Claim:
Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce donated his "entire" $12.9 million in bonuses and endorsements to the Homeless Housing Initiative, funding the construction of 150 homes with 300 beds.
A feel-good story about Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs' star tight end and singer Taylor Swift's fiancé, spread across Facebook in September 2025. According to various posts, Kelce donated "his entire $12.9 million in bonuses and endorsements" to a charity organization, the Homeless Housing Initiative, to fund the construction of 150 homes and 300 beds.
The claim was shared in identical Facebook posts with over 100,000 reactions (archived), 50,000 reactions (archived) and 45,000 reactions (archived). The texts of the posts read:
BREAKING NEWS: Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce has donated his entire $12.9 million in bonuses and endorsements to the Homeless Housing Initiative, funding the construction of 150 homes with 300 beds... "I witnessed the impact of homelessness firsthand as a child, and I knew that if I ever had the means, I would make a meaningful contribution," Travis Kelce said at a press conference. "No one deserves to sleep on the streets."....
The story described in the posts, however, was not real, much like a similar story about Kelce that spread across the internet in March.
A Google search (archived) for the statement Kelce supposedly said at a press conference returned no results, except for other social media posts sharing the exact claim. Press conferences usually generate news coverage, so it's unlikely Kelce would've said this at a press conference and no one report on it.
The "Homeless Housing Initiative" did not appear to be a real organization. A search for the organization on Charity Navigator (archived) returned no results.
Kelce also makes far more than $12.9 million from endorsements alone. Forbes reported in August 2025 that Kelce and his brother signed a three-year, $100 million contract with Wondery for their podcast "New Heights" in 2024. Forbes (archived) said Kelce was making $30 million in endorsements in 2025.
A nearly identical story about Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow received over 20,000 times on Facebook (archived) in August. That story claimed Burrow funded 150 housing units and 300 beds, exactly as many as the later posts claimed Kelce was funding.
In March 2025, Kelce was the subject of another made-up story about the star donating homes to the homeless. Kelce addressed it on the April 9, 2025, episode of his podcast, beginning around the 1:14:34 mark. "This time I wasn't doing what was falsely claimed by the social channels or the outlets posting all this AI stuff," Kelce said after promoting his real charity initiative, the Eighty-Seven and Running Foundation.
These stories all very much resembledglurge, whichDictionary.com defines as "stories, often sent by email, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but that are often fabricated and sentimental."
Real stories of NFL players contributing homes to organizations fighting homelessness do exist. In August, retired NFL player Jordan Jenkins bought two duplexes with four units in total, with at least two bedrooms per duplex, and donated them to The Plummer Home to house homeless veterans. Retired star Warrick Dunn frequently donates homes to families through his own charity foundation, as well.
Snopes has fact-checked a number of glurge stories, including about Kelce.