Dikembe Mutombo Foundation
Dikembe Mutombo Foundation Receives National Sports Philanthropy Award
Atlanta, GA
October 20, 2025
By Susan M. Johnson, J.D Executive Director, Dikembe Mutombo Foundation
The Dikembe Mutombo Foundation has been named a winner of the 2010 Steve Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy. The prize is awarded annually by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to the professional sports organization and individual sports philanthropy that most effectively demonstrates excellence, leadership, and a sustained commitment toward a mission that serves and improves the lives of others.
RWJF established the award in 2005 in memory of Steve Patterson, the UCLA basketball star, NBA player and college coach who became known, during and after his career, for his belief in and practice of the power of sports philanthropy to make a difference in people’s lives. Patterson died of cancer in July 2004 at the age of 56.
Previous winners of the sports organization category have been the Philadelphia Eagles Youth Partnership (2005), Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation (2006), Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation (2007), San Francisco Giants Community Fund (2008), and the Red Sox Foundation (2009). Individual category winners have been The Moyer Foundation (2007), started by All-Star Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer and his wife Karen; Steve Nash Foundation (2008), founded by the two-time NBA MVP Phoenix Suns guard; and Marvin Lewis Community Fund (2009), begun by the Cincinnati Bengals 2009 AP Coach of the Year.
The Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to improving the health, education and quality of life for the people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Created in 1997, the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation is attempting to eradicate many childhood diseases that have virtually disappeared in developed countries while those diseases are still life threatening to children in the Congo every day. The Foundation strives to accomplish this goal through an emphasis on primary health care and disease prevention, the promotion of health policy, health research and increased access to health care education for the people of the Congo.
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