Sports Philanthropy World is a yearly event held by the Sports Philanthropy Network, with a mission to use sports as a way to change lives and transform communities. Sports Philanthropy World was held this year, August 3-5 in Washington, D.C., hosted by The George Washington University’s Sports Philanthropy Executive Certificate program.
SPN works with athletes, their foundations, community sports nonprofits, teams, leagues, and universities to educate and train their staff to find where they can make changes around how they use sports for the better of everyone in their communities.
The founder of Sports Philanthropy Network Roy Kessel spoke about how sports has impacted his life and why he continues in the industry now 30 years later.
“I’ve made a lot of good friends in sports, and just seeing the power that sports has to break down barriers and bring people together,” said Kessel.
This year’s conference saw increased attendance with 37 different states represented by attendees attending according to Kessel. This growth is expected to continue with next year’s projections expected to surpass this year’s attendance record. There is a lot of excitement and buzz with Sports Philanthropy World 2027 planned to take place in Pasadena, California with the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation acting as the presenting sponsor. Next year’s conference is planned for June.
“We’re excited because we’re back on our June window, which is our preferred date. We moved it this year so we wouldn’t have to compete with the World Cup,” said Kessel.
Sports fans were excited to be a part of the conference with an estimated 263 people in attendance. The event wasn’t shy of speakers either, 88 of whom gave a good mix of keynotes, panels, roundtables, and workshops.
“I think the part that I love seeing is it just shows that there’s a huge interest and demand in this sector. When we started the first year, people said nobody’s heard of Sports Philanthropy World as a conference, you’re not going to get 40 people there, and we ended up with 120 organizations six months after we launched,” said Kessel.
As a part of the conference, SPW held a pitch competition for organizations to showcase how they’re using the power of sports to change lives. This year’s pitch competition winner was Uplifting Athletes.
Uplifting Athletes works to ensure that no person impacted with a rare disease feels alone and everyone is inspired with hope for the future,” according to their official website.
Among the festivities of the conference, Sports Philanthropy World inducted American sports agent and philanthropist Leigh Steinberg into their inaugural Hall of Fame. Steinberg was there promoting the recent release of his new book, The Comeback: A Playbook for Turning Life’s Setbacks into Victories.
“He was among the first to really help his athletes and train them how to give back to the community. He [also] was probably the first agent to really look into the issue of concussions and brain health as something to be concerned about,” said Kessel on Steinberg’s qualifications for the honor.
The awards portion of Sports Philanthropy World was hosted by our own award-winning sports journalist Kelsey Nicole Nelson and American former football player Nick Lowery. Steinberg formerly represented Lowery for 10 years during his time as a professional football player. Sports Philanthropy World 2026 is the first time an awards ceremony was held with awards given to many categories. Plans have been made for the awards to return next year.
“Those of us who are lucky enough to have success, if we lose connection, then what is it worth? To me, this is what [the awards ceremony] is about. Reminding ourselves and connecting to all of us doing great things,” said Lowery.
Some honorees of the event included professional and college athletes, journalists, educators, and coaches.
“I think one of the things that we looked at was helping to bring a higher profile to some of these groups this year. I know that our goal for next year is to have a lot more advance notice for the recipients in order to get more of them on site,” said Kessel.
Looking ahead, Kessel shared what we can expect to see at Sports Philanthropy World 2026 in Pasadena, June 23-25. This was formally announced at the end of the awards ceremony in D.C.
“We’ve been having conversations, but given the growth that we’ve seen this year, I think we’re going to be fortunate to have higher-profile panelists, and we’re also expecting that we’ll have at least 400 people next year,” said Kessel.
You can find Sports Philanthropy Network on X, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn for updates and information on their work in sports and upcoming events.
Photos by Listen in With KNN host award-winning journalist Kelsey Nicole Nelson.
Digital and Editorial Summer intern for Listen in with KNN.