What happens when nearly 100 of the world’s most famous athletes, influencers and celebrities – led by star quarterback Aaron Rodgers – decide to pool their influence? The answer is the RX3 Foundation, and its impact goes far beyond the football field.

RX3 was founded by NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, along with Byron Roth and Nate Raabe. According to their website, RX3 was founded to unite and inspire a growing network of changemakers to uplift communities, invest in meaningful causes, harness influence for good, and fuel impact through the power of shared generosity.

The RX3 foundation makes its biggest impact through events, such as their popular charity flag football tournament. With their rapid growth, they’ve received investments from hundreds of athletes.

One of the biggest ways the foundation does this is through its flag football tournament. Their flagship event draws in hundreds of athletes and high-profile celebrities.

EssentiallySports recently had the chance to sit down with RX3 Foundation executive director Tricia Gasparini, who discussed the foundation’s mission and goals.

Interview With RX3 Executive Director Tricia Gasparini

I think a good place to begin is definitely on the foundation side. It’s a recognizable name in sports investing. But do you want to go more top-down in terms of why the foundation was a priority? And take that into why you joined, given your background.

Tricia Gasparini: “Yeah, Consumer Growth Equity Fund, on one side of our business, co-founded by Byron Roth of Roth Capital, Nate Raabe, and Aaron Rodgers, the NFL quarterback. Within our investor base, we have nearly 100 A-list athlete celebrities who are investors. We invest in brands in the health and wellness space. Think Therabody, Truvani, Hydro. And so, sort of because of that notable network, five years ago now, we started a charity flag football tournament that has now turned into the RX3 Foundation.”

“My job in running the foundation is to really activate our network around charitable giving. And we do so through experiential, once-in-a-lifetime events, like our flagship charity flag football tournament. I spent nearly a decade at Chevron Corporation. I was running our largest sports partnerships — Super Bowl, college conferences, and others. I was using those partnerships in order to teach kids about the importance of STEM education. My background was always sort of sports and philanthropy, and tying those together.”

“So, when RX3 decided to bring someone on board for the RX3 Foundation, it was just a perfect fit. It feels like a really special place to be in this moment. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We have our charity flag football tournament, but we’ll also be announcing soon our inaugural charity basketball tournament as well.”

Can you talk a little bit about how that unique team influences the direction of the Foundation?

Tricia Gasparini: “Yeah, they advise the Foundation. I think that in bringing me on board, the intention was to have someone who could really run this. They have day jobs that they are really focused on. I think some of the things that I’m finding on the Foundation side are — of course, our value is in giving back to our charity network. So we have over 90 charity recipients who have received funds. But there’s also additional value that the Foundation can offer to fund in building deeper stakeholder relationships with our existing stakeholders, in better aligning with mission-driven brands that we’re investing in.”

“Like now, brands — there is an expectation of charitable giving, or a component of giving back, that brands expect. So for them to look at our fund and see that we are like-minded in that way, that can be beneficial to those relationships and partnerships.”

“Being able to tap into a new network of philanthropists, potential future investors, my job is to connect our fund to those folks. And so the overarching umbrella is — we want to do good. We want to leave a legacy that lives on long after the fund. But there is inherent value that comes with having a foundation as well. And that’s not lost on me. Like, I’m not going to pretend that that doesn’t exist. How can we leverage the platform of our network in order to do a ton of good? That’s really the goal.”

There are so many fantastic partners and brands part of the event next week.

Can you talk a little bit about, not only the value prop that they get and the unique ways they’re positioned, but even some of the things you might point to where it’s like, “Hey, given my experience in all the events I’ve produced, this is what I’m coming from with a new lens of creating something new that you guys get to be a part of.”

Tricia Gasparini: “Yeah, I think I saw in my prior career so many sort of ‘check the box’ partnerships. So, in my role, I really want to be investing in the brands that are activating at our tournament and in our charity partners. I think historically, because we were just a fund, there wasn’t someone dedicated to maintaining and fostering those relationships. So that’s my job.”

“We have tons of incredible partners. First are our RX3 brands. One perk of being an RX3 brand that we’ve invested in is that they’re all activating at the tournament. So, for example, Therabody will have a sideline activation where they’re using all of their Theraguns on all of our players at the tournament and have a recovery area. We have Hydro, which has one of its machines in our vendor village.”

“There’s the advantage of player gifting. Pretty rare that you can gift 10 NFL quarterbacks in a matter of an afternoon. But it’s quite a perk that our brands get to take advantage of. We’ve got Boys and Girls Club, Make-A-Wish, Rady Children’s, American Cancer Society, Love One — the list goes on and on. Some of those charity partners are past charity recipients who are coming back and get to receive funds year after year. And then some of those are net new.”

“Just continuing to expand our sphere of partnership and influence — both on the brand side and the charity side — is one of the perks of this dual role of supporting both charity partners and brands.”

Do you see this as a Southern California community play? Do you want to expand this in the future? How are you looking at that?

Tricia Gasparini: “Yeah, it’s a good question. We started on a high school football field. So this was very small-scale. It was something that all of our investors got to come out to, and it was this intimate sort of backyard experience. And I think I love that hometown feel — it feels local, but it has that sort of once-in-a-lifetime element of being able to see 10 NFL quarterbacks, athletes, and celebrities all in a matter of an afternoon. I want to grow intentionally.”

“Our charity basketball tournament will be local to Orange County. So definitely the vision is to continue to expand, and our charity networks are helping us do that. We have local and national charity recipients. And so you can see those folks sort of drawing us into different parts of the country as we expand our events.”

Let’s say I’m a first-time attendee. What are the main takeaways you want someone to have? Like, “Hey, if you’re coming, you’ve got to see this, or you’ve got to experience it like this.”

Tricia Gasparini: “Yeah. So we’re very intentional. The cost of our GA ticket is 50 bucks. Like, you can’t park at an NFL stadium for that.”

Yeah, I was going to say — so far, like, a hundred bucks.

Tricia Gasparini: “Very intentional about wanting to make the event approachable for anyone to be able to attend. I’d say that’s number one. We have additional tiers of tickets that we have — Select is $200. Then we have VIP, which sells out every year. That experience is sort of different depending on your ticket tier. But I would say the goal of the event is that everyone there understands the reason why we’re there, which is that you’re raising funds for charities that are having an impact in your community.”

“Unlike other opportunities that some of these quarterbacks get, this one, they are doing it for charity. Each of them brings a charity to us that they support through the tournament. A really unique structure. Same on the sponsorship side. So each of our donors is bringing a charity of their choice forward, and we’re supporting those organizations.”

“For a first-time attendee, I’d want you to feel that sort of epic day of football and philanthropy, and community. It’s really super special and unique. We offer that through the vendor village, where brands and charities activate. You have a kids’ zone that has big inflatables. We’ve got food vendors. It’s just such a wonderful, wholesome, family-friendly day”.

“I want everyone to walk away feeling like, not only did I have an incredible experience, but I also was able to support some of these incredible charities that I got to meet.”

The athletes and the quarterbacks get to integrate their charities into it. I assume that’s obviously a big value prop here. Can you dive a little deeper into that? Even the experience of them interacting with the kids and some of the takeaways?

Tricia Gasparini: “Yeah. A unique element of the RX3 Foundation is that we are cause-agnostic. We support organizations that span categories and purposes. We allow our donors, our athletes, and celebrities to identify their charities of choice that they’re passionate about. A lot of these guys have built a charity of their own now.”

“And so it’s a unique way for them to be able to come out, bring out their charity of choice. We support — the Foundation supports — their activating in our vendor village. So it’s a nice touchpoint for their charity to engage local attendees. Not only are they dedicating and donating their time, but they’re also so good about making the rounds and signing autographs and giving, especially the kids that are in attendance, this incredible moment of meeting your idol, meeting your hero.”

“It’s a nice moment for them. They also say it’s rare — despite the fact that they’re playing each other all season, this is a moment that they look forward to. They all get to mess around and joke around with each other in a way they don’t often get.”

Any moments that stick out to you or you can recall? It could be player-to-player interaction, kid-to-vendor — anything where you’re like, “Oh man, I’ll never forget that.”

Tricia Gasparini: “There are so many moments where you get to witness a kid having that moment that they will remember for the rest of their life. We’ve got this really cool photo from last year of this family decked out in Bills gear. It’s mom, dad, daughter, and son — all decked out in Bills gear.

And Josh [Allen] is throwing the girl a football, and her smile is just lit up. That is a moment that the family will take away and will have with them for the rest of their life. And Josh is dedicating his time. He’s raised funds for the Patricia Allen Foundation, a foundation that he started for his grandmother.”

“And so it’s a win for him. But to give these people that experience — it makes you emotional to think about. What a wonderful way that you can do a lot of good and give these people a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience. I mean, the guys hamming it up — I thought it was pretty hysterical last year.

We do a quarterback auction at the start of the day. So we line up all the quarterbacks, and our team sponsors can bid on a round. And if they win that round, they get to choose among the remaining quarterbacks who they want to quarterback their team.”

“You can tell the guys are sort of messing with each other, being like, “Who’s going to be first? Who’s going to be second?” And a unique element, too, is that those funds are split. So the quarterback’s charity receives some of the funds from that auction, the team sponsor’s charity receives funds from that auction, and the RX3 Foundation as well.”

“Every element of the tournament is centered around — yes, it’s this cool moment, but how are we also giving back?”

I know you have the basketball tournament coming up. How do you see the next five years? What’s kind of that North Star where you’re like, “I want to get to this”?

Tricia Gasparini: “Yeah, there are dollar-value North Stars. I want to continue to raise funds. More importantly, it is expanding our events so that we can do more good, so that we can have more charity recipients, and so that we can tap into new networks of individuals. I think it’s really building a legacy that all of our investors can be really proud of and look at and say, ‘Yes, we’re doing something special and unique on the investment side of the business.'”

“But that’s the thing I can point to — when I’m gone, or as I’m going — and say, “I got to be a part of this really special, unique foundation.” That’s my goal — really to make sure that our investors can be proud of the work that we’re doing.”

Our special thanks to Tricia Gasparini for the interview and for sharing her time and perspective with us. Purchase tickets to the Celebrity Flag Football Tourney here.