BPS Foundation, the nonprofit partner of NIL collective operator Blueprint Sports, took in $14 million in contributions last year—more than quadrupling its previous annual haul—despite mounting questions about the charitable purpose of it and similar organizations that pay NCAA athletes.
Of the 2023 revenue it raised, BPS Foundation distributed $9.4 million to athletes, according to a copy of the a 501(c)(3) nonprofit’s 2023 federal tax return.
BPS Foundation has a shared services contract with Blueprint Sports, which operates or services more than 25 for-profit NIL collectives around the country. In 2023, the foundation paid the company $1.05 million in management fees, the tax filing shows.
The two entities’ relationship, as Sportico previously reported, has drawn scrutiny from nonprofit experts, who question the public benefit of paying college athletes—even if, as BPS Foundation asserts, it facilitates their engagement with other public charities. In effect, the foundation serves as a tax-deductible passthrough enabling donors to receive a write-off for moneys that ultimately go to Blueprint’s for-profit collectives.
“The BPS Foundation continues to operate within the rules and regulations of the IRS as a 501c(3) approved organization,” said executive director Andrew Beisel in a statement, adding that the organization would “provide a formal update” on its future before the end of this year.
In 2023, BPS Foundation reported raising money to compensate players at Arizona, North Carolina State, Boston College, Montana State, Penn State, Nevada, UNLV, Gonzaga and UC Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, the tax return disclosed the following sources of revenue: $250,000 from Arizona donor Chuck Tyler; $335,000 from U of A donors Cole and Jeannie Davis; $600,000 from N.C. State donor Andy Albright, and $616,575 from N.C. State donor Brian McMurray.
In addition, Reaching Champions Joining Hearts (RCJH) Foundation, an NIL charity supporting Kansas Jayhawks athletes, paid BPS Foundation $560,720 in 2023. According to Beisel, that money related to activities that will be reported on its subsequent return. (Blueprint Sports runs the KU-focused for-profit collective, Mass St.)
Blueprint Sports was co-founded by Cisco Aguilar, the current Nevada Secretary of State, and Rob Sine, the company’s CEO who simultaneously served as BPS’ president until resigning from that position last year.
The organization received its 501(c)(3) designation from the Internal Revenue Service in July 2022. However, last June, Lynne Camillo, the IRS deputy associate chief counsel, wrote a memo arguing that the direct benefits for athletes provided by booster-funded NIL collectives likely undermined their claims of operating for an exempt purpose.
“Student-athletes generally benefit from a nonprofit NIL collective through the compensation paid by the collective for use of their NIL,” Camillo wrote. “This private benefit is not a byproduct but is rather a fundamental part of a nonprofit NIL collective’s activities.”
In response, a number of collectives that were seeking tax-exempt status decided to ditch that course of action. Although Camillo’s memo was not binding, in April, the watchdog publication Tax Notes published a redacted copy of a denial letter the IRS sent to a collective that embodied her interpretation.
Earlier this month, Blueprint Sports announced that it had “raised and distributed” more than $50 million in NIL money for this current year, bringing its total NIL haul to $70 million since 2021.
