Illini Guardians

#1      

DReq

DReq
Always Illini
Central Illinois
DReq
I am trying not to derail the recruiting thread and chose basketball but this applies to football also. I am just wondering if maybe the insiders can shed some light on what the Illini Guardians are as an organization. I know they are an NIL fundraising (and presumably spending) group. I signed on with monthly donations so that I get. What I don't understand is that they make no communication to their donors. The web site will not allow logging in. There is zero information available. I do understand they cannot be open about many of their dealings and who is getting paid what. I do not understand why there is no information of any kind to those who have "joined" the effort.

Can anyone explain this complete lack of connection with the donor base? Is there a better group to provide NIL support through? Is this turning into a funny money operation with no sort of real group? Just looking for some answers before I pull my donations and look for some other way to help the NIL effort.

Thanks for any answers.
 
#2      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
DReq said:
I am trying not to derail the recruiting thread and chose basketball but this applies to football also. I am just wondering if maybe the insiders can shed some light on what the Illini Guardians are as an organization. I know they are an NIL fundraising (and presumably spending) group. I signed on with monthly donations so that I get. What I don't understand is that they make no communication to their donors. The web site will not allow logging in. There is zero information available. I do understand they cannot be open about many of their dealings and who is getting paid what. I do not understand why there is no information of any kind to those who have "joined" the effort.

Can anyone explain this complete lack of connection with the donor base? Is there a better group to provide NIL support through? Is this turning into a funny money operation with no sort of real group? Just looking for some answers before I pull my donations and look for some other way to help the NIL effort.

Thanks for any answers.
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Try reaching out to Kam Cox. I can’t answer your questions, but Kam can tell you if your money is being well spent.
 
#3      

DReq

DReq
Always Illini
Central Illinois
DReq
illini80 said:
Try reaching out to Kam Cox. I can’t answer your questions, but Kam can tell you if your money is being well spent.
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Thanks for the response. I will go that route.
 
#4      

Illini_1979

Illini_1979
Oregon
Illini_1979
DReq said:
I am trying not to derail the recruiting thread and chose basketball but this applies to football also. I am just wondering if maybe the insiders can shed some light on what the Illini Guardians are as an organization. I know they are an NIL fundraising (and presumably spending) group. I signed on with monthly donations so that I get. What I don't understand is that they make no communication to their donors. The web site will not allow logging in. There is zero information available. I do understand they cannot be open about many of their dealings and who is getting paid what. I do not understand why there is no information of any kind to those who have "joined" the effort.

Can anyone explain this complete lack of connection with the donor base? Is there a better group to provide NIL support through? Is this turning into a funny money operation with no sort of real group? Just looking for some answers before I pull my donations and look for some other way to help the NIL effort.

Thanks for any answers.
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I think they should at least publish some sort of income/expense statement to show their overhead and other expenses and how much is actually getting to the athletes. Maybe they consider this proprietary information which should not be available to our competitors? But then some sort of statement to that effect should be made.
 
#6      

DReq

DReq
Always Illini
Central Illinois
DReq
BRucks said:
There's now an alternative to Illini Guardians: https://www.iconforillini.com/
Might want to give them a look.
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Thanks for that information. I am trying to connect with Kam Cox as suggested by the OP but will look into that organization also. It seems that these are maybe a bit too hastily put together than necessary.
 
#7      

drsmitty74

drsmitty74
Rochester
drsmitty74
I have what some people may deem as a dumb question, but, what is the advantage of having multiple collectives? From a simplistic viewpoint, would it not be more advantageous to compile all donor dollars into a central house to more efficiently understand the pool of NIL$ we have at our disposal?

Are there different rules/benefits that would cause someone to choose say, ICON over Guardians? Are theses collectives focused on specific sports?
 
#8      

WizardBill

WizardBill
WizardBill
drsmitty74 said:
I have what some people may deem as a dumb question, but, what is the advantage of having multiple collectives? From a simplistic viewpoint, would it not be more advantageous to compile all donor dollars into a central house to more efficiently understand the pool of NIL$ we have at our disposal?

Are there different rules/benefits that would cause someone to choose say, ICON over Guardians? Are theses collectives focused on specific sports?
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And much more cost effective.
 
#11      

DReq

DReq
Always Illini
Central Illinois
DReq
drsmitty74 said:
I have what some people may deem as a dumb question, but, what is the advantage of having multiple collectives? From a simplistic viewpoint, would it not be more advantageous to compile all donor dollars into a central house to more efficiently understand the pool of NIL$ we have at our disposal?

Are there different rules/benefits that would cause someone to choose say, ICON over Guardians? Are theses collectives focused on specific sports?
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Because anyone can start a collective there is no real central authority to get them unified. My concern is that such a system also opens the door for someone who has less than altruistic intent to get one of these going. I don't believe either of the existing ones fall into that category and would not suggest that they are or will be but the door is open for less scrupulous folks to jump into this market. There are tax limitations on how money must be treated by tax-advantaged organizations but there are those who take advantage of that to benefit themselves while not running afoul of the tax code. With the necessary wall between the University and the collectives it is a tricky situation. No quick and easy solutions.
 
#12      

WhiteHorseWings

WhiteHorseWings
WhiteHorseWings
drsmitty74 said:
I have what some people may deem as a dumb question, but, what is the advantage of having multiple collectives? From a simplistic viewpoint, would it not be more advantageous to compile all donor dollars into a central house to more efficiently understand the pool of NIL$ we have at our disposal?

Are there different rules/benefits that would cause someone to choose say, ICON over Guardians? Are theses collectives focused on specific sports?
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I’m not sure how guardian works but ICON receives donations and awards NIL money to student athletes, and in exchange they provide very limited services to local nonprofits. For example, my wife’s nonprofit has a mini-golf related event for kids and I believe some members of the golf team are going to participate with the kids. I don’t know if Guardians is as charity focused.
 
#13      

Battle89

Battle89
Battle89
drsmitty74 said:
I have what some people may deem as a dumb question, but, what is the advantage of having multiple collectives? From a simplistic viewpoint, would it not be more advantageous to compile all donor dollars into a central house to more efficiently understand the pool of NIL$ we have at our disposal?

Are there different rules/benefits that would cause someone to choose say, ICON over Guardians? Are theses collectives focused on specific sports?
Click to expand...
Check out the NG article at the top of the NIL thread for some differences between the two. Main one as has been mentioned here is the tax-deductibility.
 
#15      

DReq

DReq
Always Illini
Central Illinois
DReq
Just to update my experience with Guardians I did finally receive an email from Adam Fleischer of BatesCarey LLP acknowledging that I canceled my subscription. Apparently that is how you get their attention. He didn't seem to be aware of my other attempts to communicate. Take that for what it's worth.

I will be moving my NIL money to ICON based on the 501(3)(c) status and the oversight that goes with that. We shall see if that is an upgrade or not.

Thank you to my fellow IL followers for your input and suggestions and thanks to Dan for maintaining this excellent Illini resource.
 
#16      

john1952

john1952
john1952
Funny money in college athletics. "Say it ain't so Joe."

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#17      

DReq

DReq
Always Illini
Central Illinois
DReq
One more update here and I will leave this alone. I just wanted to give a word of thanks to Kam Cox for getting back to me quickly in response to my concerns. He was understandably supportive of Illini Guardians and seemed to say it was the only choice for contributions by those of us who are not major donors. Apparently ICONS is centered on those major donors and I can understand that as a focus. It is probably the quickest way to gather the sums needed to make this work for the athletes. I cannot help but think a better and more open effort to gather masses of donations from supporters who would not be considered major donors would be worthwhile but it would require significantly better communications. I am weary of web pages that do not stay up-to-date and the Guardians fall into that category. I don't see it instilling confidence in large numbers of donors until that communication problem is addressed.

Thanks to @BRucks for heading me to Kam. I will second his recommendation to anyone who wants NIL information at Illinois.
 
#18      

sacraig

sacraig
The desert
sacraig
DReq said:
One more update here and I will leave this alone. I just wanted to give a word of thanks to Kam Cox for getting back to me quickly in response to my concerns. He was understandably supportive of Illini Guardians and seemed to say it was the only choice for contributions by those of us who are not major donors. Apparently ICONS is centered on those major donors and I can understand that as a focus. It is probably the quickest way to gather the sums needed to make this work for the athletes. I cannot help but think a better and more open effort to gather masses of donations from supporters who would not be considered major donors would be worthwhile but it would require significantly better communications. I am weary of web pages that do not stay up-to-date and the Guardians fall into that category. I don't see it instilling confidence in large numbers of donors until that communication problem is addressed.

Thanks to @BRucks for heading me to Kam. I will second his recommendation to anyone who wants NIL information at Illinois.
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I don't see any reason why Illini Guardians couldn't themselves become a 501(c)(3) to instill more transparency and more trustworthiness into their process. Maybe they just don't have the time to do things like that since it's run by a bunch of (alleged) volunteers?
 
#19      

DReq

DReq
Always Illini
Central Illinois
DReq
sacraig said:
I don't see any reason why Illini Guardians couldn't themselves become a 501(c)(3) to instill more transparency and more trustworthiness into their process. Maybe they just don't have the time to do things like that since it's run by a bunch of (alleged) volunteers?
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That is as reasonable an explanation as any. I’m not always able to say that on IL!
 
#20      

BlindLoyalty

B
FartNoiseMotivation
BlindLoyalty
sacraig said:
I don't see any reason why Illini Guardians couldn't themselves become a 501(c)(3) to instill more transparency and more trustworthiness into their process. Maybe they just don't have the time to do things like that since it's run by a bunch of (alleged) volunteers?
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What 501c(3) exempt purpose does a nil designed to enrich college athletes fall under?
 
#22      

sacraig

sacraig
The desert
sacraig
BlindLoyalty said:
What 501c(3) exempt purpose does a nil designed to enrich college athletes fall under?
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Well... err... umm...
AVDHEoB.gif


Actually, you have a point, but it may still work. Public universities are not private interests so maybe there's a path there. Or maybe not.
 
#23      

Actually...

Actually...
Actually...
sacraig said:
Well... err... umm...
AVDHEoB.gif


Actually, you have a point, but it may still work. Public universities are not private interests so maybe there's a path there. Or maybe not.
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Another option, if the Guardians wanted to be more transparent, is that they could.... Just be more transparent

Being a 501c3 might give some cache but I think most organizations going for that status do it for the tax advantages not for the increased regulations

But, my knowledge is limited to the time my mom tried to start one so she could write a book about her dreams and warn people, so....

IMG_20230419_070305.gif
 
#24      

BretMyBeachHouse

B
BretMyBeachHouse
Don't expect much in the way of transparency. I believe that is part of the goal here. Gather money, don't let anyone know the amounts. I don't believe anything nefarious is happening. I just think that all the schools are playing poker.

Hopefully the real big deals are really outside the public eye. Like Shahid Khan paying Terrence Shannon a quarter of a million dollars to sit at one of Tony's wrestling matches. (I know I'm dreaming)
 
#25      

illiniguy

illiniguy
illiniguy
BretMyBeachHouse said:
Don't expect much in the way of transparency. I believe that is part of the goal here. Gather money, don't let anyone know the amounts. I don't believe anything nefarious is happening. I just think that all the schools are playing poker.

Hopefully the real big deals are really outside the public eye. Like Shahid Khan paying Terrence Shannon a quarter of a million dollars to sit at one of Tony's wrestling matches. (I know I'm dreaming)
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I truly hope it doesn’t end up like this, but couldn’t a billionaire put up just 1% of his money, say a mere $10 million, to his team’s NIL, and basically buy the players needed to get an NCAA championship?
 
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