Black Fives Foundation

Name

Black Fives Foundation

Legal name

The Black Fives Foundation

Website

https://blackfives.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage & Sports History Education

NAICS

Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121), Sports and Recreation Instruction (611620), Museums (712110)

akta.pro primary industry

Sports Fundraising & Development Services (Foundations, NIL Collectives Support) (MPAKAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Athletics Fundraising, Sponsorships & NIL Support (EDALAIAN), Cause, Community & CSR-Linked Sports Partnerships (Foundations, Youth Programs) (MPAKALAJ), Youth & Scholastic Sports Organizations (K–12, AAU, Club Leagues) (MPAKACAF)

Keywords

• Sports heritage education
• Cultural archive preservation
• Historical museum exhibitions
• Basketball history programming
• Nonprofit educational foundation

Headquarters

HQ city

Greenwich

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: The organization raises funds through donation campaigns on its giving platform, including the Black Fives Legacy Project General Fund, Education Initiatives, and specific project campaigns such as the New York Rens Memorial Bench and the Black Fives Online Museum Preservation Fund.
2. Merchandise and Apparel Sales: Revenue generated through the sale of licensed merchandise including apparel, vintage-inspired lifestyle products, and historical commemorative items through the Black Fives Shop. Partnerships with brands like '47 Brand for co-branded merchandise collections.
3. Licensing and Cultural IP: The organization commercializes its cultural IP through licensing agreements for the use of team names, logos, and historical imagery on merchandise and in partnership activations. The Black Fives brand and associated trademarks are licensed for commercial use.
4. Partnership and Sponsorship Revenue: Strategic partnerships with sports conferences, teams, and brands generate revenue through co-marketing initiatives, sponsored content, and collaborative events during Black History Month and other programming.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Black Fives Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that preserves, teaches, and honors the pre-NBA history of African American basketball teams and players from 1904 to 1950 (the "Black Fives Era"). It operates an online museum, maintains historical archives and artifacts, runs educational programs and curriculum, produces a podcast, and offers licensed merchandise to make this largely undocumented era of basketball history publicly accessible.

Product overview

Black Fives Foundation operates as a cultural IP and sports heritage platform that researches, preserves, and brings to life the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball through public archives, storytelling, education, partnerships, licensing, and commerce. The core offerings include the Black Fives Online Museum (exhibitions featuring historical artifacts), the Black Fives Foundation Archives (collection of historical materials), Education Initiatives (curriculums and scholarships), the Make History Now Podcast (audio content), and retail merchandise including apparel and the '47 x Black Fives collaboration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Black Fives Online Museum: An ongoing series of exhibitions showcasing artifacts about the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball, from the collections of the Black Fives Archives.
• Black Fives Archives

Products and services

• Black Fives Online Museum Digital museum providing public access to the pre-NBA history of African American basketball teams, players, and venues from 1904-1950. Designed for general public, educators, students, and basketball history enthusiasts.
• Historical Archives & Artifact Collection Preserved collection of historical artifacts, photographs, documents, and memorabilia related to pre-NBA African American basketball, used for research, exhibition, and educational purposes.
• Educational Curriculum & Programs Lesson plans, classroom materials, and educational programming covering the Black Fives Era, designed for K-12 schools, universities, and community organizations.
• Black Fives Era Podcast Audio programming that explores the history of pre-NBA African American basketball through interviews, storytelling, and historical analysis. Distributed on major podcast platforms for general audiences.
• Licensed Merchandise & Apparel Co-branded apparel and merchandise created through partnership with '47 Brand and other licensees, featuring historical Black Fives teams and players. Sold to consumers and used for fundraising.

Quantifiable outcome

• Six million+ social media reach across five years of BIG EAST Black History Month programming
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• BIG EAST ConferenceflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Five-year partnership (2022-2026) during Black History Month integrating Black Fives storytelling across all eleven BIG EAST member schools through conference games, educational initiatives, arena messaging, social media campaigns, historical content, videos, broadcasts, and community engagement. Features historically-inspired warm-up shirts worn by players, locker-room programming, and campus events. Generated more than six million social media reach over the partnership duration. Led by Commissioner Val Ackerman.
• Brooklyn Nets / Barclays CentercoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2013Black History Month celebration partnership featuring Black Fives Era basketball history. Barclays Center unveiled six mural-sized photographic images honoring Brooklyn's African American basketball history throughout the arena's main concourse. Event included presentations and family engagement activities.
• Atlanta HawksminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBlack History Month collaboration featuring Black Fives Era basketball history celebration at Philip's Arena. The partnership brought awareness to early African American basketball pioneers.
• New-York Historical SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost of the first-ever Black Fives Exhibition featuring nearly 200 items from the Foundation's collection. The exhibition ran through July 20, 2014, and presented the comprehensive narrative of African American basketball history from the early 1900s through 1950.
• Smithsonian InstitutioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership honoring NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd at the Smithsonian, featuring Foundation Founder Claude Johnson. The collaboration highlighted early African American basketball history within the context of broader American sports heritage.
• George H.W. Bush Presidential LibraryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBlack Fives Archives artifacts featured in 'E Pluribus Unum,' the exhibition celebrating America's 250th anniversary at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. Highlights the Foundation's role in preserving national basketball heritage.
• '47 BrandcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing partnership for premium vintage sports-inspired lifestyle apparel collection. The '47 x Black Fives Collection launched internationally with events in New York City (Lower East Side) and London (Shoreditch). Products include satin jackets, t-shirts, pennants, bucket hats, and snapbacks featuring Black Fives team names and logos.
• NikeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCollaboration at the 2010 World Basketball Summit in Harlem, bringing together basketball history and contemporary culture. Nike and Basketball Hall of Fame partnered on events from Harlem to Springfield highlighting basketball heritage.
• Fox Sports NetminorGTM or Marketing PartnerTelevision vignette partnership creating new series honoring Black Fives Era pioneers, featuring NBA players and Foundation collaboration for broadcast content.
• Project BackboardminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on the New York Rens Court Mural at Howard Bennett Playground in Harlem. The mural honors the legendary New York Rens and their 1939 championship through public art and community engagement.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Project Backboard: Project Backboard partners with the Black Fives Foundation on the New York Rens Court Mural at Howard Bennett Playground in Harlem. Both organizations use basketball venues as canvases for cultural storytelling, making Project Backboard a direct operating peer in basketball-heritage community programming.
• National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA): The NBRPA (Legends of Basketball) preserves NBA history and supports former players, often in partnership with cultural-heritage initiatives. It is a direct peer because it monetizes basketball legacy through events, merchandise, and storytelling, intersecting directly with the Black Fives Foundation's content and audiences.
• Women's Basketball Hall of Fame: The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame preserves basketball history with a specific demographic focus, paralleling the Black Fives Foundation's era-and-identity-focused mission. Both operate as specialized basketball-heritage museums with archives, exhibits, and education programming for narrower audiences than the Naismith Hall.
• Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum preserves and celebrates pre-integration African American baseball history, directly paralleling the Black Fives Foundation's mission for basketball. Both are nonprofit cultural-heritage institutions monetizing archives via exhibitions, education, and merchandise, making it the most structurally analogous peer.
• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: The Basketball Hall of Fame preserves and exhibits basketball history, including Black contributors to the sport. It is the closest direct peer to the Black Fives Foundation because both operate as basketball-heritage institutions with archives, exhibits, and educational programming, though the Hall of Fame is much larger and focuses on the entire history of the sport.
• The HistoryMakers: The HistoryMakers is the largest African American video oral history archive in the world, preserving first-person accounts from across Black America. It parallels the Black Fives Foundation as a Black-heritage archive and educational nonprofit that monetizes primary-source content through programming, licensing, and institutional partnerships.

Broad incumbents

• National Museum of African American History and Culture: Operated by the Smithsonian, this museum preserves and exhibits African American history across all domains, including sports. The Black Fives Foundation has partnered with the Smithsonian, and the museum serves as the broad incumbent that lends institutional legitimacy to specialized peers like the Foundation.
• National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: The National Baseball Hall of Fame is the established sports-heritage museum in a parallel sport, with similar revenue mix of admissions, retail, licensing, and education. It is a broad incumbent peer that benchmarks how a heritage-focused sports museum can scale operations, merchandise, and licensing.

Emerging players

• Athletes for Hope: Athletes for Hope is a nonprofit connecting professional athletes with charitable causes, including heritage and education initiatives. It is an adjacent peer in the sports-charity and athlete-engagement space where the Black Fives Foundation also operates through partnerships and programming.

Regional players

• Harlem Cultural Archive: The Harlem Cultural Archive documents the cultural history of Harlem, intersecting with the Black Fives Foundation's Harlem-rooted programming. It is a regional peer that operates as a community-driven heritage archive rather than a national-scale sports-heritage institution.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/blackfives
• Facebookfacebook.com/blackfives
• Instagraminstagram.com/blackfives
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-black-fives-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Black Fives Foundation