Less than six months after its launch, the 12th Man+ Fund, the NIL-centered arm of the 12th Man Foundation, is being shuttered. This is being done in response to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance that was released in June that could have put the organization’s non-profit (and tax-exempt) status in jeopardy.
The 12th Man Foundation, Texas A&M’s primary athletics fundraising arm, announces that it will discontinue the 12th Man+ Fund, which was created for NIL activities.
Full announcement: pic.twitter.com/0bFtvKPnHF— Sam Khan Jr. (@skhanjr) August 9, 2023The pertinent portion of that IRS guidance reads:
“Because the private benefit from a nonprofit NIL collective’s activities, in most cases, will not be incidental in a qualitative sense, and because a single nonexempt purpose, if substantial in nature, precludes exemption, we believe such collectives are not organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes,”
The 12th Man Foundation is the primary fundraising organization for Texas A&M athletics, and is the organization through which Aggies purchase season tickets and make financial donations for facilities upgrades.