Rackets for All

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

Executive Summary

Rackets for All is a nonprofit in Arizona that provides free tennis instruction to children ages 7 to 14 from low-income families. Tennis has the highest lifetime participation rate of any sport, and players who start young often play for decades. Yet many families see it as a sport for the wealthy, and the gap in access is real.

Our certified instructors teach small groups on public park courts, lend a racket to every child and bring children who have no ride. Lessons are free, and we adjust the schedule to avoid the hottest hours of the day.

With this grant we will serve about 120 children in Year 1 at 2 park sites. We do not promise that any child will win a match or earn a scholarship. We promise safe play, patient teaching and a chance to learn a sport for life.

Our Year 1 budget is about $134,500, growing to about $173,000 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 4 staff in Year 1 (an Executive Director, a part-time Program Coordinator and two part-time instructors) and 8 by Year 5.

We are asking the Desert Sun Youth Sports Foundation for $42,000 for instructor stipends, a racket loan program, transportation and outreach. 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

Rackets for All is a nonprofit organization in Arizona. 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. Every child should have the chance to learn tennis, a sport that can be played for a lifetime, whatever their family's income.

What we do.
- Run free tennis lessons at two public park sites, twice a week.
- Lend a racket to every participant for the program.
- Provide transportation to the courts for children without a way to get there.
- Teach strokes, footwork, scoring and sportsmanship in small groups.
- Host a friendly end-of-season tournament for families.
- Train and pay part-time instructors certified through the USTA.

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. We do not promise any child a ranking, a scholarship or a professional career. We do not give medical advice. We follow heat safety rules and cancel or move sessions when it is too hot. We follow the rules of our partner sites and our insurer.

How we got here. A group of tennis teachers and parents began offering free Saturday lessons at a public park court. Children arrived without rackets and left wanting to come back. We kept simple records of who came and what they learned. This proposal asks for support to move from Saturday lessons to a steady program with paid, trained coaches and the equipment to match.

Problem & Opportunity

Tennis has the highest lifetime participation rate of any sport, and players who start young often play for decades. Many families see it as a sport for the wealthy, and for many the gap in access is real.

Cost. Lessons, rackets, balls and court fees add up quickly. A set of lessons can cost more than a family can spare, and children outgrow rackets.

Access. Public courts are often in poor repair and have no coaches. Clubs with courts and instruction are usually far from underserved neighborhoods.

Safety and trust. Parents want trained instructors and a safe place to play, and in a hot climate they worry about heat. They also want to know the program will treat beginners kindly.

Missed benefits. Children who never try tennis miss a sport they can play for life, along with the focus, fitness and friendships it brings.

What we hear.
- A mother says her daughter hits a ball against a wall for hours.
- An instructor says most children have never held a racket.
- A teacher says a student who started tennis is more patient in class.
- A father says he would pay if he could and cannot.

We do not claim that a sports program can solve every challenge. We believe that a racket, a patient instructor and a court can start a lifelong habit.

Products & Services

Rackets for All gives children ages 7 to 14 from low-income families a safe, welcoming place to learn and play tennis.

How the program works.
1. Sites. We partner with two public parks that provide courts, and we bring rackets, balls, nets and instructors.
2. Sessions. Each eight-week session meets twice a week for an hour and a half, in the cooler hours of the day.
3. Small groups. Instructors work with no more than eight children at a time, with a helper.
4. Rackets. Every child borrows a racket sized for them.
5. Skills. Children learn grip, forehand, backhand, serve and scoring through games.
6. Transportation. A program van brings children who have no way to get to the park.
7. Showcase. A friendly tournament ends each session, with families watching.

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 instructors are certified through the USTA, pass a background check, complete our training and are paid a stipend.

Access and fairness. Programs are free. We welcome every child, whatever their experience, and we adjust activities for children with different abilities.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Children ages 7 to 14 from low-income families who live near our partner parks and want to try tennis. 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 lessons we served full courts and kept a waiting list. Schools and park staff told us that many more children want to play than we can serve. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 120 young people at 2 park sites. By Year 5, with more coaches and sites, we plan to serve about 240.

Where participants come from.
- Schools and physical education teachers.
- Park and recreation staff.
- Churches and neighborhood centers.
- Families who tell a friend.

Who else benefits. Families gain a safe, free activity. Parks gain steady use of their courts. Schools gain students who may join teams later.

What the numbers mean. Every number here is a child with a racket and a smile. 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. Tennis clubs and academies. Excellent instruction and costly. We offer a free alternative and send players on when they are ready.

2. Recreation department lessons. Affordable and short, with large groups.

3. School tennis teams. Good for older players, with limited spots.

4. Private lessons. Effective and costly.

5. Hitting against a wall or on public courts. Free, with no coaching.

What makes us different.
- Free to every child.
- Certified instructors and small groups.
- Loaner rackets sized for each child.
- Transportation to the courts.
- A path to school teams and club tennis.

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 park managers, 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 teachers and counselors to share a one-page sign-up form in English and Spanish.
- Parks. We will post flyers and hold open court days.
- Families. We will hold a short information night at each site before a session.
- Churches and neighborhood centers. We will talk with leaders who know families.
- Word of mouth. Many children will find us through a friend.
- A simple website and a phone line with a text option.

Reaching coaches and sponsors.
- Invite certified instructors, teachers and former players through clubs and tennis 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, skills learned, matches played 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 first eight-week session at both parks.
- Months 4 to 10: Run fall, winter and spring sessions in the cooler hours, with a friendly tournament at the end of each.
- Months 11 and 12: Run a summer session in the early morning, survey children and families, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. Lessons are held on public park courts, provided at low or no cost. We store equipment in locked bins.

Safety and privacy.
- We follow heat rules: water breaks, shade, and sessions moved or canceled when it is too hot.
- 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 $9,000 of equipment once at the start: loaner rackets, sized for ages 7 to 14 (60) ($4,500), portable nets (2) ($2,000), ball machine ($1,500), storage bins and a cart ($1,000). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. A part-time Program Coordinator, paid $24,000 a year, handles schedules and rides. Two part-time certified instructors, each paid a stipend of $14,000 a year, teach lessons. We add an instructor for every new site.

Management & Organization

Elena Park, 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 tennis instructor who saw how few neighborhood children ever held a racket. I will complete the training we require of our instructors so I understand the program from the inside. (Replace this paragraph with your own background.)

Coaches. Part-time instructors lead lessons, and each is certified through the USTA and passes a background check. These stipends are part of our grant request.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a tennis teacher, a school teacher, a parent, a banker who serves as treasurer, an attorney and a former participant. 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 parks department manager, a school principal and a tennis club director give guidance twice a year.

Staffing and pay in this plan: Executive Director, paid $46,000 a year; program Coordinator (part-time), paid $24,000 a year; uSTA Certified Instructor (part-time stipend), paid $14,000 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 120 young people at 2 park 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 150 young people at 2 park sites.
- Year 3: About 180 young people at 3 park sites.
- Year 4: About 210 young people at 3 park sites.
- Year 5: About 240 young people at 4 park 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 41 percent of our budget, down from about 66 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: $42,000 from the Desert Sun Youth Sports Foundation for instructor stipends, a racket loan program, transportation and outreach, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: USTA certified instructor stipends, two sites, part time, $28,000.
- Supplies: Racket loan program: 60 loaner rackets, maintenance and replacement, $8,000 (other funds add $2,000).
- Travel: Transportation for participants without access, $4,000.
- Other: Outreach materials and program administration, $2,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 47% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $134,500, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $5,700 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $88,500; city Parks Partnership $18,000; uSTA Section Grant $20,000; individual Donors $8,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $46,000; program Coordinator (part-time) $24,000; uSTA Certified Instructor (part-time stipend) $14,000; racket and Ball Replacement about $6,000; court Use and Permits about $5,000; transportation about $5,000; instructor Training about $3,000; outreach Materials about $2,000; administration and Insurance about $8,000; about $3,800 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $16,300 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $4,500 for loaner rackets, sized for ages 7 to 14 (60); $2,000 for portable nets (2); $1,500 for ball machine; $1,000 for storage bins and a cart; $2,000 for attorney review of the waiver, consent and privacy policy; $1,800 for banners, bilingual flyers and a simple website; $1,500 for background checks and instructor certification for the first season; $2,000 for first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($16,300), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $31,800, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $48,500. We start with $6,000 from our founding board and $45,000 in startup support from a community foundation and a tennis equipment retailer, $51,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $134,500 in Year 1 to about $173,000 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $88,500, $76,500, $79,500, $67,500 and $71,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: city Parks Partnership from $18,000 to $42,000; uSTA Section Grant from $20,000 to $36,000; individual Donors from $8,000 to $24,000. Our surplus is planned at about $5,700 in Year 1, about $6,000 in Year 2, about $7,200 in Year 3, about $7,300 in Year 4 and about $8,800 in Year 5. We grow from 2 park sites to 4 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 $44,100, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $5,380 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per child. In Year 1, our total costs are about $1,073 per child served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more child served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $684 per child.

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 tennis 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 childs 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: $88,500 in Year 1, growing to $71,000 in Year 5.
- City Parks Partnership: $18,000 in Year 1, growing to $42,000 in Year 5.
- USTA Section Grant: $20,000 in Year 1, growing to $36,000 in Year 5.
- Individual Donors: $8,000 in Year 1, growing to $24,000 in Year 5.
- Pay (a full year, per person, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation): executive Director $46,000; program Coordinator (part-time) $24,000; uSTA Certified Instructor (part-time stipend) $14,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: racket and Ball Replacement $6,000; court Use and Permits $5,000; transportation $5,000; instructor Training $3,000; outreach Materials $2,000; administration and Insurance $8,000. These grow between 4% and 5% a year.
- Equipment: $9,000 at the start, then $2,000 to $3,000 a year.
- Startup costs: $16,300, paid once from $51,000 in startup money.
- Young people served: about 120 in Year 1, growing to about 240 in Year 5. Sites: 2 in Year 1, growing to 4 by Year 5. Sessions run eight weeks, twice a week, in the cooler hours of the day.
- 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