College Athletics and Charity: From NIL Dollars to Authentic Impact

The Wild West of College Athletics: From Paid Appearances to Authentic Impact

The collegiate athletic landscape right now feels like the wild west—everything seems to be up for grabs. For those who love change and thrive on a little dose of chaos, this is a truly an exciting time to imagine what's possible in collegiate athletics. One article I particularly enjoyed recently from Sports Business Journal posed the provocative question about equity ownership of college teams. Possible? Probable? Private equity is everywhere in sports, but the Packers model is what intrigues me. I’d love to be part of a fan-owned Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team.

But the piece of this evolving puzzle I've been most curious about is the influence of NIL collectives and what their rise—and potential fall?—tells us about the future of college sports.

The Rise and Fall of NIL Collectives

For those unfamiliar with the landscape, when it became legal several years ago to compensate collegiate athletes for their name, image, and likeness (NIL), third party booster clubs at colleges and universities quickly pivoted to form collectives. These organizations structured themselves as nonprofits, allowing boosters to donate to the collective and claim tax deductions. The collectives help athletes monetize their NIL, and partner with local businesses, nonprofits and community organizations for sponsorships and appearances. In some cases, athletes are paid to appear at events or volunteer with nonprofits from these pooled funds.

Recently, through letter rulings, the IRS determined that these collectives are not tax exempt because, very generally, they are not operating as nonprofit organizations. The future of collectives, at least in their current form, looks uncertain.

Missing the Point

What really concerns me about collectives isn’t necessarily the tax implications to donors, but this concept of paying athletes for charity appearances. This fundamentally misses the point of what authentic athlete engagement should look like.

Picture this: A university's star quarterback gets paid to show up at a mall and sign autographs in front of a banner for the local food pantry. Who wins in this scenario?

The quarterback has no authentic connection to the food pantry—he's there because he is getting paid. Has the food pantry's position improved? Perhaps they received some media attention, and maybe guests brought food donations to snag an autograph, helping stock their shelves. But this feels like a missed opportunity.

Everyone walks away without forming any real connection to the cause. The athlete believes that getting paid for charity work is the norm. The fans who come for autographs will likely forget about the food pantry as soon as they leave the parking lot. And the food pantry benefits briefly from the transactional nature of the event, but nothing sustainable that will help them long-term. In other words, unless they can convert these transactional donors to long-term supporters, it really didn’t move the needle for the food pantry.

Setting the Wrong Precedent

These collegiate athletes are tomorrow's professional sports stars, and this transactional approach to charitable work sets an uncomfortable precedent. For any athlete considering a professional career, they should start thinking strategically about their NIL and what they want to represent as early as possible.

The critical questions every student-athlete should be asking: What am I trying to say or accomplish through my work outside of the game? How does that relate to who I am, where I come from, or what I've experienced?

Paid endorsements aside, the charitable work an athlete undertakes should make sense and carry personal meaning. If our hypothetical quarterback above had experienced food insecurity growing up and could speak authentically to that struggle, suddenly everything changes. The media picks up on that genuine connection, fans understand the deeper story, and people begin to see why supporting that food pantry truly matters. In that context, even if he's being compensated for the appearance, it doesn't feel hollow—it feels purposeful.

A Path Forward: Building Authentic Connections

Despite the uncertainty of the collective model, I'm genuinely optimistic about what comes next. Disruption can create space for something better to emerge.

We're starting to see examples of student-athletes who understand the assignment. Collegiate athletes who are using their platforms to highlight causes they genuinely care about, who are building relationships with organizations that align with their values, and who are thinking strategically about the legacy they want to build—not just the immediate paycheck.

Consider the possibilities when we get this right: student athletes who become genuine advocates for causes they're passionate about. Nonprofits that gain committed, long-term ambassadors rather than one-off appearances. Fans who connect with athletes on a deeper level because they understand what drives them beyond the game. Beneficiaries of the nonprofits whose lives are made better because of the additional resources and awareness driven their way from the student athlete’s engagement and platform. This is what it’s all about.

The Real Opportunity

The wild west phase of NIL might be messy, but it's also creating unprecedented opportunities for student-athletes to develop their personal brands and social impact strategies before they turn pro. Those who learn to navigate this landscape authentically—who understand that sustainable influence comes from genuine passion rather than transactional appearances—will be the ones who thrive in the long term.

Universities, too, have a role to play. Rather than simply facilitating payment structures, they could be helping their student-athletes identify causes they genuinely care about, connecting them with organizations where they can make meaningful contributions, and teaching them how to use their platforms responsibly.

The wild west is exciting precisely because it's uncharted territory. And in uncharted territory, those with vision and authenticity have the greatest opportunity to shape what comes next.