so much time in Pittsburgh and get to know the city and get to know different community partners. … What we really loved about this partnership with the Salvation Army was that the concept of a why not you attitude and reaching for your dreams and refreshing and setting your mindset isn’t something just for youth or for teens,” Hahn said.
Watts said the funding and other resources WNYF gave BGCWPA helped the organization run summer sports camps at various BGCWPA locations and upgrade the Shadyside clubhouse site, which serves kids from the East End of Pittsburgh. The funding also went toward scholarships for kids who could not otherwise afford to take part in BGCWPA programs.
One of those camps was BGCWPA’s third All Sports Camp, June 1–5, at Dick’s House of Sport, toward which WNYF donated money. The Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt and Cleveland Cavaliers had representatives at this year’s event. Wilson participated in the first camp in 2024 while he was in Pittsburgh.
“They’ve also provided unrestricted dollars to allow us to apply for our highest needs across the organization as well,” Watts said.
The foundation donated more than $6.78 million in 2025 across all its partnered organizations, including what Watts called a “significant contribution” to BGCWPA.
“(Wilson) didn’t have to give a donation. It would have been wonderful just to have him show up, and I think we’d have appreciated that,” Watts said. “But he insisted on providing financial support to enable us to deliver our mission more effectively … I was just incredibly impressed that Russ and Ciara had that approach. Despite leaving Pittsburgh, they truly cared about the place and wanted to see that work continue.”
To expand its activity internationally and further expand the Wilsons’ goals, WNYF donated $2 million in February to open a Why Not You Center in Mexico with the Los Cabos Children’s Foundation.
All of these charitable works with WNYF are just a part of Wilson’s philanthropy that the former quarterback wants to keep doing inside and outside Pittsburgh long after throwing his last pass.
“Russell’s commitment to community is just a part of who he is,” Hahn said. “Every Tuesday, he’s typically seen in a children’s hospital visiting families and kids who are undergoing treatment. … The truth is, his hospital commitments and his commitment to pediatric cancer research, and so much more, that’s what he wants to do in his personal time. That has nothing to do necessarily with the foundation or other things that he has to do. That’s very much a want.”