re: How do we set ourselves up to recruit in the portal henceforth?

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Here is some further information that is being shared this week:

A group of donors who love Auburn has pooled their resources to make sure Auburn University
develops a championship level Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) collective. We have established
Friends of Auburn, LLC to be used as the ownership vehicle for our collective.
This NIL collective presents an opportunity for Auburn to have the resources to consistently
compete for SEC and National Championships throughout our athletics program. Over the last few
years, we have lost that position in several of our sports as other schools have united their
supporters and created the communication and “financial network" required to win
championships. Unfortunately, during this same time period, the Auburn Family has remained
splintered.
Here is the reality – the Supreme Court has ruled the NCAA cannot prohibit players from monetizing
their name, image and likeness. Whether we like it or not, it is now the law of the land. This ruling
has resulted in NIL collectives being formed at most every college throughout the country, and
through those collectives, tens of millions of dollars are now being paid legally to college
athletes. NIL is here to stay in some form and most experts in this field predict it will continue to
substantially grow over the upcoming years. Schools throughout the country have established
collectives to legally assist their student athletes with their financial needs, and for us to be
competitive, we must acknowledge and take advantage of this reality.
Most of you are aware that Rick Davidson established NIL-Auburn, LLC in 2021. Friends of Auburn,
LLC is in the process of acquiring and restructuring part of all of NIL-Auburn, LLC and ensuring that
our new collective has the resources it needs to be successful going forward. We need you to
become part of our donor group.
In order to achieve our goal, we must do two things:
1. Unify our support base
2. Immediately provide financial support to Friends of Auburn, LLC
Simply stated - to win championships we must have talent at least equal to our rivals, and without
a successful NIL program we have no chance of obtaining the level of talent required to compete
for championships.
Immediate need
We must raise $5 million to cover our existing needs from now through December 2022. All
donations can be addressed to Friends of Auburn LLC and mailed to
Friends of Auburn, LLC
129 South College, Unit 601
Auburn, AL 36830
These donations will immediately be used to fulfil existing student athlete contracts from multiple
sports and fulfil pending contracts for upcoming football and basketball commitments and
transfers.
Unified support base
Most of you have been involved in owning or running companies or organizations, as have I. We all
clearly understand that success is impossible without a clearly defined organized network and clear
lines of communication. This currently exists at our rival schools such as Alabama, Georgia and
Texas A&M, and that is why these football programs are where they are.
Let’s all understand the reality that in order to achieve our shared goal of getting Auburn back to
consistently competing for championships we must come together and form a unified donor base,
with open and frequent communication, and with financial support for our newly restructured NIL
collective.
Please forward this email to every donor who shares our goal of uniting our donor base
and providing Auburn the resources it needs to compete for championships. Feel free to send me
your contacts if you prefer for me to reach out to them directly.
Funding sources
Direct donations from valued loyal donors like you will always be required, but especially so in the
next few months. However, long-term success will rely on many other revenue sources such as
media rights, corporate gifts, creative new advertising opportunities and a marketing campaign to
donors of all levels throughout the Auburn Family. In the future, our NIL must tap into these areas
as well as negotiate new and creative revenue sources.
The management team of Friends of Auburn, LLC pledges to be good stewards of your
donations. We intend to run the collective with as few expenses as possible, to be clear and
transparent in our accounting with our donors, and to run this effectively as a non-profit
organization – no member of this collective will be paid for their services or ever " make a profit".
As we move forward with this collective, we need to identify a Chief Executive Officer to run our
collective. The CEO needs to help us identify multiple revenue sources, many of which do not exist
today. In the coming weeks we will start the search for a CEO to lead our collective.
Thank you for your consideration and thank you for your love and support of Auburn.
War Eagle!

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