Ohio State NIL collective The Foundation leveraging Florida connections, plans for VIP club

With NIL collectives across the country combatting donor fatigue, the Ohio State-driven collective The Foundation has gone outside the box to raise dollars.

The collective announced plans in the fall of 2022 to launch a Florida chapter, hoping to host an annual fundraiser in the Miami area. With some of the top Ohio State boosters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, it would be the opportunity to bring together top donors with The Foundation.

The collective held its first Florida event in May, bringing together wide receiver coach Brian Hartline and wideouts Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate with a group of donors. Hartline, a former Miami Dolphins receiver, and the Ohio State players spent a night in Miami with donors for dinner.

Founded by lifelong Ohio State fan and real estate developer Brian Schottenstein and former Buckeyes national championship quarterback Cardale Jones, Urban Meyer and J.T. Barrett also sit on the collective’s board.

“We want to be able to facilitate more meetings and more interactions with the university and the program that the fans down here love,” said Elie Deshe, a leader of The Foundation’s Florida chapter, recently told On3. “I think it’s cool, too, that players down here see that. They’re sort of almost caught off guard by how much support there is for Ohio State down here. I’m In Miami, but it really goes throughout the entire state.”

Florida is prime Ohio State recruiting real estate

Full specifics of the dinner were not disclosed but in a phone call with On3, Deshe and Schottenstein emphasized it was for the top donors in the Miami area. Smith, who attended the dinner, was the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2024 recruiting class.

The current 2025 class has 43 recruits from Florida ranked in the On3 Industry Rankings. And in the last five years, 141 athletes from the Sunshine State have heard their names called in the NFL Draft. It’s the second highest, only trailing Texas.

Having coaches come out and interact with top boosters has been effective, as opposed to just The Foundation staff explaining the impact of NIL dollars. Collectives have become imperative for top programs to attract and retain top athletes.

“The coaches have been very supportive,” Schottenstein said. “Having them try to raise money for us goes a long way. Coach [Ryan] Day, his staff, Coach [Jake] Diebler have been supportive. I think Chip Kelly might be coming down to Florida in the future. So we look forward to doing something with him. And this, we might actually branch this off into multiple states.”

Ryan Day believes collectives part of future

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, Day spoke about the impact of the NCAA and power conferences signing off on a settlement agreement in the House, Hubbard and Carter lawsuits. As part of the multibillion-dollar settlement, schools will have the opportunity to opt-in to a revenue-sharing agreement, with the option to share roughly $20 million per year with players.

Similar to many coaches and administrators, Day said plenty of questions remain. He also said he believes NIL collectives will remain part of the landscape. Along with The Foundation, which works with Ohio State’s football and basketball programs, the Buckeyes have the 1870 Society collective.

Deshe told On3 that The Foundation is open to ideas to combat donor fatigue. One idea that has been floated is a VIP program for top boosters on gamedays.

“One of the things we want to do, especially for out-of-state supporters, is – they’re not in Ohio every day. They’re not around the program so much,” Deshe said. “So we want to give them a great game experience. Whether it’s a regular season or spring game, we could give them access that people wouldn’t normally have. I know the school’s been supportive of and everything has to by the books. But I think that, if you have a big supporter, who comes into one or two games a year, and there are things that we want to set up to make them feel like they’re really a part of the team because in this day and age, they sort of are.

“I think the best coaches in the game have understood that this is as big of a part of recruiting as even meeting the players. NIL is not the reason kids are necessarily going to school, but it could be the differentiator between the two schools that they’re looking at. I don’t think that’s going to go anywhere. When you talk about the idea of schools paying players, you’re still going to have a need for NIL because, at the end of the day, two schools can pay a kid equal amounts of money. NIL could still be the difference, just like it is today.”