1 of 1- squid
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What's up with the Friends of George NIL?
Anybody have any insight? Or any connections where they can ask directly? I donate and they have tweeted a few times recently asking for donations, but haven't seen much else. Are students getting the money? Are there any companies already involved? Any kinds of activities, events, presentations, etc? How can people get involved and help out? UMass and others have been doing webinars, regularly update on what's going on, having contests and giving out prizes, etc. It seems like it's been several years and I really haven't heard anything.
I emailed a few folks in April, didn't get a response from one person, and the other said they are working on some things. It's been 8 months though. I obviously want it to succeed, it's very important this day and age, but wish they shared more info. I don't think people are going to want to donate if they don't see anything happening.
- GW0509
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Re: What's up with the Friends of George NIL?
They sort of did a relaunch prior to the start of the season: Membership - Friends of George
They have two membership options you can join if you want:
1. Buff for 50/month. Gets you a quarterly Zoom call with staff and an entry to a quarterly drawing for memorabilia.
2. Blue for 100/month. Quarterly Zoom Call, 3 entries for memorabilia, and an autograph session with the team.
I strongly recommend reaching out to Cooper Handelsman who is the GM of the team and is running FOG. You can email him at chandelsman@email.gwu.edu. I was able to chat with him prior to the season and he couldn't have been more generous with his time.
- squid
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Re: What's up with the Friends of George NIL?
Yeah I think I do a monthly already. And have donated before, but haven't heard anything since, just "thank you for your donation".
I'll email him, but what I mean is you shouldn't have to email a specific person, they should be saying what they are doing more broadly and clearly so more people see it, more people understand the value, etc. And are they actually doing things? It's not clear to me.
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Thread Starter- GWRising
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Re: What's up with the Friends of George NIL?
The NIL program is likely going to change significantly in the coming months in light of the recent court decision. My understanding is that the University will be funding it but dependent on donors to fund the athletic department. So it will go back to the old way of doing things. We give to the University and the University funds it like a budget item. The only question is will GW step up and put 2-3 million in each year regardless of donations. If they do, we are in a whole different world. If not, more of the same. GW can well afford it, question is whether there is the will to do so. We will see. In the meantime, donations to the collective are still much appreciated.
- squid
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Re: What's up with the Friends of George NIL?
That's good to know.
I think they need to work on their comms though, like I am saying, I haven't really seen anything about what they are actually doing and what the money goes to. As noted above the monthly ones include a zoom call and other benefits, which is good, but you can't only talk to folks who already donate, you'll need to talk to other folks to get them to start donating too.
And in this case, I haven't heard anything since donating aside from an email announcing a new logo and website and the monthly membership, nothing like "here is what we have done with your donation, here is what the student athletes are receiving," etc. Maybe that's coming, but it would be good to make that more clear and more public if so. I think demonstrating the value more publicly would help make this bigger.
And I think visibility/awareness is lacking, in April I did a twitter poll, the majority of folks didn't even know there was an NIL. Not great considering people who follow me are probably already GW fans or at least interested. I'll do a new poll shortly and see if more folks are aware
Last edited by squid (12/06/2024 5:06 pm)
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Thread Starter- The Dude
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- Registered: 7/23/2019
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Re: What's up with the Friends of George NIL?
GW0509 wrote:
They sort of did a relaunch prior to the start of the season: Membership - Friends of George
They have two membership options you can join if you want:
1. Buff for 50/month. Gets you a quarterly Zoom call with staff and an entry to a quarterly drawing for memorabilia.
2. Blue for 100/month. Quarterly Zoom Call, 3 entries for memorabilia, and an autograph session with the team.
I strongly recommend reaching out to Cooper Handelsman who is the GM of the team and is running FOG. You can email him at chandelsman@email.gwu.edu. I was able to chat with him prior to the season and he couldn't have been more generous with his time.
Cooper is a great guy and a great resource and I second that notion
- Florida Colonial
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- Posts: 760
Re: What's up with the Friends of George NIL?
Squid I reached out to Cooper and he emailed back almost immediately and offered to get on a call. My main question was about the BPS/non profit that bOI was donating to. That has ended and now you need to go to the FOG site and sign up for a membership.