NFL's Carl Nassib Says the 'Cutthroat Business' of Pro Sports Inspired His New Volunteering App, Rayze

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Carl Nassib

Carl Nassib is a pro athlete. He knows the expectations and stereotypes that come with that career choice. Some hold up: he's six-foot-seven, 275 lbs., and drops F-bombs liberally. "It comes with the job," he says with a shrug.

But Nassib shattered those stereotypes when he became the first active pro-football player to came out as gay last year. (He did that with a shrug too; he released a quick Instagram video and then hit the practice field, then playing for the Raiders.) In a surprise move, the NFL organization followed Nassib, matching his $100,000 donation to the Trevor Project, a non-profit that offers vital support to young LGBTQ+ people, including crisis intervention, suicide prevention services and resources and guidance targeting mental health issues.

"The NFL went out of their way to support me, to support the Trevor Project, and to show how the impact of how one person doing something for others can be compounded."

It's this notion, this contagion of kindness, which drives Nassib today. He mentions the parent of a gay child recently thanking Nassib's father for his son's coming out. ("He was so excited to tell me.") He brings up his childhood best friend, who taught him about how positive and negative energy can be passed on.

Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire/Getty Carl Nassib, right

"For 15 years, Nick has been a person who's pulled me back to center," Nassib explains. "He shows kindness to people even when he's pissed. I've learned from him, when you wanna get angry and you wanna let the sh-it roll down hill, he tells me, 'No, let it stop with you. Break the cycle.'"

This can be hard, he says, given his chosen career.

"I think football's the most competitive sport. The whole business is very cutthroat. And it can lead you to ultra competitiveness. And that toxic competition trait, it can bleed into other aspects. It becomes common place to say, 'That guy sucks. That guy is terrible. This coach is an idiot. That player is lazy.' And then that can bleed into other aspects of your life."

But on the flip side, Nassib has recently harnessed, literally, the power of passing it on. Then he put it on your phone. Last month, Nassib launched Rayze, an app which, via geolocation, matches people and non-profits. A Tinder for volunteering. Nassib says the idea occurred to him four years ago, when he was volunteering in Tampa — the first time he played for the Bucs — at a juvenile detention facility.

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"And it was half a mile from a team of millionaires, and a family of billionaires. And nobody knew that these kids, 14 year olds who were given Dr. Seuss books, were right there. So I left that day, and I was, like, "There needs to be an app…"

The app allows people to volunteer (they can use the app to find organizations in their area which fit their interests)and it allows non-profits to accept donations. (The app charges a 1 perfect processing fee for the transaction, which the non-profit pays.) "Donations are so down now. Gen Z does not write checks."

Nassib adds Rayze can actually bring a little romance, like those other apps too.

"It's something that people run to when they want to give back. Say, you have a Saturday afternoon, a Sunday morning to kill, you want to go on a date with somebody and you don't, you don't want to go get a coffee for the millionth time. You don't want to get a drink for the millionth time. So, 'Hey, why don't we just go pick up garbage?" Or 'why don't we, like, hand out lunches somewhere as our first date, as a way to give back?' You know what I mean?"

An algorithm for kindness.