Remember when you got your first baseball glove, football helmet, or soccer jersey? For 13 million kids living in poverty across the United States, they may never have that chance. As the cost of equipment rises, budgets are cut, and user fees are charged, kids from high poverty backgrounds no longer have access to sports and fitness opportunities.
Good Sports aims to change that by providing sports equipment, footwear, and apparel to ensure all kids have the opportunity to lead healthy, active lifestyles. In 2003, Good Sports began by donating 500 basketballs to benefit 2,000 kids in Boston. Today, Good Sports has donated more than $6 million worth of equipment to benefit 300,000 kids across the nation.
An innovative model has enabled Good Sports to impact thousands of kids with a small infrastructure. Good Sports partners with sporting goods manufacturers to secure donated and discounted sports equipment. That equipment is then donated to organizations serving disadvantaged youth, solving a problem for both sporting goods companies with excess inventory and programs with declining budgets.
Good Sports has been able to distribute $6 million worth of equipment with just 6 employees. A lean, efficient organization; Good Sports is a low cost, scalable solution to ensuring kids have the opportunity to be active. However, our limited infrastructure also presents its challenges. For example, our website was donated to us several years ago when we only served youth in Massachusetts. Now as a national organization, our website is not reflective of our impact across the country. With the brand of our organization locked in the past, the Good Sports website is holding back our future – one in which Good Sports will provide enough equipment to get 1 million kids back in the game.
