Written by PPF Board Member Joe Foss.
When longtime family friend and PPF Chief Strategy Officer Matt Stover invited me to join the PPF Board of Directors in 2021, I said yes with curiosity and optimism. What I found was an organization on the edge of something remarkable.
PPF has evolved from serving primarily athletes to a diverse community of philanthropists by offering fiscal sponsorship that removes the burden of creating and managing a standalone 501(c)(3), enabling projects to focus on impact. The organization now supports a wide range of causes globally, with 600 sponsored projects and $200 million in gifts, powered by a dedicated professional staff.
I have spent my entire career in the financial industry, serving in roles including:
Today, in retirement, I serve on the boards of five organizations. I have seen organizations at every stage of development: startups with big dreams, established institutions navigating change, and everything in between.
When I joined PPF, I described it as an infant who had just learned to walk. A baby who you knew was going to skip, jump, and run very soon because they are developing every single day. That image has never left me. And what has unfolded since has exceeded even my most optimistic expectations.
PPF's original name, Players Philanthropy Fund, reflected who its earliest projects were: athletes with generous hearts and a desire to give back. Something powerful happened as word spread. As a nonprofit, our doors opened to a broader community. Today, less than half of our projects are athletes. Lawyers, accountants, and other professionals with that same generous spirit have discovered what PPF makes possible. The mission has not changed; it has simply found a much larger audience.
What we offer is straightforward but profound: through fiscal sponsorship, we provide a vehicle for people who want to give back without the burden, cost, and complexity of managing their own 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our projects can focus entirely on the causes they care about, with the comfort of knowing that PPF handles all of the back-office accounting and tax filings. We remove the administrative barrier between a generous person and the good they want to do in the world.
I never imagined, when I joined the board, that PPF would be providing services around the world. And yet, here we are. The multitude of causes our projects champion continues to amaze me, from local community initiatives to international humanitarian efforts. Every time I think I have seen the full breadth of what our projects are doing, I learn about something new that stops me in my tracks.
We have now supported 600 projects under fiscal sponsorship and processed more than $200 million in charitable gifts. Behind those numbers is a full-time staff of dedicated professionals who show up every day to help others make a difference. Those are not just statistics; they represent thousands of acts of generosity made possible because someone had a vehicle to carry them forward.
People sometimes ask what a board member actually does on a nonprofit board of directors. The honest answer is that our role is not to run the company; it is to provide advice and guidance to management. Most importantly, it is to ensure that PPF's governance is always grounded in the highest integrity. We must be accountable to all of our stakeholders and manage our pace of growth responsibly. That is a commitment I take seriously, and one I am proud to uphold alongside my fellow board members.
Personally, I have been deeply inspired by PPF's unique approach to giving back and making the world a better place. There is something quietly powerful about an organization that exists not to do good itself, but to make it easier for others to do good. That humble, efficient, and endlessly scalable model is what makes PPF so special.
I look forward to what comes next. If you are curious about what PPF can do for you or someone you know, I encourage you to reach out and start a conversation. The walk has become a run, and there is no sign of slowing down.
To learn more about PPF, fiscal sponsorship, and how to get involved, visit ppf.org/fiscal-sponsorship.