About

Heels4life

Our

Mission

Heels4Life adds value to the scholarships of the UNC Football team through Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities. Our work provides financial, educational, and professional development support while facilitating charitable engagements to benefit the Tar Heel community.

Name, Image & Likeness

A TOOL For Good

Heels4Life is committed to providing The University of North Carolina’s football student-athletes with unique, valuable, and enriching opportunities by leveraging their Name, Image, and Likeness rights with the Tar Heel community.

Whether for financial or in-kind benefit, Heels4Life ensures that our student-athletes receive the ability to give back to deserving charities and participate in professional and educational initiatives. We seek to add value to every Tar Heel football player’s experience in Chapel Hill and help prepare them for life beyond campus.

NIL legislation has allowed countless deserving nonprofits to benefit from the promotion of student-athletes as well as help lessen the divide between athletes and non-athlete students. By providing these valuable opportunities to our student-athletes, Heels4Life seeks to lighten the financial burden many young people face while participating in intercollegiate athletics.

Heels4Life believes there is no better university than North Carolina to develop the personal and professional skills needed to be successful. We support championship-level athletics and championship-level young people.

Become A Member

Frequently

Asked Questions

What Is NIL?

NIL stands for Name, Image, and Likeness. NIL now provides the opportunity for student-athletes to be compensated for the use of their name, image, and likeness.

What Are The Main Rules Of NIL?

NIL does not allow for any “pay to play”, which means Heels4Life does not contract student-athletes to induce their enrollment in, or transfer to, the university. Additionally, players are required to provide services for all compensation received. Heels4Life manages our student-athletes’ obligations to ensure all regulations are met.

What Is Heels4Life?

Heels4Life is the NIL Collective supporting UNC Football student-athletes by creating opportunities for student-athletes to build and enhance their personal brand while also serving local non-profits. Heels4Life actively engages with the Tar Heel business community and the dedicated fan base to identify ways to enhance each player’s experience in Chapel Hill and prepare them for life beyond it.

What Is The Relationship With The University Of North Carolina?

Heels4Life does not have any official relationship with the University of North Carolina and UNC Athletics. Heels4Life is organized independently to provide for third-party opportunities. Heels4Life and the university are aligned in their missions to find any and all compliant ways to support student-athletes. As NIL evolves, so will the ability for each party to work together towards this common goal.

Why Should A Donor Give To NIL?

NIL marks the greatest change to the competitive landscape of college athletics in a generation. Heels4Life is working hard to use NIL as a beneficial tool for our players and the Chapel Hill community. The destination and usage of donor and corporate contributions is extremely important to Heels4Life and our Board of Directors, which is made up of some of the most ardent Tar Heel supporters. We work hard to ensure that all dollars are appropriately used for maximum impact and benefit to the student-athletes.

Who Can Give To Heels4Life?

Individuals: Individuals can give private donations to Heels4Life in return for exclusive benefits like content, merchandise, memorabilia, and experiences with the players and staff.

Businesses: Businesses can support Heels4Life with marketing dollars through our corporate sponsorship program. Options include a general Heels4Life sponsorship which provides marketing promotion on our social media, website, and print materials. Additionally, businesses can request promotion by players via their personal social media and time. More information can be found here.

How Are Student-Athletes Compensated?

Student-athletes are paid by raising money or providing a service to community charities and nonprofits or by connecting with local businesses to market their goods or services. These activities could include autograph sessions, meet & greets, service work at non-profit events, promotion of a charities event or cause, after school programs, etc.

What Is The Founders Club?

The Founders Club represents the top four levels of donors to Heels4Life. The levels range from $10k to $100k annually. These individuals will be given a robust benefits package for their support. Interested parties can email foundersclub@heels4life.org for more information.

How Do I Change Or Cancel My Membership?

Contact support@heels4life.org and a Heels4Life staff member will assist with your membership requests.

Our

Leadership Team

Graham Boone

Executive Director

Heels4Life is led by former sports agent and partnerships executive, Graham Boone. A tried-and-true Tar Heel, Boone is a Concord, NC native, Carolina graduate, and Morehead-Cain Scholar. His mission is to extend the reach of Heels4Life by building relationships with business leaders, corporate partners, donors, and external constituents interested in NIL opportunities for Tar Heel football players.

Prior to Heels4Life, Boone served as an NBA player agent for nearly a decade and helped to represent athletes such as Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, and Jeremy Lin, as well as many Tar Heels including Wayne Ellington, Tyler Hansbrough, John Henson, and Marvin Williams. Boone later served as Principal at Nolan Partners, a global executive search firm that specializes in sports and entertainment placements and worked with some of the largest organizations in sport including the NFL, Milwaukee Bucks, Tennessee Titans, and more. Most recently, Boone worked as Vice President of Partnerships at Blue Wire, where he helped lead external relationships with creators, brands, agencies, and media platforms at the digital sports media company.

Colleen Minton

Chief Operating Officer

Colleen has 30 years of marketing, communications, event production and business management experience. After graduating, she started her career in New York City working for a Top 10 public relations agency on their largest international account. After marrying a Chapel Hill native, they moved to Atlanta where she moved into corporate supply chain technology, working with industry visionaries establishing some of the foundational technologies that run many supply chains today.

Raised in North Carolina, Colleen and her family moved back in 2009 where she took on re-vamping Rainbow Soccer as Executive Director and founded and directed the sustainable food and drink festival TerraVita. Touted as one of the country’s top events in food and sustainability, she grew the four-day festival to 16 events. When kicking off the festival in 2009, she connected with TABLE (a non-profit dedicated to feeding hungry children in Orange County, NC) when the organization was serving just 30 families a week. Joining TABLE’s board in 2019, she chaired the organization’s $3.4M capital campaign to purchase their new 8,000 square foot space in Carrboro. Through her work with TABLE, she led multiple fundraisers working with UNC athletes, raising more than $650,000 for TABLE and building a relationship with Heels4Life. In September of 2023 she joined Heels4Life as our COO. A graduate of Appalachian State University, she also serves on the ASU Library Board and lives with her husband, two kids and Sheepadoodle in Chapel Hill.