Chess has been hitting a high note in the sports world recently — not just because it’s a great way for athletes to keep their strategy skills and mental flexibility sharp, but also because we’ve been seeing some high-dollar competition coming from this typically soft-spoken game.
Earlier this summer, for example, NFL safety Justin Reid (KC Chiefs) defended his BlitzChamps title against some fierce opponents. Then, just last week, NBA forward Grant Williams (Charlotte Hornets) won ‘Chesstival 2025’ in Las Vegas during the Summer League kickoff.
Both of these tournaments pitted their respective leagues’ best chess players against each other, head-to-head, to take home a cash prize for the charity of their choice.
Of course, we love it when athletes bring their off-the-field interests together with their community impact efforts. But one thing we’ve noticed is that the players’ chosen organizations don’t always get a ton of visibility in events like these, with the athletes themselves drawing most of the spotlight. And while the financial contributions the orgs receive is invaluable, we have an idea that might make tournaments like this even more impactful — for everyone involved.
Just like there are brand sponsors for events, why not have nonprofit sponsors, too? Same visibility, same marketing opportunities, but with the cash flow reversed.
Crazy? Nah, just hear us out:
💰 Brand sponsors typically pay a hefty price tag to get their logo all over event materials, to get exclusive distribution rights to the content, and to generally be able to consider themselves an exclusive partner, giving them some cultural caché. All of those placements help drive awareness — and ideally, also boost revenue.
Here’s where the plot twist comes in:
♟️ Instead of each athlete in these chess tournaments competing on behalf of their own organizations, what if there was a single nonprofit partner/beneficiary for the event as a whole?
Now, with this new model, we’ve got a much more power-balanced and lucrative playing field, with major upsides for everyone involved.
Brands: Same visibility blitz and potential for an immediate revenue bump, but with even more long-term goodwill and loyalty because of their nonprofit support.
Nonprofit: Game-changing awareness through the brand’s support, and a guaranteed financial boost because every athlete is playing on their behalf. Economic predictability is critical for NPOs so they can allocate program funds, so this shift helps meet that need in a major way.
Athletes: While playing for their own charities definitely adds a competitive edge, there might be something even more interesting about a dynamic where they’re trying to one-up each other for the same organization. We’d bring the athletes in on what this looks like — does the org get more $$ depending on the winning score? Is there a 50/50 between the athletes’s charity of choice and the main partner? Are there different prizes besides just “tournament winner?” Most Flair, Best Unexpected Move, etc. that could come with additional incentives?
We don’t have all the answers, but definitely feel like there’s an opportunity here, just waiting to be explored.
