Editor’s Note: This story is part of our series “Helping Hands”, which aims to spotlight Johnson Countians doing good in the background of their community. If you have an idea for someone to spotlight in a future “Helping Hands” story, email us at stories@johnsoncountypost.com.
Roughly three years ago, Johnson County natives Sam Shortall and Davis Engle teamed up to create a new experience for sports fans on their home turf.
The two friends had grown up together in Overland Park before heading their separate ways after high school: Engle to Los Angeles, California, and Shortall to Dallas, Texas.
During his time in Los Angeles, Engle said he saw how easy it was for people in affluent communities there to stumble upon “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities: run-ins with famous actors, pro athletes, things of that nature.
He said it got him wondering, how could he bring some of those experiences back to his hometown? The answer became clear: through fantasy sports.
“We just gamified a way to make it all happen, where it’s not just directly purchasing these experiences through an auction or something like that,” Engle said.
So Engle and Shortall (who moved back to the Kansas City area from Texas to help work on the app) launched TokenTourney, a fantasy sports app designed to help sports fans guess their way into winning both cash and “experience”-driven prizes.
In addition to vying for the chance to shoot hoops with their favorite athlete, there’s a new purpose for players to place their guesses on TokenTourney: to help their community. This year, Shortall and Engle have begun the process of partnering with local nonprofits and athletic organizations to provide funding for community causes through the app.
TokenTourney lets fans guess their way to victory
TokenTourney is a team of two. Engle serves as the CEO, while Shortall is the director of operations.
Through the app, sports fans make initial guesses on how well their favorite players will do in upcoming games. If they’re correct, then they advance to the next level.
When TokenTourney underwent beta testing back in the summer of 2023, the duo said a lot of initial support for the app grew from Johnson County.
“A bunch of our investors are based in Overland Park, and our families both live in Overland Park,” Engle said. “While it’s not our primary means of marketing, word of mouth is very powerful, especially at the beginning.”
The new effort aims to bridge a gap
Through this new effort, Engle and Shortall hope to partner with organizations like local nonprofits and university athletics departments on their fundraising goals.
Particularly for organizations that have aging or dwindling donor bases, the duo said this partnership gives them an opportunity to help capture the attention of younger donors who are interested in sports.
“We saw that our platform could be very valuable in a way that actually did solve a problem, and that was helping organizations that are trying to raise money have a new way,” Engle said. “We think our platform is uniquely positioned to help charities, university athletic departments, athlete foundations, you name it, to consistently engage their donors and bring in a younger donor base.”
Additionally, Shortall noted the partnerships could create a more frequent way for nonprofits to engage with their donors, rather than waiting for timely fundraisers that only occur once or twice a year.
“We’ve talked with a lot of nonprofits and athlete foundations, and they all kind of have the same story where they want to engage their donor base (at) certainly a higher frequency than they do right now, but they just don’t really have a means of doing so,” Shortall said. “Because they’re kind of stuck with raffles and galas and silent auctions, which all happen at the very end of the year.”
Plus, there’s the fun factor. When players place their bets, they know that it’s going toward a good cause, but Shortall said that giving them something engaging to do in exchange for their donation helps — along with, of course, the potential to win a prize.
“It’s an inherently fun and enjoyable experience for the donors,” Shortall said. “And there’s also the kind of dangled carrot, so to speak, that they might win something in exchange for their donations.”
TokenTourney landed its first fundraising tourney
TokenTourney’s first nonprofit recipient will be Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City later this year — in time for the nonprofit’s 60th anniversary.
The nonprofit, which serves as a local extension of Florida-based Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, pairs children with volunteer adult mentors.
The prize for the contest is three suite tickets to the Kansas City Royals game on Aug. 11 (with free food included) and a meet and greet with former Kansas City Chiefs player (and soon-to-be Ring of Honoree) Bill Maas.
People still have one more week to join that contest via the TokenTourney app.
Players will pay an entry fee to compete in the online contest, and all entry fees will go toward Big Brothers Big Sisters Kansas City.
Beyond this initial partnership, the duo said they hope to get to a point where they’re partnering with local nonprofits every month or two, depending on initial response this summer.
“We’re just taking something that’s quite popular and widely available right now, and we’re trying to funnel more of those dollars towards a more positive use,” Shortall said. “For us, this is kind of a way to create a two-way relationship between the organizations who want to fundraise and the constituents who they rely on.”
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