NFL player Carl Nassib has unveiled a new social media app he hopes will connect volunteers with local nonprofit groups and allow those groups a possible steady stream of donations.
Rayze is an idea he developed four years ago, Nassib told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, when he was volunteering while playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I had an amazing experience volunteering at a juvenile delinquent center,” Nassib said. “What really struck me was, it was a half a mile from where I went to work everyday. Half a mile from a team full of millionaires and a community full of billionaires and nobody even knew it was there.”
People wanting to volunteer will be able to use the app to find organizations in their area that fit their interests. At the same time, nonprofits can use the app as a way to more seamlessly get donations, the app’s website says. The app is also designed to serve as a social media space designed “to be a space that users can turn to, day in and day out, for a little dose of positivity,” the app’s website says.
Giving back seems to be a passion of Nassib, who in 2021 became the first active NFL player to come out as gay and whose $100,000 donation to the LGBTQ organization The Trevor Project sparked a flurry of donations across the country.
Rayze, assuming it properly vets nonprofits so donations go to truly worthy organizations, is a great idea and I can see the appeal. It is itself a for-profit business. Using the app is free, but “if a verified organization opts to accept donations on Rayze, we do charge a platform fee of 1% for all donations with a minimum fee of 25¢ per donation,” the app’s website says.
Nassib, a defensive end who was released by the Las Vegas Raiders this spring, is still looking for a new job with an NFL teams, but time is growing short as training camps are in full swing starting this week.
