USTA Press Release, February 22, 2018
The USTA Foundation (USTAF), the national charitable arm of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), announced on Wednesday that it raised a record $9 million in 2017 through a variety of fundraising efforts. These funds will be used to support National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) programs nationwide through multiple initiatives and activities, including NJTL Excellence Teams, STEM and ACE curriculums, programming and capacity-building grants, and college scholarships. In 2017, hundreds of tennis and education programs and students were awarded more than $3.3 million in grants and scholarships.
The $3.3 million distributed to tennis and education programs and students through grants and scholarships included the Foundation’s year-end funding cycle of $1,175,000 awarded to capacity-building and program grants to 67 organizations nationwide. These organizations were awarded funds to support their efforts in providing quality tennis and education programming to under-resourced youth as well as to build capacity and program infrastructure.
Throughout 2017, the USTA Foundation continued to engage support from private individuals, corporations and other foundations. As a result, USTAF received a $500,000 corporate sponsor and an additional $80,000 in individual gifts that will directly support the Foundation’s 13 Excellence Teams in 2018. In addition, USTAF established the very first Donald Tisdel College Scholarship. The largest college scholarship fund under the auspices of the USTAF, it is named in honor of the late Don Tisdel, a member of the USTA’s Board and Executive Committee who possessed a passion for the game and cared deeply about giving back to strengthen the sport of tennis.
“This year, the USTA Foundation is achieving many of its goals, enabling us to support our NJTL chapters and reward thousands of deserving students for their achievements,” said Dan Faber, Executive Director, USTA Foundation. “We certainly owe a great deal of gratitude to our individual, corporate and foundation donors for believing in our mission and helping us to raise a record-breaking $9 million last year. These funds will go a long way in impacting under-resourced youth. In addition, we are proud to end 2017 by awarding some of the country’s most phenomenal NJTL programs. The efforts they put forth toward impacting the lives of youth through tennis and education is truly commendable.”
Since its inception, the USTAF has awarded more than $28 million in grants and scholarships to hundreds of community-based, grass-roots programs, benefitting thousands of children through tennis, education and health programming, primarily through the NJTL network. This network features more than 350 chapters that reach more than 200,000 youth on an annual basis, providing free or low-cost tennis and education programming to the 50 largest markets in the U.S. – nurturing future leaders and enabling kids in need to succeed on the court, in the classroom and in life.
