Utah Youth Sports Giving Day exceeded its goal of raising $3 million in its inaugural fundraising campaign for youth sports nonprofits across the state.
The Miller Sports + Entertainment-led initiative hoped to raise the $3 million over the course of two weeks to expand the accessibility of youth sports, but the goal was met within a couple of hours during its launch event Saturday at the Salt Lake Bees’ “Bee Charitable Night.”
“Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would raise $1 million in nine minutes,” Jenny Teemsma, Miller Sports + Entertainment’s head of communications, said. “Just absolutely surpassed what we thought was possible, and to already be at $1.6 million in a couple hours — we were wondering if we would even meet it in two weeks.”
Contributions were matched dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million by Utah 2034, America First Credit Union, SME Industries Inc., Mountainland Supply, the Forever Young Foundation, George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, the Huntsman Family Foundation, Maverik, Ken Garff for Good, The Boyer Company, and the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation.
Another $500,000 from those organizations was distributed pro rata among the over 150 nonprofits participating in Utah Youth Sports Giving Day.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to see the generosity from Utahns,” Luke Ragland, chief impact officer of the Daniels Fund, said Saturday. “They showed up tonight and raised an incredible amount of money in just such a short amount of time. I think it’s going to make a big difference in terms of giving kids access to sports.”
The Daniels Fund inspired the Utah initiative.
In 2024, the organization launched the Colorado Youth Sports Giving Day after noticing the rising costs of youth sports participation.
The amount the average American sports family spent on their child’s primary sport increased 46% from 2019 to 2024, according to a 2025 survey from the Aspen Institute.
For the Colorado initiative’s second year, Teemsma, Miller Sports + Entertainment president Michelle Smith, and vice president of community relations Kyle Schroeder traveled to Denver, where they were asked if they’d like to replicate the campaign in Utah.
“We were all up for it,” Smith told the Deseret News in June at the initiative’s announcement.
In three years, Colorado Youth Sports Giving Day has raised over $9 million since its launch. Utah Youth Sports Giving Day made over a third of that in its first day.
“They are clearly leaders in the Utah philanthropic and business space and so for us, it was an incredible partnership, and the success of Utah has me worried about them coming for Colorado and passing us,” Ragland said Saturday. “The Larry and Gail Miller Family Foundation, Miller Sports + Entertainment, they’ve taken this thing I think to the next level in showing what’s possible in the first year of operating, and we’re lucky and honored to partner with them.”
