The question is how do we get more kids and how do we grow. The grants allow us to go and do the ideas we’ve been unable to do. Our sport has been advocating for gender parity, increased diversity and youth growth for so long and this is how we get there.
Libby Cravens, Altitude Ultimate
USA Ultimate recently announced our very first Youth Growth Grants. This program directly injects money into local communities to create more opportunities for youth in a sustainable way. Through generous support from our donors, we were able to support six programs at local disc organizations across the country with $30,000 in grants in our initial phase. We will award our second phase in early 2025 and are looking to continue to expand.
Your donations will fund this program in 2025!
The Youth Growth Grants are among the first actions supporting key priority in the recent USA Ultimate strategic plan to elevate youth and grassroots ultimate. The topic moved to the forefront of discussions across the ultimate world. Organizers, coaches, volunteers, directors, councils, staff, and many more were asked to contemplate: how can the sport of ultimate increase participation through improved opportunities, specifically for youth, and new and developing players?
USA Ultimate Director of Youth Dan Raabe worked with his team to develop the grants, run applications and allocate funding to local disc organizations. The work was only made possible by donations from the community to The Ultimate Foundation but the hope is the funding is just the start.
“Our collaboration with the Ultimate Foundation isn’t just about financial support. It’s about inspiring a movement. We hope these grants will lead to many success stories that will spark even greater generosity within our community and empower local programs to dream bigger and reach higher,” Raabe stated.
Altitude Ultimate, Central Iowa Ultimate, Connecticut Ultimate Inc., Maine Ultimate, Pittsburgh Ultimate and Triangle Ultimate were the six recipients to receive a Youth Growth Grant. Each organization concocted unique plans to develop youth opportunities in their areas. Altitude Ultimate’s Libby Cravens explained that although the programs are just now being funded, organizers across the country have solutions to the earlier question.
“The disc orgs have been doing the work for decades but the question is how do we get to more kids and how do we grow,” Cravens explained. “The grants allow us to go and do the ideas we’ve been unable to do. Our sport has been advocating for gender parity, increased diversity and youth growth for so long and this is how we get there.”
Each of the six disc orgs were required to apply for the grant by describing their plan, how the potential grant would be utilized and what specifically they would need to execute the plan. The parameters were intentionally broad with the hope that the dedicated community members could offer unique solutions and creative plans for the problem they know all too well.
With an incredible 30 applications in the grant’s first round of recipients, applicants spelled out plans for school-based clinics, coach training, girls’ leagues, free and low cost Learn to Play in underrepresented communities and many, many more ideas.
The Ultimate Foundation awarded $30,000 in grants to continue the mission of growing youth ultimate. USA Ultimate also reopened applications for the Youth Growth Grants and will award an additional $10,000 in grant money in early 2025. The goal, punctuated by Raabe and Cravens, is to inspire a movement. With more applicants in the process and organizations piloting new and exciting ways to answer the dilemma, The Ultimate Foundation continues to request charitable donations to expand to more communities and more organizations. The funds go to parents, coaches, organizers who are knowledgeable and capable but most importantly, excited to grow the sport of ultimate in their communities. Your donation goes right down to the individual who is trying the sport we love for the first time.
The Ultimate Foundation, founded in 2014, was created with the intention to help the sport grow to represent, include and be led by people who represent the racial, ethnic, gender and socioeconomic demographic diversity of the country. The Foundation supports USA Ultimate by acting as the central location for charitable donations which can be dispersed into DEI-based programs, with the focus on youth programming. Donations to the Ultimate Foundation support:
To help The Ultimate Foundation support future Youth Growth Grants, as well as other youth-focused grassroots initiatives, donate today.
