On a single afternoon of three-on-three basketball, Kevin Durant took the floor alongside Chris Bosh, Chet Holmgren, Elena Delle Donne and Dawn Staley — and none of them earned a dime for showing up. That was the whole point of the inaugural USA Basketball Foundation × RX3 Charity 3×3 Tournament, where every dollar raised went directly to charitable causes chosen by the athletes themselves. The event marks the basketball debut of a formula that has already proven itself on football fields: RX3 Growth Partners, the consumer growth equity firm co-founded by Byron Roth, Nate Raabe and Aaron Rodgers, has generated more than $13 million through its annual celebrity flag football tournament over five years, including a record $4.2 million at last March’s event alone.
For many participants, the choice of beneficiary carried deep personal weight. Durant directed his share to the Durant Family Foundation, which he started in 2013 and which is led today by his mother Wanda — an organization focused on exposing young people to opportunities beyond their neighborhoods through college visits and mentorship programming such as Build It And They Will Ball initiatives renovating courts nationwide.. “A lot of the things we do,” he said while reflecting on its work expanding horizons for youth “we speak about leaving th eneighborhoodand seeing what’s out therefor yo u.So taki ngcollegevisits,we d oa,l otofstuffforthe kid s.T h ec om mun ityhasbeenrespondingwell.Sowe’ reexcitedaboutthefuture.”
Delle Do n ne too sees giving backasdeeplypersonal .Her oldsisterhasspecialneeds ,andshesaysherabilitytoputaballth roughahoophasadoptedpeopletolistentoher—aplatformsheintendsneverto waste.” Myoldersister ‘sdefinitelybeenmywhy ,”sheexplained “.She ‘sgotseverals pe cialneed s.Forsome r ea sonbecauseIwasable topu tabal linairehooppeopl elisten-t omean IknewIw ant edtodosomethingwiththatplatform.SoalwaysgivebacktotheSpecialOlympicsandspecia ln eedscommunity.””
That senseofauthenticityiswhatorganizerssaymakesthemodelwork.NateR aa benotedtha ta thletescanspotinsincerit yinstantl yan dsayyesonlywhencause feelsreal :”Wheneverbuil dinganykindrelationshipauthent ictycomes intoplay…We foundr easontheastonishingtalentwecang etisbecausewereallyouttryi ngdogoodraise alota ndawarenessfordifferentcharitiies.”.Tokeepdonorse ngagedexecutivedirectorT ric iaGasparinidesignedeventssothatcrowdfundraisingthresholdsunlockliveoncourtmomentsthroughou td ay:”Havi ngexperiencespeoplecan’tbuyreallyunique.Ifyoucanfindwaysto inc entiviz egroupsindividualsr allytogetherinf undraisi ngy ou candolotmoregood.”Eachathletechann elsproceedstoownchosen charitymeaningonedayactivationripples ac rossdozenscommunitiesnat ionwide .
Beyondfundraisingpartnershipreflectssharedbeliefthatcharacter——notjustskill—isbestpredictorfuturesuccess.DawnStaleythree-timeOlympicgoldmedalistturneddynasty-buildingcoachSouthCarolinaputhblunt ly :“Whoyouareasbas ketballplay er shouldn ’ tb eleadingthinginy ourlife.Wealknowatsom epoin tt hey[b asketballs kills]s tartgoingdownhill,andthenyo u’relef twithwh oy ouareasperson.”JennifeLynnWilliam schiefdevelopmentofficerUSA Basketballexplainsorganizationfocusesonthreep illars:youthdeve lopment,champion ingwomen,socialresponsibility.“Wewantt og rowgameandeverybodyhaveaccessregardlesssocioeconomicstatus,”s hes