The 1861 Foundation Takes A Different Approach to NIL
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Catherine Clark is one of the most passionate Husky fans you'll ever meet. The former swimmer at the University of Washington graduated in 1985, now owns her own law practice, and has always looked for ways to stay involved with UW athletics.
What started with offering current student-athletes summer internships at her law firm has evolved into the 1861 NIL Foundation, with some help from a current member of the Husky football team.
"It comes from [current Husky tight end] Devin Culp wanting to give back to his community," said Clark, the executive director of the 1861 Foundation said. "We went to the same high school... and when I found that out I said that I wanted to meet him... and we've been friends ever since. When NIL stuff dropped, we started talking about what we could do, and Devin wanted to go back to Spokane, and so I said why don't we do a camp?"
Joined by tight end Quentin Moore and quarterback Tyson Lang, a camp was organized at Gonzaga Prep, Clark and Culp's alma mater. It got such a positive response that two more were organized, one led by quarterback Sam Huard at Kennedy Catholic High School, and another by linebacker Carson Bruener at Redmond High School. While everything Clark has organized so far has been localized in the state of Washington, she has much bigger goals.
Accompanied by the 1861 Foundation's board of directors, which includes Husky Hall of Famers Steve Emtman, Mario Bailey, Greg Lewis, and Lawyer Milloy, as well as current Seattle Seahawks tight end Will Dissly, they want to make sure everyone who wears purple and gold has an opportunity to take advantage of NIL.
“The 1861 NIL Foundation is another example of what the Husky Family knows: All those before you are behind you,” Milloy said in a press release. “We are interested in teaching the student-athlete skills in marketing, communication, and building their own brand in a supported NIL space today. We believe these skills will be an asset to them in their future.”
"We here in Seattle love to give back to our community, but we think we can give back to our greater community," Clark said. "Say if we had a player on the [football] team from West Virginia, we would happily talk to him about sending him back with a couple of his buddies to do a camp at his high school to help him give back to the community that got him here."
While giving back through camps and education is going to be the primary function of the 1861 Foundation, they also put on the now annual Dawg Derby. Run out of the Port of Everett, paying fans have an opportunity to go fishing with their favorite Husky football player and compete in a "biggest catch" competition. Since the foundation is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, any payment fans make for events like the Dawg Derby is tax deductible and goes directly to the players.
Clark didn't hold back when discussing the opportunities that Washington's NIL plan can help student-athletes. "Our NIL is quite significant, and probably the best in the country because we take a different view of it," she said. "We have these three entities with different groups of people having different points of view working collaboratively on all these things."
The groups that Clark is referring to are Montlake Futures, the official NIL collective of the University of Washington, and the Montlake Players, which has similar goals to the 1861 Foundation. Giving back to the community is already paying huge dividends, and creating the next generation of Husky student-athletes and fans.
"We had a family come in from Moses Lake, which is about 110 miles from Spokane, where Devin's camp was held," Clark said. "The family's middle child was interested in the camp, and they brought their youngest child along, who was six and bouncing. So I said, 'why is this child not out there?' and they told me that they didn't sign him up, and I told them 'well I'm one of the sponsors, and I'm signing him up right now, go!'"
That kind of impact on the next generation is what Clark and her board are aiming to achieve with every event they put on. If you want to listen to the entire conversation with Clark, visit the video at the top of the page! Learn more about the 1861 NIL Foundation right here.
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