NFL Player To Match Donations Up To $100K

The NFL’s Carl Nassib is celebrating Pride and the one year anniversary of his coming out by making a new pledge to a non-profit that helps LGBTQ youth, The Trevor Project, matching donations, dollar for dollar, up to $100,000.

Nassib made history in June 2021 as the first NFL player to come out as gay while actively playing. He did so in a video he posted on his social media, announcing his truth as well as a $100,000 personal donation to the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ young people.

“What’s up people,” Nassib said in his coming out post on Instagram. “I’m at my house in West Chester Pennsylvania. I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay.”

On Sunday, Nassib announced his newest pledge on his Instagram account, promising to provide a 1:1 match for all donations up to $100,000 to the organization. That means any donation made to The Trevor Project through a special link—TRVR.org/CarlMatch—will instantly double in value and impact. When the match is met, that’ll result in a total of $200,000 raised.

“We’re so grateful to Carl for his public commitment to supporting LGBTQ youth mental health,” said Amit Paley, CEO & Executive Director of The Trevor Project. “Carl has inspired others to live their own truth, donate to The Trevor Project’s life-saving mission, and to accept and support the LGBTQ people in their lives. Our research has found that over 80% of youth said that celebrities who are LGBTQ positively impact how they feel about being LGBTQ. We need more champions like Carl who empower LGBTQ young people and help them see a bright future for themselves.”

Nassib is now a free agent, after spending two years with the Las Vegas Raiders, and previously playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns.

After he made his donation last June, his #94 jersey became the top-selling NFL jersey and traffic to The Trevor Project’s website increased by more than 350%. The organization received a 100% increase in daily online donations, helped by a matching contribution by the NFL and his former team.

“That was really exciting day for me,” Nassib said in a video posted to social media by the Raiders in March. “I had wanted to do it for a really long time. I wanted to be in a place where I felt totally comfortable, totally confident to give a voice to people who really needed it the most.

“I was with my friends and family and it definitely was a stressful thing to do, but we were really excited to spread the message of the Trevor Project to bring visibility and representation to the NFL, to sports, and we did it for the youth, for the kids who are struggling the most. That’s who I’m most passionate about and to be able to say I helped them is absolutely incredible.”

Nassib’s generosity comes at a critical time for LGBTQ+ youth, with bills and laws across the U.S. targeting transgender student-athletes, gender-affirming care and even their use of public facilities like bathrooms. As Forbes has reported, roughly 5% of Americans aged 18 to 29 identify as transgender or nonbinary, more than any other adult age group, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 45% of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. The Trevor Project says donations help it to continue to provide all of its crisis services 24/7—for free—as well as train a record number of crisis counselors, and expand its innovative advocacy, research, and education programs.

Find out more about The Trevor Project by clicking here. Follow Carl Nassib on Instagram by clicking here.