Hoop Dreams Community Basketball Program

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Executive Summary

Hoop Dreams Community Basketball Program is a nonprofit in Georgia that provides free and low-cost basketball training, leagues and mentoring to youth ages 8 to 18 in underserved communities. Our mission is to use basketball to build discipline, teamwork, academic accountability and life skills.

In many neighborhoods, basketball is the favorite game and good places to play it are scarce. Gyms are booked, fees are high and public courts have no adult watching. A coach who also mentors, a study hour before practice and a team to belong to can change a young person's year.

With this grant we will serve about 200 youth in Year 1 at 3 community sites. We do not promise that any player will earn a scholarship or play professionally. We promise a safe gym, good coaching and a team that cares about grades.

Our Year 1 budget is about $197,000, growing to about $267,500 by Year 5 as we add sites, coaches and participants. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small surplus each year. We have 5 staff in Year 1 (an Executive Director, a Program Coordinator and three part-time head coaches) and 8 by Year 5.

We are asking the Peachtree Youth Development Foundation for $70,000 for head coach stipends, jerseys and equipment and program coordination. Our other income and startup support cover the rest. These numbers are estimates based on the assumptions listed at the end of this proposal, and we do not promise any result beyond what we describe.

Company Description

Hoop Dreams Community Basketball Program is a nonprofit organization in Georgia. We are a registered charity with a volunteer board of directors, a written conflict-of-interest policy and a yearly budget the board reviews.

Our mission. To use basketball as a vehicle for youth development, building discipline, teamwork, academic accountability and life skills through the game.

What we do.
- Run free and low-cost basketball training and leagues at three community sites.
- Provide jerseys, shorts, practice gear and basketballs to every player.
- Track grades each quarter and require study time before practice.
- Pair every player with a coach who also acts as a mentor.
- Host tournaments, a skills clinic and a family night each season.
- Train and pay part-time head coaches at every site.

Our values. Respect for every participant, honesty with families, safety before winning and a place for every young person who wants to belong.

What we do not do. We do not charge families what they cannot pay, and we never give cash to families. We do not promise any player a scholarship, a college roster spot or a professional career. We do not give medical advice. We follow the rules of our partner sites and our insurer.

How we got here. A group of coaches and parents began running pickup leagues and Saturday clinics in a rented gym for neighborhood youth. The gyms filled and players asked for a regular program. We kept records of who came, their grades and what they said. This proposal asks for support to move from Saturday clinics to a steady program with paid, trained coaches and the equipment to match.

Problem & Opportunity

Basketball is the most popular sport in many underserved neighborhoods, and the places to play it well are scarce.

Cost. League fees, travel teams and camps cost more than many families can pay, and gym rentals are expensive for neighborhood groups.

Access. Public courts are outdoors, often in poor repair and unsupervised. Indoor gyms at schools and recreation centers are booked and often closed on weekends.

Safety and trust. Parents worry about the safety of unsupervised courts and about coaches who care more about winning than about their players.

Missed benefits. Youth who miss a structured program also miss the mentoring, study habits and teamwork that a good coach provides.

What we hear.
- A mother says her son plays outside until dark and no adult is watching.
- A coach says he loses players every year because of fees.
- A teacher says students on a team work harder to keep their grades up.
- A father says he would trade a month of groceries to give his daughter a coach.

We do not claim that a sports program can solve every challenge. We believe that a good coach, a safe gym and a team can change a young person's direction.

Products & Services

Hoop Dreams Community Basketball Program gives youth ages 8 to 18 in underserved communities a safe, welcoming place to learn and play basketball.

How the program works.
1. Sites. We partner with three community sites, a school gym, a recreation center and a church gym, that provide courts.
2. Seasons. Fall, winter and spring seasons, with practices twice a week and games on weekends.
3. Study time. Players spend the first thirty minutes of practice on homework or reading with a mentor.
4. Teams. Players are placed by age and skill and every player plays in every game.
5. Equipment. Every player receives a jersey, shorts and practice gear and shares a ball at home when possible.
6. Coaching. Head coaches teach fundamentals, teamwork and sportsmanship and track each player's goals.
7. Tournaments and clinics. Teams enter local tournaments, and we host a skills clinic each season.

What a typical session looks like. Participants arrive and check in with a coach, warm up together, work on skills in small groups, play a short game or drill and finish with a talk about what went well. Coaches praise effort, correct mistakes kindly and make sure no one sits out.

Coaches. Our head coaches pass a background check, complete our training in coaching and mentoring and are paid a stipend.

Access and fairness. Programs are free. We welcome every young person, whatever their skill, and we offer girls' and boys' teams at every level.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Youth ages 8 to 18 from underserved communities who live near our partner sites and want to play basketball. Eligibility is based on school lunch status or income guidelines our board sets, and no young person is turned away for lack of skill.

How we estimate need. We cannot count every young person who could benefit, so we plan from what we can see. In our Saturday clinics we served full gyms and kept a waiting list. Schools and community centers told us that more youth want to play than we can place. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 200 young people at 3 sites. By Year 5, with more coaches and sites, we plan to serve about 440.

Where participants come from.
- Schools, coaches and counselors.
- Recreation and community center staff.
- Churches and neighborhood groups.
- Families who tell a friend.

Who else benefits. Families gain a safe, supervised activity. Schools gain students who focus on grades. Neighborhoods gain a positive place for young people.

What the numbers mean. Every number here is a young person with a ball and a plan. We keep our early counts modest and honest so we can do the work well.

Competitive Landscape

What young people can find today, and how we are different.

1. Recreation department leagues. Affordable, with limited seasons and little coaching. We partner with them and add structure.

2. AAU and travel teams. Strong competition and high costs. We prepare players for them when they are ready.

3. School teams. Good, with limited spots and a short season.

4. Private training. Effective and costly.

5. Open gyms and public courts. Free, with no coaching or supervision.

What makes us different.
- Free or low cost to every player.
- Part-time coaches who also mentor.
- Study time and grade tracking.
- Jerseys and gear provided.
- A path to school teams and travel teams.

Why this gap matters. Existing programs do good work, and most serve families who can already pay or who live close to them. The young people we serve are the ones left over: they live in the wrong neighborhood, have the wrong schedule or have no one to ask. We are built to reach them.

We have spoken with recreation centers, school coaches and other youth programs to make sure we are filling a gap and not duplicating services. Their letters of support are in the attachments.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How young people and partners will find us.

Reaching young people.
- Schools. We will work with coaches and counselors to share a one-page sign-up form in English and Spanish.
- Recreation centers. We will post flyers and hold open gym days.
- Families. We will hold a short information night at each site before a season.
- Churches and neighborhood groups. We will talk with leaders who know families.
- Word of mouth. Many players will find us through a friend.
- A simple website and a phone line with a text option.

Reaching coaches and sponsors.
- Invite teachers, former players and community members through schools, churches and coaching groups.
- Offer an orientation, a background check and training in safety and in working with young people.
- Give partners a short report each quarter with counts of participants and what families said.

How we decide who joins. We use a simple sign-up form and enroll participants in the order received, with priority for families with the greatest need and for young people new to the sport. We keep a waiting list when teams are full.

What we watch. Sign-ups, attendance, grades, study hours and how many participants return for a second season.

Operations Plan

How the program will be carried out.

Timeline for Year 1:
- Months 1 and 2 (July and August): Hire the coaches and coordinator, buy equipment, finalize the waiver, consent form and privacy policy with our attorney and sign site agreements.
- Month 3 (September): Begin the fall season at all three sites.
- Months 4 to 10: Run fall, winter and spring seasons with practices twice a week, weekend games and a tournament each season.
- Months 11 and 12: Run a summer skills clinic, survey players and families, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. Practices and games are held in a school gym, a recreation center and a church gym, provided at low or no cost. We store equipment in locked bins.

Safety and privacy.
- Coaches teach safe play and sit injured players until a doctor says they may return.
- Every coach and volunteer passes a background check and completes safety training.
- Two adults are present at every session, and no adult is ever alone with a young person.
- We keep an emergency plan and a first aid kit at every site, and families complete an emergency contact form.
- We keep records private, share them only with a family's permission and follow a written policy.

Equipment. We buy about $15,000 of equipment once at the start: portable basketball hoops (3) ($7,000), ball carts and basketballs ($3,000), scoreboards ($2,500), first aid kits and equipment storage ($2,500). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. A full-time Program Coordinator, paid $36,000 a year, handles schedules, grade tracking and sign-ups. Three part-time head coaches, each paid $18,000 a year, lead practices and games. We add a coach for every new site.

Management & Organization

Marcus Reed, Executive Director. I lead the organization, report to the board and am responsible for budgets, partnerships and reporting. I came to this work as a coach and teacher who watched players lose their way when they had no place to go after school. I will complete the training we require of our coaches so I understand the program from the inside. (Replace this paragraph with your own background.)

Coaches. Part-time head coaches lead practices and games and act as mentors, and each passes a background check and completes our coaching training. These stipends are part of our grant request.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a high school coach, a counselor, a parent, a banker who serves as treasurer, an attorney and a former player. The board meets every other month, approves our budget and reviews our safety plan. No board member is paid, and members with a conflict of interest step out of related decisions.

Advisory partners. A school athletic director, a recreation center manager and a youth pastor give guidance twice a year.

Staffing and pay in this plan: Executive Director, paid $50,000 a year; program Coordinator, paid $36,000 a year; head Coach (part-time stipend), paid $18,000 a year.

Milestones Narrative

Our goals, how we will measure them and when we plan to reach them.

Year 1 outcomes (July 2027 through June 2028):
- Serve about 200 young people at 3 sites.
- Run at least two full seasons and a summer session.
- Have at least 85 percent of participants attend most sessions.
- Have at least 80 percent of participants return for a second season.
- Receive positive feedback from at least 90 percent of families who answer our short survey.

What we count and how.
- Participants enrolled, sessions and games attended, from our records.
- Skills learned and goals met, from the coach's checklist.
- Equipment issued and returned, from our log.
- Participant and family feedback, from a short, confidential form.
We report what we find, including what did not work, and use it to improve.

Growth over five years.
- Year 2: About 260 young people at 3 sites.
- Year 3: About 320 young people at 4 sites.
- Year 4: About 380 young people at 5 sites.
- Year 5: About 440 young people at 6 sites.

Learning along the way. At the end of each quarter, the director and the board review the numbers and decide whether we are on track. If we are behind, we will adjust our outreach, our sites or our schedule before asking for more money.

After the grant. By Year 5, grants make up about 38 percent of our budget, down from about 48 percent in Year 1, as partners and donors give more. We will keep building those relationships every year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $70,000 from the Peachtree Youth Development Foundation for head coach stipends, jerseys and equipment and program coordination, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Head coach stipends, three sites, part time, $54,000.
- Supplies: Jerseys, shorts, practice gear and basketballs for 200 youth, $12,000 (other funds add $4,000).
- Other: Program coordination, grade tracking and administration, $4,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 74% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $197,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $8,000 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $95,000; city Parks Department Partnership $50,000; corporate Sponsors $40,000; individual Donors $12,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $50,000; program Coordinator $36,000; head Coach (part-time stipend) $18,000; jerseys, Gear and Equipment about $10,000; gym Rental about $12,000; grade Tracking and Tutoring about $5,000; tournaments and Travel about $7,000; coach Training about $3,000; administration and Insurance about $9,000; about $5,800 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $23,800 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $7,000 for portable basketball hoops (3); $3,000 for ball carts and basketballs; $2,500 for scoreboards; $2,500 for first aid kits and equipment storage; $2,500 for attorney review of the waiver, consent and privacy policy; $1,800 for banners, bilingual flyers and a simple website; $2,000 for background checks and coach training for the first season; $2,500 for first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($23,800), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $46,500, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $70,500. We start with $8,000 from our founding board and $65,000 in startup support from a community foundation and a sports apparel company, $73,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $197,000 in Year 1 to about $267,500 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $95,000, $82,500, $88,500, $95,000 and $101,500 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: city Parks Department Partnership from $50,000 to $74,000; corporate Sponsors from $40,000 to $64,000; individual Donors from $12,000 to $28,000. Our surplus is planned at about $8,000 in Year 1, about $8,800 in Year 2, about $10,000 in Year 3, about $11,500 in Year 4 and about $12,900 in Year 5. We grow from 3 sites to 6 by Year 5, adding a part-time coach for each new site.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $61,100, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $7,880 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per player. In Year 1, our total costs are about $945 per player served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more player served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $579 per player.

After the grant. City parks funding, corporate sponsors and individual donors grow every year, so grants become a smaller share of our budget. Participants and families share their stories, and businesses can sponsor a team or a season by name. We will look for partnerships with schools and the city that want a safe, free basketball option for every child.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- An injury. Certified coaches, proper equipment, groups matched by age and skill, a written emergency plan and insurance.
- A site is no longer available. We keep agreements with more than one site and a plan for bad weather.
- A coach leaves. We keep a list of trained backup coaches and share lesson plans.
- Low attendance. We adjust sites, times and rides based on family feedback.
- A privacy problem. We follow a written policy, use secure systems and train every staff member and volunteer.
- A grant ends. We keep savings and grow partner and donor support each year.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller: one neighborhood, a handful of players and a small team, tracked carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach with this proposal:

- Your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current year budget.
- A list of your board members and what each one does.
- Signed letters of support from partner schools, agencies and sites.
- Your site agreements and your insurance certificate.
- Your consent, waiver and privacy policy.
- Your safety plan and background check policy.
- Your program outline and schedule.
- Quotes for equipment and materials.
- Resumes for your Executive Director and key staff.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $95,000 in Year 1, growing to $101,500 in Year 5.
- City Parks Department Partnership: $50,000 in Year 1, growing to $74,000 in Year 5.
- Corporate Sponsors: $40,000 in Year 1, growing to $64,000 in Year 5.
- Individual Donors: $12,000 in Year 1, growing to $28,000 in Year 5.
- Pay (a full year, per person, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation): executive Director $50,000; program Coordinator $36,000; head Coach (part-time stipend) $18,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: jerseys, Gear and Equipment $10,000; gym Rental $12,000; grade Tracking and Tutoring $5,000; tournaments and Travel $7,000; coach Training $3,000; administration and Insurance $9,000. These grow between 4% and 5% a year.
- Equipment: $15,000 at the start, then $3,000 to $4,000 a year.
- Startup costs: $23,800, paid once from $73,000 in startup money.
- Young people served: about 200 in Year 1, growing to about 440 in Year 5. Sites: 3 in Year 1, growing to 6 by Year 5. Seasons run fall, winter and spring with two practices a week and weekend games.
- About 4% of each year's income is still owed to us at year end.
- Tax: none, as a nonprofit.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your own quotes and real budget.

Startup Costs