Monetary compensation for student athletes has become highly prominent in the world of college athletics. Since the passing of Name, Image and Likeness laws in 2021, athletes have looked for opportunities to gain salary and attention to advance their careers and goals. However, one Bloomington organization saw the potential for an even greater good. 

Hoosiers for Good is an NIL Collective organization that works to represent 30 nonprofits across the state of Indiana. With the representation of every sport besides one, service-minded athletes are paired with a local charity where they are able to promote and amplify philanthropic work through social media influence and hands-on commitment. 

One of their many campaigns includes the ‘Team Up for Peace’ campaign with Indiana football. For the second year in a row, Indiana football players have partnered with Stop the Violence Indianapolis to promote peace and prevent gun violence. In-person commitment with the organization through service was the first step to the campaign, however, the main portion stems from social media. 

Throughout the season, 45 players promoted the campaign using personalized mission statements on their platforms and accounts. In addition to the initial posts, other notable accounts such as IU Athletics used their accounts to repost and republish the posts, spreading it as widely as they could across the web.  

“The idea was, how can we get this message, of all this violence in indy, and particularly teen gun violence, how can we use these athletes, who probably these teens look up to, and allow them to use their platform to share these positive alternatives to try to limit gun violence,” Hoosiers for Good Executive Director Tyler Harris said. 

Last year, at the end of the campaign, a local company caught wind of what the team was promoting. Instead of using their money to buy yearly apparel for their employees, they teamed up and donated a large portion of money to the campaign and Stop the Violence organization. 

Additional spread has been seen for the campaign, with local high school teams supporting the cause. Merchandise was created and distributed to grow continuous support, along with the use of hashtags and phrases. 

Not only is Hoosiers for Good creating a vast impact on the state and surrounding communities, the athletes themselves have had the chance to create meaningful character development. 

“I think you see a lot of impact on these athletes personally, you know. They are starting to learn the values of giving back at an important age, where most people wouldn’t learn that until later in life,” Harris said. 

Through a year-long contract, student athletes are dedicated to helping out their assigned organization for the span of a school year. They are encouraged to participate in on-site events, promote their attendance and their events online, and overall support the nonprofit in any way they see fit. 

“It means a lot for us to be able to give back to kids and kind of give them a similar experience to what we had growing up participating in these sports,” women’s water polo player Haley Hunter said. 

The combination of benefits for both sides of the partnerships, allows for Hoosiers for Good to continue to gain attention and grow their class size each year. With 31 athletes representing 13 charities, the new signing class is the largest yet.