Orlando Magic’s community giving tops $2 million this season

By AI, Created 10:31 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – The Orlando Magic said its 2025-26 community efforts reached more than 100,000 children across Central Florida, building on decades of charitable work by the team and the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation. The season included a record-setting wine auction, player-led outreach, and new projects with local partners.

Why it matters: - The Orlando Magic’s off-court work reached more than 100,000 children during the 2025-26 season, extending a 37-year community footprint in Central Florida. - The team’s giving supports education, housing and homelessness services, arts programs, and health initiatives aimed at preventing childhood obesity. - The Magic said the work helps move dollars and resources to at-risk children and local nonprofits, with long-term impact beyond basketball.

What happened: - The Orlando Magic said it raised and distributed millions of dollars during the 2025-26 campaign while also running community programming across Central Florida. - Each year, the Magic contribute more than $2 million to Central Florida through event sponsorships, donated tickets, autographed merchandise and grants. - The Orlando Magic Youth Foundation has distributed more than $31 million to local nonprofit organizations over the past 36 years. - The season’s signature fundraiser, the Orlando Wine Festival & Auction, was held Feb. 28 at Four Seasons Resort Orlando and raised a record more than $2 million for the foundation. - The event marked the first time the auction crossed the $2 million mark and included live and online auctions, an outdoor festival, live music, chefs, wineries and food pavilions. - Magic players, coaches and DeVos family members attended to highlight community needs and the foundation’s work.

The details: - The Orlando Magic Youth Foundation said it will distribute $1.6 million in grants through a summer cycle, a winter cycle, microgrants, the Linda Landman Gonzalez Leadership Grant and professional development for grantees. - So far, the summer and winter grant cycles and part of the microgrants have been distributed; microgrants are issued quarterly. - The latest grant cycle is the 18th time the foundation has given at least $1 million to Central Florida since OMYF began in 1990. - The DeVos family made a $400,000 pledge to support OMYF operating costs so more of the money raised can go directly to at-risk children. - The family’s support includes third-generation stakeholders who are increasingly involved in the franchise. - Anthony Black won the 2025-26 Rich & Helen DeVos Community Enrichment Award. - Black’s community work included his AB Cares Adopt-A-Family program, Christmas gifts for boys in My Brother’s Keeper, holiday support for Orlando’s unhoused community with influencer “Just Hollywood,” a $10,000 donation with Planet Fitness to the Universal Boys & Girls Club, and his annual charity kickball tournament. - Black also received $20,000 from the DeVos Family Foundation to donate to a charity of his choice. - Finalists for the award included Paolo Banchero, Anthony Black, Wendell Carter Jr., Franz Wagner and Moe Wagner. - The award has recognized player community work since 1995. - The Magic, all nine Champions of the Community partners, the Orlando Neighborhood Improvement Corporation and KABOOM! built a new community and kid-designed playspace for Boca Club Apartments last month. - Champions of the Community partners include AdventHealth, City National Bank, Florida Blue, Gallagher, Kia, L3Harris Technologies, PepsiCo, ThreatLocker and Walt Disney World. - Jevon Carter, the Magic and AdventHealth unveiled a refurbished basketball court at Oak Ridge High School a week earlier. - The Oak Ridge High School court was the seventh of 20 planned refurbishments in Central Florida by the Magic and AdventHealth. - Previous completed courts include Wicklow Elementary, the Callahan Center, the James R. Smith Neighborhood Center, Lee P. Moore Park, Kissimmee City Chamber Park Community Center and Coastline Park in Sanford. - The team also extended its outreach overseas during NBA Global Games week, when Franz Wagner, Moe Wagner and the Magic took part in an NBA Cares clinic at Max-Schmeling-Halle and ran drills with kids at Alba Berlin’s training facility.

Between the lines: - The Magic are using a mix of fundraising, foundation grants, player service and corporate partnerships to widen their community reach. - The DeVos family’s deep involvement shows the team’s charitable work is tied closely to ownership priorities, not just player-led activism. - The court projects and youth-focused events suggest the franchise is aiming for visible, repeatable investments that can be measured over time. - The overseas clinic also shows the Magic are treating community engagement as part of the team’s broader brand, not just a local obligation.

What’s next: - The Magic and AdventHealth plan to keep refurbishing Central Florida courts, with 13 more courts still in their commitment. - OMYF will continue quarterly microgrants and the remainder of its 2025-26 grant distribution. - The franchise said its community work will continue with no offseason.

The bottom line: - The Orlando Magic paired a record auction, major foundation giving and hands-on player outreach to reinforce one message: the team’s community work is as central to its identity as its play on the court.