By E.J. Crawford
Since its inception, the USTA Foundation has been focused on raising money to serve up dreams for those in need. In 2016, it set a new milestone for giving.
The USTA Foundation, the charitable arm of the USTA, surpassed $25 million in total giving last year. That includes $2.8 million in grants and scholarships awarded during the 2016 calendar year, with more than $1.1 million granted to 61 tennis and education programs nationwide.
The primary beneficiary is the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network, which features more than 350 chapters that reach more than 220,000 youth on an annual basis, providing free or low-cost tennis and education programming to 47 of the 50 largest markets in the U.S.
To expand its reach even further in 2017, the Foundation plans to utilize the newly opened USTA National Campus at Lake Nona in Orlando, Fla., employing the new Home of American Tennis to gather NJTL leaders to discuss best practices, increasing participation levels and preparing students for college and beyond.
“The USTA Foundation has streamlined its approach in producing significant impact through tennis and education,” said Dan Faber, Executive Director, USTA Foundation. “We know that in order to better serve youth from under-resourced communities, we must continue to expand our programming on and off the tennis court. This will in turn help the USTA Foundation acquire increased investments that will allow us to continue to serve more kids for years to come.”
The grants awarded in 2016 were directed to support organizations in their efforts to provide quality tennis and education programming as well as to build capacity and program infrastructure. In 2016, the Foundation’s capacity-building initiative helped 29 NJTL chapters increase youth participation from just over 74,000 in 2014 to close to 80,000.
The other significant contribution is for scholarships for kids to continue their pursuit of excellence on the court and in the classroom. In all, 92 percent of all Foundation scholarship recipients graduate from college.
To support the USTA Foundation’s mission of serving up dreams to those in need, please visit www.ustafoundation.com and donate today.