Robert Ashcraft is the executive director of the Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation at Arizona State University. He teaches a class called “How to start a 501(c)(3).” “Before you do anything, you do an environmental scan within your particular area of purpose,” Ashcraft said. “And it could be across anything. Food insecurity and solving hunger. Child development or after-school youth sports programs. Whatever it may be. “What organizations are already deeply involved in that? Who is already in the space?” It’s often far more efficient for professional athletes to use their fame and fortune to enhance the fundraising and social impact of an existing nonprofit, Ashcraft advised, rather than creating an organization that duplicates programs and services within a community. Eli Manning, the former New York Giants quarterback and 2016 co-Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, partnered with the Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health Foundation to launch the Tackle Kids Cancer initiative, which has raised more than $22 million in seven years, the hospital system confirmed. Manning spends time with sick children, has donated millions of his own money and in 2021 joined the Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation board of trustees.