Applying for a GSD Grant

Every year, GSD receives grant applications from a number of worthy charitable organizations. Due to the number of requests we receive, it generally takes several months before the Board is able to respond to initial inquiries and grant proposals.

If your organization combines sports and education in the teaching of youth, we invite you to apply. A description of our process is followed by basic eligibility, program and cost criteria.

Initial Inquiry

We ask all applicants to begin with a brief inquiry letter.

1. Carefully review the basic eligibility, program and cost criteria listed below.
2. Write a brief (2-3 page) letter detailing:
   • The purpose for which the funding is requested.
   • How your program works and who it serves
   • An overview of your organization
   • A contact person, mailing address and daytime telephone number
3. Send a typed original and one copy of your letter to:

   Foundation for Global Sports Development
   The Grants Program
   333 South Hope Street, 48th Floor
   Los Angeles, CA 90071
   

GSD will respond to your inquiry within several months, letting you know the likelihood of our being able to help. You may then be asked to prepare a full grant proposal addressing the criteria listed below.

Grant Proposal

1. Carefully review the basic eligibility, program and cost criteria listed below-your program should be responsive to these guidelines.
2. State clearly the purpose for which the funding is requested.
3. Briefly describe your organization, its history, status (non-profit, etc.), connection to at-risk youth and sport, education and fair play.
4. Provide copies of your organization's most current annual operating budget, and its most recent IRS Form 990 and State tax determination letters.
5. Describe in detail how the program would work and whom it would serve. Include an estimate of the number of participants to be served by the grant.
6. Describe the personnel who would be carrying out the program, and include brief biographical statements of those who would be most centrally involved.
7. Provide a detailed budget with justifications for each major budget item.
8. Describe efforts already made or underway to find matching grant funds.
9. Provide a clear time schedule for the program.
10. Include your contact person, mailing address and daytime telephone number.

Basic Eligibility

The following standards are not meant to serve as a bar to any particular organization but to provide basic guidelines for applicants.

1. Grants are made to organizations, not individuals.
2. Grants are made only to organizations that operate with non-restrictive, open-to-all membership regardless of race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, religious belief or nationality. Nothing in our guidelines prohibits a program from specifying an age, sex or physical capacity classification as long as it is reasonable under the circumstances and consistent with applicable law.
3. Grants are made to organizations that provide on-going, structured youth sports programs combining the essential elements of teaching, learning, competition and improved academic performance.
4. GSD discourages grants for: endowments, routine operating expenses, purchase of land and debt recovery or incurring debt liability.

Program and Cost Criteria

In addition to meeting basic eligibility guidelines, programs that meet our program and cost criteria receive priority for funding.

Program Considerations

1. Potential Impact: Quantity

   How many will the program reach? All else being equal, we will prioritize programs that reach large numbers of people or large percentages of their populations.

2. Potential Impact: Quality

   Programs that offer especially meaningful impact, for example significantly enhancing participants' health, physical abilities, academic performance, sense of pride, cooperativeness, success in school and/or respect for others, will receive priority.

3. Quality of Staff

   Programs run by experienced, trained personnel will receive priority, and grant proposals should describe in detail the nature and backgrounds of participating staff. GSD also supports programs that, with appropriate supervision, empower older youth to act as role models for younger children.

4. Choice of Particular Sports

   Because we are focused not on the particular sport but the quality of the program, so-called "minor" sports and individual sports are considered as well as more traditional team sports.

5. Non-Duplication

   Is someone else already conducting a similar program in your area? GSD strives to provide programming in areas where no such outlet exists, rather than replacing or substituting for existing alternatives, so priority will be given to those programs to which the probability of duplication is low.

6. Academic Component

   While there need not be a formal school affiliation, programs that include a component designed to improve participants' academic performance will be given priority. For example, a sports program that monitors athletes' grades and provides special counseling to assist those who are underperforming would meet this criterion. This component is in addition to learning that naturally occurs through participation in sports, such as strategy and discipline.

In addition to the six major program-related criteria are three qualities that will be given special attention whenever appropriate:

• Measurability:

  The ability to objectively assess the impact of the program.

• Distinctiveness and Creativity:

  Newness, innovation, and/or the ability to serve as a model of sports and education programming for adaptation elsewhere

• Contribution to Knowledge:

  Likelihood that the program can improve general knowledge related to sports' impact on people's lives.

Cost Considerations

1. The existence of other sources of funding

   Priority is given to proposals in which GSD funding comprises only part of the total funding. The remainder of the funding may come from the local group, the community, or from other organizations, including foundations and corporations. Programs that combine public and private sector funding, realizing the benefits of each, will be given special consideration. NOTE: This criterion may be modified in the case of new groups in resource-deprived areas.

2. Continuity

   Because GSD grants are given for a finite period of time, priority is given to programs that indicate planning for subsequent financing at the conclusion of the grant.

3. Cost in Relation to Impact

   GSD looks closely at overall program costs in relationship to other criteria, particularly impact. Programs with high dollar costs in relation to impact must be especially meritorious in terms of other program considerations.

4. Grants for Capital Construction

   Capital construction requests will be funded only when:

   • Special need is established
   • Part of the funding will be met by matching grants or other devices to supplement GSD's contribution
   • The cost is small relative to its potential service to the group or community in question.