LA84 Foundation Grant - Small Grant

The LA84 Foundation Grant offers small grants of up to $10,000 to organizations that support youth sports programs, particularly for underserved youth. This funding aims to enhance social-emotional and educational outcomes through sports, prioritizing programs that promote equity, access, and safety. Eligible applicants must be 501(c)(3) organizations in Southern California, focusing on youth under 18, and adhere to specific safety guidelines for various sports. LOIs are accepted year-round.

Sports can improve young people's lives through positive social-emotional, health, and educational outcomes, and have lifelong impacts. Coaching education greatly improves the sports experience for young people and youth development outcomes. The health and safety of young athletes is a top priority. We are a learning organization and work with grantees to share successes within the SBYD ecosystem.
Funding
Small grants are requests at $25,000 and under and are typically awarded between February and November. Small grant LOIs are accepted year-round.

Eligibility

Grantmaking Priorities
Youth under 18 years of age, especially youth of color, low-income youth, and girls and young women.
Overlooked and underserved youth, including those with disabilities, and LGBTQ or gender nonconforming youth.
Organizations using a sports-based youth development approach and centering equity in their service model.Supported Programs
School-based or school-linked sports programs in high-need communities (e.g., Title 1 schools, a high number of free/reduced lunch participants).
Programs that are free or low-cost and provide exposure to various sports rather than deep specialization.
Programs that increase access to sports for girls and young women, focusing on sustaining involvement and increasing female coaches.Programs that are free or very low cost and focus on providing exposure to sports and play. Because sports activities can become quite costly, we prioritize those programs that work to reduce or eliminate financial barriers completely.
Programs that increase access to sport and play for girls and young women. While much progress has been made to advance sport for young women and girls, there is still work to be done. Many girls begin playing sports and drop off around middle school which can lead to long-term negative educational and health outcomes. For young women of color, the drop-off rate is even greater. Because we know the lifelong benefits of sport and play, we support programs that focus on girls engaging and sustaining involvement in sports. We also know how important an adult mentor or coach is for young women, and therefore support programming that works to increase the number of female coaches.Organizations or programs applying for a grant to support any of the following sports soccer, hockey, lacrosse, boxing, rugby (non-tackle), martial arts, or flag football, must follow sport-specific standardized guidelines.Soccer:
US Club Soccer – Implementation Guidelines for U.S. Soccer’s Player Safety Campaign: Concussion Initiatives & Heading for Youth Players
U.S. Soccer – Concussion Guidelines
Hockey:

• USA Hockey – Body Checking
• USA Hockey – Safety Concussions
• Lacrosse:
• US Lacrosse – How It Works: Illegal Body-Checking Rule In Youth Lacrosse
• US Lacrosse – Concussion Management Plan Guidelines for U-19 ProgramGrant Uses
• Program costs, including staffing
• Purchase of sports equipment
• Renovation of sports facilities
• Testing new SBYD models or ideasEligibility Criteria
• Structured sports activities for youth under 18
• Programs in Southern California (Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura)
• 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations in good standing with the California Franchise Tax Board
• Commitment to youth safety, with a written policy addressing this
• Sport-specific standardized guidelines for soccer, hockey, lacrosse, boxing, rugby, martial arts, or football programs

Ineligibility

While we support youth exploring and engaging in all sports and play, LA84 Foundation will not provide funding to organizations or programs that offer to children 14 years of age or younger rugby, football, boxing, soccer, or martial arts and allow, tackling or concussive injuries to the head. This is in response to an increased understanding of the long-term impacts of head injuries.Funding Restrictions
Organizations discriminate based on race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, or disability.
Individuals, single schools, travel outside California, land purchase, debt recovery, endowments.
Individual public or private schools, or single-school sites
Commercial businesses
While LA84 may occasionally fund the following programs, they are considered a lower priority for our current grant strategy:

• Summer camps
• One-time events such as one-day sports clinics, conferences/summits
• Research projects

Club/Elite sports- The LA84 Foundation prioritizes funding for programs that promote exposure and exploration of sports for youth. Club/Elite sports can be defined as organized sports that focus on specialization or advancement instead of youth exposure/exploration of sports and sport fundamentals.