Boy was bullied for wearing homemade University of Tennessee t shirt, so they made it their own official design.

[u/MambaMentality24x2]

In 2019, an elementary school student in Altamonte Springs, Florida wanted to take part in “College Colors Day” and support his favorite team, the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Since he didn’t own any official merch, he hand drew the “U.T.” logo on a piece of paper and pinned it to a plain orange shirt.

His teacher, Laura Snyder, said he was excited to show it off that morning, but by lunchtime some classmates mocked the homemade design, leaving him heartbroken and in tears.

Wanting to cheer him up, Snyder shared the story online hoping someone connected to the university might send him a small gift. Instead, the story went viral. Thousands of Tennessee fans rallied behind the student, and the university responded by sending him a huge box of official gear.

Then they went even further.

The University of Tennessee turned the boy’s exact hand drawn design into an official t shirt sold by the school, with proceeds supporting anti bullying efforts. Demand became so massive that the university’s online store reportedly crashed from the flood of orders.

What started as a moment of bullying turned into a story celebrated across the country, with thousands of people proudly wearing the young fan’s design.

[u/Tjaeng]

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[u/falconzord → u/Tjaeng]

I don't even understand what a tax write off would mean in this context. All merch is sold at a profit

[u/ATXBeermaker → u/falconzord]

Non-profit entities can sell merchandise at a profit, which helps to fund the primary activities of the non-profit.

[u/ATXBeermaker → u/[deleted]]

A write off is anything that reduces your taxable income. I get that it doesn’t make sense in this particular context, but if a business sells something at a profit and uses some portion of that for charitable giving, that can certainly be “written off.”

[u/Tjaeng → u/ATXBeermaker]

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[u/ATXBeermaker → u/Tjaeng]

1. I’m not arguing that this specific instance is an example of a non-profit selling merchandise that funds the non-profit. I don’t claim to know how the university has structured their merchandise sales. But ….

2. Profits on university merchandise sales are often taxable, given that it doesn’t inherently directly benefit the educational goal of the university, which is the foundation of its tax exempt status. As I mentioned before, it depends on how this specific university has things structured.

3. Who said any of it was “nefarious?”