BREAKING NEWS: Caitlin Clark of Indiana Fever Basketball has invested $3.6 Million to transform a house into a shelter for homeless youth in Indianapolis after serious…..
A social media post falsely claiming that Caitlin Clark is donating millions to turn the Salisbury House and Gardens in Des Moines into a youth homeless shelter has been liked and shared thousands of times.
The Facebook account HerGame Hoops, which has nearly 7,000 followers, bills itself as a “WNBA fan page. Celebrating the best of women’s basketball—games, highlights, player stories & more.”
A deeper dive into the account’s other posts reveals a pattern of misleading content, often shared through clickbait headlines and provocative images. Links take users to websites hosting fictitious stories designed to look like real news articles. Another post from the account claims Clark made a $15 million donation in relief to the citizens of Myanmar after it suffered an earthquake late last month.
Caitlin Clark not purchasing Des Moines’ Salisbury House
On April 5, the account posted claiming Clark had invested $3.3 million to “turn a home into a living facility for homeless youth in Des Moines.”
The post features a picture of the Salisbury House and Gardens, the 100-year-old mansion built by cosmetics tycoon Carl Weeks that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. By Thursday, the post had received more than 21,000 likes and had been shared over 2,000 times.
The amount of attention the post received caused the museum’s official Facebook account to comment on the post to shut down the rumors.
“While we love Ms. Clark and know that she is doing truly amazing things for her community and the state of Iowa, she is not purchasing Salisbury House and Gardens,” the account wrote. “All publicity is good publicity, we guess?”
While some Facebook users were quick to question the legitimacy of the post, others took the post at face value.
“This is incredible!” one person commented. “Caitlin Clark is truly making a difference in her community.”
These false reports of Clark come after Meta scrapped its U.S. fact-checking program for all its social media platforms in January.
What has Caitlin Clark donated to in Des Moines?
Even though these Facebook claims of Clark’s philanthropy have been debunked, this doesn’t mean that the 23-year-old hasn’t given back to her home state.
While in college, Clark helped raise over $100,000 through a partnership with the Coralville Community Food Pantry to support those facing food insecurity.
Since going pro, Clark has donated school supplies and four new multipurpose recreation courts to Des Moines Public Schools students through her Caitlin Clark Foundation. To celebrate her jersey retirement at Iowa in February, her foundation granted nearly $100,000 to four charities in eastern Iowa.
In January, she celebrated her 23rd birthday by donating 22,000 books to kids in Iowa and Indiana.
Clark’s foundation says it is focused on education, nutrition and sports.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
