All In Youth Sports Access Fund

Words in [brackets] are blanks you fill in with your own details when you adopt this sample in Supreme Plan AI.

Executive Summary

All In Youth Sports Access Fund is a nonprofit in Illinois that pays the cost of playing youth sports for young people from low-income families. We pay league registration fees directly to partner leagues, provide equipment vouchers redeemed at partner stores and fund rides to practices and games.

Cost is one of the biggest reasons young people never get on a team. A fee, a pair of cleats or a missing ride can be the difference between a season and a summer on the sidewalk. Leagues have a few scholarships, and the need is far greater.

With this grant we will help about 300 young people in Year 1 through 6 partner leagues. We never give cash to families and we do not promise any young person a scholarship or a roster spot. We promise fair, careful use of every dollar and a team for every child we serve.

Our Year 1 budget is about $233,500, growing to about $288,500 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 3 staff in Year 1 (an Executive Director, a Fund Manager and a part-time outreach coordinator) and 5 by Year 4.

We are asking the Lakeshore Youth Sports Foundation for $60,000 for registration fee assistance, equipment vouchers and part of the Fund Manager. 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

All In Youth Sports Access Fund is a nonprofit organization in Illinois. 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. No young person should be left off a team because their family cannot pay the fee, buy the equipment or get to the field.

What we do.
- Pay league registration fees directly to partner leagues for young people from low-income families.
- Provide equipment vouchers redeemed at partner stores, never paid as cash.
- Fund rides to practices and games for young people who have no other way to get there.
- Train partner league volunteers in safe sport and inclusion.
- Track participation and keep every league's fees fair and clear.
- Hold an annual celebration and a gear swap.

Our values. Respect for every participant, honesty with families and partners, safety first and a place for everyone who wants to belong.

What we do not do. We do not run leagues or coach teams, and we never give cash to families. We pay leagues and stores directly. We do not promise any young person a scholarship or a roster spot. We follow the rules of our partner sites and our insurer.

How we got here. A group of coaches and parents began quietly paying registration fees for children who could not afford them. The number of requests grew each season. We kept simple records of who we helped and which leagues they joined. This proposal asks for support to move from a small informal fund to a steady program with paid, trained staff and the materials to match.

Problem & Opportunity

Youth sports can build health, friendships and confidence, and cost is one of the biggest reasons young people from low-income families never play.

Cost. Registration fees, uniforms, equipment and travel can add up to hundreds of dollars a season for each child.

Access. Many leagues are far from the neighborhoods where our families live, and parents who work evenings cannot drive children to practice.

Safety and trust. Families want to know that leagues are well run and that coaches are trained and screened.

Missed benefits. Young people who are left off a team miss the exercise, the belonging and the adults who look out for them.

What we hear.
- A mother says her son watches his friends play from the sidewalk.
- A coach says he sees good players quit because of a fee.
- A teacher says students on a team come to school more often.
- A father says a pair of cleats is a week of groceries.

We do not claim that a program can solve every challenge. We believe that paying the fee, the gear and the ride can put a young person on a team.

Products & Services

All In Youth Sports Access Fund gives young people from low-income families a safe, welcoming place to join a team and play.

How the program works.
1. Partner leagues. We sign agreements with leagues that meet our safe sport and fairness standards.
2. Application. A family applies with a short form and confirms income under guidelines our board sets.
3. Fee payment. We pay the registration fee directly to the league.
4. Equipment vouchers. We issue vouchers that families redeem at partner stores.
5. Rides. We pay for rides to practices and games through a partner transportation program.
6. League support. We train league volunteers in safe sport and inclusion.
7. Follow-up. We check in with families and leagues to see that every young person stays on the team.

What a typical session looks like. Participants arrive and check in with a staff member, settle in together, work on the day's activity in small groups and finish with a short talk about what went well. Staff praise effort, correct mistakes kindly and make sure no one is left out.

Staff. Our staff pass a background check, complete our training and are paid for their time. Partner league coaches must meet our safe sport standards.

Access and fairness. Programs are free. Help is free. We welcome every young person who qualifies, in any sport, and we offer materials in English and Spanish.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Young people ages 6 to 18 from low-income families who live in the city and want to play on a team. Eligibility is based on school lunch status or income guidelines our board sets, and no young person is turned away for lack of experience.

How we estimate need. We cannot count every young person who could benefit, so we plan from what we can see. In our informal fund we received more requests than we could pay each season and kept a waiting list. Leagues and schools told us that cost keeps many more young people out of sports than we can reach. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 300 participants at 6 partner leagues. By Year 5, with more staff and sites, we plan to serve about 780.

Where participants come from.
- Schools, coaches and counselors.
- Partner leagues and recreation centers.
- Churches and neighborhood centers.
- Families who tell a friend.

Who else benefits. Families gain a safe, healthy activity. Leagues gain players and steady fees. Neighborhoods gain more young people who are active and connected.

What the numbers mean. Every number here is a young person in a uniform who might not have played. 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. League scholarships. Many leagues offer a few spots, and the need is greater than the supply.

2. City recreation programs. Affordable, with limited seasons and sports.

3. School sports. Valuable and cost-limited in many schools.

4. Charity gear drives. Helpful for equipment and not for fees or rides.

5. Doing without. The most common outcome, and the one we want to change.

What makes us different.
- Fees, equipment and rides covered in one place.
- Payments made directly to leagues and stores, never as cash.
- Partner leagues that meet safe sport standards.
- Any sport, any season.
- A coordinator who follows each young person's season.

Why this gap matters. Existing programs do good work, and most serve people who can already pay or who live close to them. The 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 league directors, 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 application in English and Spanish.
- Partner leagues. We will ask leagues to share information privately with families.
- Churches and centers. We will talk with leaders who know families.
- Community events. We will share information at fairs and gear swaps.
- Word of mouth. Many families will find us through a friend.
- A simple website and a phone line with a text option.

Reaching staff and sponsors.
- Invite league directors, coaches and volunteers through leagues, schools and community groups.
- Offer an orientation, a background check and training in safety, privacy and respectful practice.
- Give partners a short report each quarter with counts of participants and what they said.

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

What we watch. Sign-ups, attendance, fees paid, rides given 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 staff, buy equipment and materials, finalize the waiver, consent form and privacy policy with our attorney and sign site agreements.
- Month 3 (September): Sign agreements with partner leagues and open applications.
- Months 4 to 10: Pay fees, issue vouchers and arrange rides each season, with check-ins with families.
- Months 11 and 12: Hold a celebration and gear swap, survey families and leagues, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. We work from a small donated office, and young people play at partner leagues' fields and gyms.

Safety and privacy.
- Partner leagues must show that coaches pass background checks and complete safe sport training.
- Every staff member and volunteer passes a background check and completes safety training.
- Staff work in pairs or in view of others whenever participants are minors or in a vulnerable situation.
- We keep an emergency plan at every site, and participants complete an emergency contact form.
- We keep records private, share them only with a participant's permission or as the law requires and follow a written policy.

Equipment. We buy about $4,000 of equipment once at the start: laptops and a printer for the fund office ($2,500), voucher system setup and locking storage ($1,500). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. The Fund Manager, paid $42,000 a year, runs applications, payments and partner leagues. A part-time outreach coordinator, paid $24,000, helps families and leagues. We add a second outreach coordinator in Year 4.

Management & Organization

Renee Alvarez, 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 who watched good players leave because of a fee. I will visit every partner league to understand the program from the inside. (Replace this paragraph with your own background.)

Staff. The Fund Manager runs applications, payments and partner leagues, and a part-time outreach coordinator helps families. Each passes a background check. These positions are part of our grant request.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a league director, a coach, 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 department staff member and a pediatric nurse give guidance twice a year.

Staffing and pay in this plan: Executive Director, paid $50,000 a year; fund Manager, paid $42,000 a year; outreach Coordinator (part-time), paid $24,000 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 300 participants at 6 partner leagues.
- 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 420 participants at 8 partner leagues.
- Year 3: About 540 participants at 10 partner leagues.
- Year 4: About 660 participants at 12 partner leagues.
- Year 5: About 780 participants at 14 partner leagues.

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 47 percent of our budget, down from about 65 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: $60,000 from the Lakeshore Youth Sports Foundation for registration fee assistance, equipment vouchers and part of the Fund Manager, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Fund Manager salary, part of the position, $8,000.
- Other: League registration fee assistance paid directly to leagues, $40,000.
- Other: Equipment vouchers redeemed at partner stores, $12,000 (other funds add $6,000).

Other money in the program. This request is about 40% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $233,500, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $9,700 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $151,500; city Parks and Recreation Partnership $40,000; corporate and Sports Industry Sponsors $30,000; individual Donors $12,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $50,000; fund Manager $42,000; outreach Coordinator (part-time) $24,000; registration Fee Assistance about $60,000; equipment Vouchers about $18,000; transportation Fund about $12,000; partner League Training about $4,000; outreach about $4,000; administration and Insurance about $9,000; about $2,400 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $11,500 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $2,500 for laptops and a printer for the fund office; $1,500 for voucher system setup and locking storage; $2,500 for attorney review of the family agreement, voucher terms and privacy policy; $1,500 for banners, bilingual flyers and a simple website; $1,500 for background checks and staff training; $2,000 for first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($11,500), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $55,800, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $67,500. We start with $6,000 from our founding board and $64,000 in startup support from a community foundation and a sporting goods retailer, $70,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $233,500 in Year 1 to about $288,500 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $151,500, $140,000, $129,500, $144,500 and $134,500 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: city Parks and Recreation Partnership from $40,000 to $64,000; corporate and Sports Industry Sponsors from $30,000 to $62,000; individual Donors from $12,000 to $28,000. Our surplus is planned at about $9,700 in Year 1, about $10,100 in Year 2, about $11,100 in Year 3, about $13,300 in Year 4 and about $14,000 in Year 5. We grow from 6 partner leagues to 14 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 $67,200, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $9,340 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per young person. In Year 1, our total costs are about $746 per young person served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more young person served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $352 per young person.

After the grant. City parks and recreation 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 youth sports 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 young persons 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: $151,500 in Year 1, growing to $134,500 in Year 5.
- City Parks and Recreation Partnership: $40,000 in Year 1, growing to $64,000 in Year 5.
- Corporate and Sports Industry Sponsors: $30,000 in Year 1, growing to $62,000 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; fund Manager $42,000; outreach Coordinator (part-time) $24,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: registration Fee Assistance $60,000; equipment Vouchers $18,000; transportation Fund $12,000; partner League Training $4,000; outreach $4,000; administration and Insurance $9,000. These grow between 4% and 6% a year.
- Equipment: $4,000 at the start, then $1,500 to $2,500 a year.
- Startup costs: $11,500, paid once from $70,000 in startup money.
- Participants served: about 300 in Year 1, growing to about 780 in Year 5. Sites: 6 in Year 1, growing to 14 by Year 5. We support young people in every season, with fees paid at the start of each league season.
- 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