SBRnet and Sports Philanthropy Network Team Up to Launch GIVE-DEX: Sports Fan Giving Index

GIVE-DEX is designed to measure fan giving to sports-related nonprofit organizations across sports and leagues.

CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES, July 22, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- At the Sports Philanthropy World 2025 Conference in Chicago, SBRnet and Sports Philanthropy Network (SPN) unveiled their GIVE-DEX: Sports Fan Giving Index. GIVE-DEX is a Key Performance Indicator focused on the giving habits of sports fans, measured across multiple factors including sport, league, gender, ethnicity, income and education level.

“We recognized the importance of measuring the level of fan giving,” said Sports Philanthropy Network, Founder, Roy Kessel. “This measurement allows us to benchmark giving patterns which will allows sports teams and organizations to better understand the patterns and identify additional strategies to incentivize and grow fan giving.”

GIVE-DEX combines various data points, all derived from the SBRnet Annual Study of Sports Fandom. In the 2025 Study, two questions were added to the survey, which specifically focused on sports fan giving. The annual survey features responses from over 7,000 sports fans aged 13 years and older. Each respondent interacts with over 70 different data points throughout the survey.

“The challenge arose in how the disparate data was brought together and then normalized to ensure that everyone was dealing on the same playing field,” said Neil Schwartz, President of SBRnet. “After attending the 2024 Sports Philanthropy World Conference, it became clear that fan giving needed its own unique measurement to allow teams and organizations to benchmark across sports, teams, and leagues to provide an annual measurement beyond dollars raised.”

GIVE-DEX considers the size of a team or league's fanbase as well as their giving habits. The data can be broken down further by looking at fans who prefer to consume their sports in person versus those who rely on streaming and/or traditional viewing to enjoy their favorite sporting events.

“It may not be a surprise that fan giving increases with fan attendance,” said Schwartz. “Those in attendance present an obvious target audience for philanthropic activations. However, fans that prefer to stream their sports may spend less money on attendance, so they also present prime candidates for sports giving.

“We believe that building a culture of philanthropy around sports events is crucial to the growth of the sports philanthropy sector,” said Kessel. “By using QR codes, contests and other on-site activations, we strongly believe in a high potential to leverage sports fandom.” “The data shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that a fan who gives to sports-based charities is a more engaged fan which leads to additional money spent on things like licensed merchandise, ticket sales, and social media engagement,” adds Schwartz.

SBRnet and Sports Philanthropy Network have prepared the initial GIVE-DEX report, titled “The Giving Game: Sports Fan Charitable Giving,” which is available for free at GIVE-DEX.com, by clicking on “Download Free GIVE-DEX Report Now."

For those who want a more detailed look at the underlying data, wish to further segment their fans, or become a sponsor of future reports, please reach out to info@give-dex.com.

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ABOUT GIVE-DEX: GIVE-DEX is the Fan Giving Index launched through the partnership of SBRnet and Sports Philanthropy Network. In its inaugural year, GIVE-DEX was launched at the Sports Philanthropy World Conference in Chicago. GIVE-DEX is designed to measure and benchmark fan giving habits by team, sport and league. GIVE-DEX also breaks down giving habits by gender, race, fan attendance and viewing habits and socio-economic backgrounds. GIVE-DEX continues to evolve its methodology to incorporate more data points and a broader cross section of fans. For more information about GIVE-DEX, please visit their website at https://GIVE-DEX.com.

ABOUT SBRNET:
SBRnet and the Sports Market Analytics Platform offer a comprehensive online resource for data that is focused on the sports business, sports marketing, and marketing analytics. They utilize syndicated, custom, and proprietary research covering professional, minor league, and college sports, as well as consumer research focused on the business side of sports.

ABOUT SPORTS PHILANTHROPY NETWORK:
Sports Philanthropy Network creates social impact by creating collaborations with athletes, foundations, community sports nonprofits and larger sports organizations (teams, leagues, governing bodies, associations, universities, etc.). Sports Philanthropy Network builds stronger, healthier and more inclusive communities by: (1) amplifying the community and philanthropic work of athletes and sports organizations; (2) connecting nonprofits to the people, resources and technologies that they need to be successful; and (3) providing professional development and educational programs (such as the Sports Philanthropy Academy and Resilience Alliances) and by serving as a resource to global nonprofits. With over 20 chapters established since 2023, Sports Philanthropy Network continues its expansion with an eye towards launching task forces in late 2025 as well as international programming in 2026. For more information about Sports Philanthropy Network, please visit their website at https://SportsPhilanthropyNetwork.org.

Sports Philanthropy Network operates through a fiscal sponsorship with Players Philanthropy Fund (Federal Tax ID: 27-6601178), a Texas nonprofit corporation recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (ppf.org/pp). Contributions to the Sports Philanthropy Network are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Roy Kessel
Sports Philanthropy Network
+1 312-498-4653
rkessel@sportsphilanthropynetwork.org
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