Day 76. ers.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sixers. 10, 9, 8, 76ers.
While I attempt to highlight a broad landscape of inspiration across sports, if you know me at all, you’d have to have guessed the Philly fan in me was saving day 76 of this exercise to highlight my Philadelphia 76ers. Before they take on Detroit tonight in the NBA Cup, let’s take a look at their impact in their community.
They’ve focused their efforts on supporting the next generation where they “live, work and play” but I have to be honest, it’s wild to me (especially as a lifelong fan) that the Sixers Youth Foundation has only existed for a decade. There is so much good work and social impact happening through the power of sports but it’s really incredible that formalizing such efforts into a coherent strategy is still a relatively new endeavor for a lot of teams.
That said, over the past 10 years, the Sixers Youth Foundation (SYF) has done some really powerful and also creative, clever work, centered across 3 pillars:
Academic Enrichment — supporting learning, social and emotional development
Access to Quality Play — grants and in-kind help for youth sport programs
Safe Play Spaces — renovating public courts, creating safe community hubs
As highlighted in their most recent 2023-24 season impact report, they served over 59,000 youth, committing $1.74M in funding and my favorite part - 16 partner orgs received multi-year, unrestricted funding. Those two words are music to a nonprofit leaders’ ears: multi-year and unrestricted. One of the nonprofit industry’s most beloved bloggers, Vu Lee, refers to this type of funding with an acronym I’ve often borrowed - M.Y.G.O.D. = multi-year, general operating dollars. Breaking that whole concept down further is a post for another day but suffice it to say, it’s wildly important to sustain social impact work.
In terms of some of the clever initiatives, I’m a big fan of when people in the sports biz leverage the emotional significance of certain numbers to play to their fan base to drive social good. The 76ers have an ‘Assists for Safe Communities’ program which donates $76 to local Philly area nonprofit organizations focused on violence prevention for every assist recorded by the team. So far this season they’re at 290 assists = $22,040 and counting.
They also engage their Sixers employees with 76 hours of community service hours per staff member, per year, through their Project 76 program - which has resulted in more than 10,000 hours of giving back.
In recent years they also smartly started a “young friends” of the SYF, to get people age 18-35 engaged in supporting the team’s philanthropic efforts, with an annual registration fee of… wait for it… $25. Yeah, I think $76 would’ve been a no-brainer but maybe that’s just me.
In addition to the foundation work, among other initiatives, they also have an Enrich program shining a light on Philly small businesses, particularly with underserved communities.
One last overall note is the legacy of the philanthropic efforts of Sixers players. There’s a Wilt Chamberlain memorial scholarship fund for high school seniors in the Philly area. What I love here is that applicants are judged not only on academic and financial need, but also on character, demonstrating a “passion for volunteering and serving others,” echoing Wilt’s values.
Oh, and let’s not forget that current superstar Tyrese Maxey, who’s currently averaging 32 points per game this season, received the 2024 NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist offseason award for supporting youth both in Philadelphia and his hometown of Dallas.
I know I’m biased but have to love this team, and going to do my best to continue to ‘trust the process’ as they say;) Keep using the power of basketball to build a Philly where all children can create, pursue and realize their dreams and live productive lives.