Brewers, Aaron, Hanel earn high grades for charity work

We hear a lot about player and team charities over the course of an MLB season, but we don't always hear a lot about where the donated money ends up. On Sunday the Appleton Post Crescent ran an extended look at athletes and their charities, headlined by some questions about the activities of longtime Packers safety Leroy Butler.

Today the Post Crescent has a database of Wisconsin athletes' charities, and for the Brewers the news is very good: Three foundations with ties to the team all reported spending more than 95% of their revenues on charitable purposes in either 2011 or 2012.

The Brewers Community Foundation is the big story here. They reported raising a combined $4.57 million between 2011 and 2012 and spending $4.29 million, with 96.7% of their 2011 expenditures and 97.8% of 2012's going to charitable purposes.

Brewers bullpen catcher Marcus Hanel's "Koos for Kids" charity raised much less money at $48,320 in 2011, but also reported 96.2% of its spending went towards the organization's stated goal. Hank Aaron's Chasing the Dream Foundation also reported spending $814,493 in 2011, with 95.6% applied to charitable purposes.

The only bad news for a former Brewer on this list belongs to CC Sabathia. His "PitCCh in Foundation" reported taking in $754,301 in 2011 and spending $783,818, but just 68.2% of their spending went for charitable purposes, with the remaining 31.8% being used for management expenses.

You can search the Post Crescent database for yourself to find out more about charities with Wisconsin ties, but here's a quick table on the Brewers-related findings: