Good Sports

Melissa Harper has been Co-Founder and CEO of Good Sports, Inc. since 2003.  During that time Good Sports has grown from distributing equipment to impact 2,500 kids to supporting millions of children in need today.  In recognition of her leadership of Good Sports, she is the youngest recipient of the Robert W. Crawford Achievement Prize from the National Recreation Foundation.  In addition to roles in nonprofit fundraising and consulting, she also spent nearly 5 years in the management consulting business with Gemini Consulting and Treacy & Company. She is a first generation college graduate who attended the University of Pennsylvania. Melissa is also a lifelong athlete participating in road races and marathons as well as playing and coaching sports for her four children.

Good Sports exists because children in need face significant barriers to play due to high costs of participation. We address that obstacle by donating new sports equipment, apparel and footwear to youth organizations in low-income communities across the United States.

Since 2003, Good Sports has grown from donating 500 basketballs to distributing $58 million in new equipment to support 8 million children. Of total youth served, 80% are children of color and equipment is donated to schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, grassroots organizations and more.

Why is this work important? Because kids who play do better. They improve their health, grow in confidence, make new friends and improve classroom performance. By deeply investing resources to support children in need who cannot otherwise afford the equipment, Good Sports enables programs to introduce new activities, lower costs, increase minutes of play and give more kids access to play which can change lives.

Research shows that kids who play do better.  But access to play is not distributed equitably.  Children from higher income families have more opportunity for both structured and unstructured play, physical activity in school and out of school, and resources for play at home.  And there are cultural differences limiting play participation based on background or gender.

There is a significant sports participation gap between youth from lower income families and those from middle- and higher-income families. Youth from higher-income households ($100,000+ per year) are nearly three times more likely to be physically active than youth from low-income households (under $25,000 per year) (Aspen Institute, 2018).  "For lower-income parents, expense was the second most common reason their child did not participate in sports” (RAND, 2019) and youth from low-income homes stop playing because of the costs at six times the rate of their affluent peers (Aspen Institute, 2020). 

Play benefits the whole child providing the foundation for a healthier lifestyle, positive social and emotional development, supporting academic achievement, mental health benefits, developing an inclusive culture, and creating a sense of community.  Play is critical to childhood development and should be a right and not a privilege reserved for the affluent.

Good Sports leverages the power of sports for children in high-need communities providing organizations, teams, and schools with brand-new equipment so all children can play. Good Sports’ goal is to create an environment where every child, regardless of social or economic background has access to sport. This way, every child will have the opportunity to interact and play with their peers respectfully, develop healthy lifestyles, and build critical leadership skills.

Good Sports strives to provide brand new equipment, footwear, and apparel to over one million children in need each year. Healthy play leads to healthy lifestyles for all children and Good Sports is committed to expanding its program to reach more low-income youth.

Our model is built on the establishment of partnerships with the sporting goods industry who provide donated and deeply discounted equipment which we distribute to those that need it the most.  

The aim of this project is to increase access to play for youth to combat increasing pay-to-play costs and limited programming. With Good Sports equipment donations, recipients can:

• Launch new sports programs
• Expand existing programs
• Decrease participation costs
• Improve the quality and increase retention rates of participants
• Increase minutes of play for participants per week

Good Sports provides equipment, footwear, and apparel to youth in high poverty communities throughout the US.  Over 80% of the children we serve are black and brown and live at the intersection between poverty and racial inequity.  Sports have the potential to change all that.  

The primary goal of Good Sports is about giving all kids a chance to play and making sure cost is not a barrier to anyone’s participation in sports and fitness. Our social impact is illustrated by the incredible growth of our organization. We started in 2003 with 500 basketballs, which we drove two hours in a U-Haul to pick up, and donated to local youth programs in our home city of Boston, Mass. In 2019, we donated $14.3 million in new equipment, footwear and apparel to 1.1 million kids nationwide.

So many more kids still need the benefits of sports and fitness activities. We’re not just putting a ball in a hand, sports also help kids make better decisions socially, get better health outcomes, avoid more risky behaviors, do better in school, and experience a myriad of other long-term emotional and physical benefits. Kids who play fundamentally do better. The numbers translate into real impact.

There are countless examples of how sports change lives, break down barriers, and shift culture.  But what about the kids who never get the opportunity to play?  There are a myriad of obstacles that prevent participation ranging from cost, to cultural norms, transportation, etc.  But play is the work of children.  It is critical for their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development.  At Good Sports, we believe that all children should have access to both structured and unstructured play.  And our goal is to break down the barriers so no child is left on the sidelines.

I am not solely responsible for Good Sports, but a small group of us came together fueled by the premise that there must be a way to leverage excess resources to create more access to sport for children in need.  As Co-Founders, we had all been tremendously influenced by sport in our own lives and couldn't accept lack of opportunity for children in need.  So, we dug into the project to identify resources, build a network, and develop initial plans.  Most of our original team served as Founding Board Members as we launched Good Sports.

My role was that of the risk taker.  Providing opportunities for sport to children in need is my passion.  Once we identified the path through which Good Sports could have impact, there was no other path for me personally or professionally.  So, I left my job and dedicated myself full time to building Good Sports.  As a start up organization, we had no funding, no partnerships, and no track record and therefore I had no salary until we raised the resources to get our 501(c)(3) status and get the organization off the ground.  And we have continued to build ever since.

Sports have been central in my life. My dad put a baseball cap on my head when I was four years old and I have loved sports ever since. Sports helped shape me, and coaches and teammates influenced who I am today. Sports taught me discipline and gave me support in the darkest days of my life as a child and as an adult, most recently as I overcame breast cancer.  I know firsthand what we gain from sports and many of the strengths I have as a leader, I found on the field.

However, my passion for sports goes beyond my experience.  Sports have a role to play in creating a world in which everyone thrives.  I want to leverage what Good Sports does to impact the world. My vision is for a society where moving everyday is a priority and where obstacles are removed for vulnerable populations. Employers giving employees time for activity, schools providing it daily for children and people aligned with their teammates not separated by their differences.  Nelson Mandela said, "Sport has the power to change the world."  We should make sport part of daily life for ourselves, for each other, and for our planet.

I could answer this question with my education, my work experience, and other credentials to build credibility but that is not what matters most when investing in leadership.  What positions me to lead is thinking strategically, being resilient, and always striving to learn.

Strategic thinking is critical to any project or organization because leadership requires constant evaluation of progress and adjustments as necessary.  As we built Good Sports from 500 basketballs to an organization that donates $15 million in equipment annually, we encountered many critical decisions.  Should we stay local or go national?  Should we focus or support all sports?  Can we get through a recession?  At every turn, we must analyze and decide the path forward.  

Additionally, the path is full of obstacles.  Economic downturns, challenging industry trends, and growing pains.  Trauma in our personal lives.  I have had to find the strength to lead amidst great personal turmoil.  But that resilience provides confidence that I can get my organization through anything.

A good leader understands that she doesn't have all the answers and strives to learn and grow.  Everyday we encounter new challenges and as Good Sports continues to scale and evolve, I know that will be even more true.  But I am committed to learning everyday to make the best decisions to move our mission forward.

I am uniquely positioned to lead because I think beyond today to the future, am equipped to overcome obstacles, and am constantly learning to be better tomorrow than I am today.    

I am no stranger to adversity in my life.  I nearly lost my first child.  I have overcome breast cancer.  My family has experienced many ups and downs economically.  But I respond to any type of adversity with grit and perseverance.  

Professionally, starting an organization from scratch is one of the most difficult things I have ever done.  Feeling in control and having stability is something that I have always valued.  Becoming an entrepreneur pushed me well past where I was comfortable and made me face many situations that tested my resolve.

In the early stages of Good Sports, more doors closed than opened for our organization.  Despite relentless pursuit of new relationships, partnership opportunities, and fundraising ideas, we were often met with resistance because we were new, skepticism because we had no track record, or limited access to decision makers.  It felt like we were always traveling uphill and it was not always clear whether we would make it or not.

But, instead of giving up and going to get a well paying secure job, I refused to quit.  Being an entrepreneur requires you to dig deep and believe in yourself and your team when no one else does.  

One of the most challenging tests of my leadership has come steering an organization through the COVID-19 crisis.  Like most organizations, Good Sports has faced tremendous setbacks and initially projected a 46% decrease in funding due to the crisis.  Meanwhile our team was affected personally and fearful about their health and financial security.

We had to act quickly and strategically on closing the fundraising gap and supporting our team.  So, we stayed calm and put a plan in place focused on 3 key priorities.  1)Protecting our team's health and financial wellness; 2)Stabilizing Good Sports financially; 3)Restoring play for the children we serve as quickly as possible.  By providing our team with clear objectives, we empowered them to be a part of the solution.  Everything they do everyday is for these 3 objectives until the crisis is behind us.

To me, leadership is about elevating the the rest of the team. If we think about sports, the captain isn't necessarily the best player, but she always has the team in mind. The captain tries to help the whole team improve.  Its not about being in charge, leadership is about making the whole team better, stronger, and faster.

When we started Good Sports, we had a choice.  We could build a model in which we were directly responsible for all aspects of programming or we could build an organization to create a network of support for the youth sports community.  In the first model, we would be able to have a tremendous impact on the children we served but would be limited in the scale we could achieve.  In the second model, we could rally the sports industry at large to elevate the youth sports community and therefore impact many more children in need.  We chose the second.

Good Sports is innovative because we created a solution that benefits both the sporting goods industry and children in need.  We are an outlet for excess product for Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, and many other sporting goods companies.  We give them an opportunity to donate equipment rather than discard it or cannibalize their brands on the discount market.  Progressive leadership in the industry recognizes that it is better for all if children in need have more access to sport and physical activity.  It benefits the child, the community, and the industry over the long-term. 

Few nonprofits have a business model that provides for social good but also offers a tangible service to the private sector.  Good Sports does just that.  We are not just a charity partner to the sporting goods industry.  We are a solution to short-term inventory challenges, and their long-term goal of creating an active community.  

In 2014, we created a strategic plan for growth and set out to triple our impact by 2023.  We achieved that goal already and planned to revisit our strategic plan this year to develop a new set of goals and metrics.  This process has been delayed by the COVID-19 crisis, however, in the meantime, we know there is room for continued growth.  

Good Sports currently serves approximately 1 million children in need per year. 

There are over 10 million children in need of our support in the United States alone as well as $100 million of equipment available in the sporting goods industry.  Furthermore, because sports equipment, footwear, and apparel are size and age specific, we aim to support children in need two to three times over their childhood playing cycle.  As such, while we have achieved some scale in our work, we are nowhere near where we need to be to fully meet the need.

Over the next year, Good Sports is focused on restoring play for communities severely affected by COVID-19.

Good Sports is implementing three approaches to have an immediate impact but also support the community over a long recovery process. Equipment donations will impact a diverse population of children across sports, gender, age and geography.

• Individual Play Packs: Providing individual play packs with school meal programs and virtual sports programming.
• Equipment Donations for Physically Distanced Programs: Equipment donations for physically distanced practices, individual sports, or minimizing sharing of equipment.
• Equipment Donations to Fully Restore Play: Equipment donations to in-school and out-of-school programs to provide play throughout the day.

Good Sports’ model makes it possible to immediately restore play to the children who need it most. With 2,000 U.S. organizations in our network and 17 years of leveraging sporting goods for the greatest impact, we can provide the resources to restore joy, community and well-being to children in need.

Beyond the next year, Good Sports will revisit its long-term strategy and determine other ways we can provide access to play and sport.  This could include solutions for participation fees, restoring recreational sport, global access, etc.  While our long term plans are on pause due to COVID-19, we will develop models that elevate the needs of the youth sports community and bring together a network of support.  Good Sports can't make play a daily opportunity for all children alone and we will seek partners to make our shared vision a reality.

Good Sports barriers to growth and greater scale can all be overcome with the right partners, knowledge, and resources.  

• Knowledge of global distribution:  As we consider serving youth on a global level, we must grapple with the logistics and regulatory issues that emerge with distribution across borders.  We do not have sufficient knowledge or access to determine feasibility and need support to assess global programming.
• Technology:  While Good Sports has made technological progress over the years, changing tools and evolving needs make it imperative to invest in this area.  We have to balance technology that supports inventory management with user friendly resources to effectively support the youth sports community.  Finding and continually improving platforms and processes is challenging with limited resources.
• Flexible resources:  Like most nonprofit organizations, Good Sports continuously strives to develop flexible resources that allow us to invest in the areas of the business that will have the most impact.  Fewer restrictions on the philanthropic support we receive, more earned income and control over the resources we have are and will continue to be key priorities.

While these barriers are very tangible and practical in nature, one thing that is critically important to our continued growth is the need to balance resources and opportunities.  At Good Sports, we are committed to doing the work in the most effective way we can and we must take on only what we can deliver with the highest quality.  Doing too much and therefore not doing it well is not an option.

At Good Sports, we don't believe any barrier is insurmountable and we tackle all with discipline and rigor.  Whether we are addressing our need to learn more about global distribution or technological options, we will follow the same approach.

• Seek guidance from those that are knowledgeable
• Evaluate options based on Good Sports business model and needs
• Plan implementation of new ideas and opportunities
• Pilot or test the approach before scaling
• Assess the results and learn
• Incorporate learning and data into future plans

Beyond financial resources, access to people and partners that enable Good Sports to learn and make the best decisions to overcome obstacles, is critical to our success.

Equipment partners: Good Sports partners with sports equipment manufacturers, such as Nike, Wilson and Under Armour, to receive in-kind donations of brand-new equipment, apparel and footwear. The equipment spans twenty-five sports and includes physical education and recess equipment for schools. Many equipment manufacturers incur high costs to store excess equipment and do not have the resources for due diligence on individual programs who approach them for donations. Good Sports gives these companies a philanthropic outlet for excess inventory while delivering it to youth organizations who will use it to better serve kids in need. The top-quality equipment delights many kids and will remain with the youth organizations for years to come.

Community partners: With every donation, Good Sports is strengthening the youth organization recipient. From Boys & Girls clubs to schools to grassroots programs, Good Sports supports an array of youth organizations in every state. These organizations are key players in knowledge of their community and have the ability to give local youth active play opportunities, but they need resources. Good Sports works with each recipient to understand and fulfill their equipment needs – giving them the tools to improve their program and the ensuing health of their community.  

Good Sports also partners with corporations enabling them to have impact on youth sports community while simultaneously supporting their corporate citizenship and employee volunteerism goals.  Additionally, we have media and athlete partnerships that help amplify our message and raise visibility of the need to ensure all kids have access to play.

As discussed earlier, Good Sports business model is to leverage the resources of the sporting goods industry to elevate access to support for children in need.  We partner with sporting goods companies to secure donated and deeply discounted sports equipment which we distribute to programs in high poverty communities.  Good Sports is therefore both solving a problem for the industry while simultaneously meeting a critical need in the community.

As equipment flows into our operation, we evaluate the community need to determine where it will have the greatest impact.  

Any youth organization is welcome to apply for an equipment donation via an online application. To maximize equipment and financial partners’ resources, Good Sports has developed a due diligence review process to evaluate recipients based on criteria such as level of need, population served, and need for equipment. Once approved, a program is eligible for six customized equipment donations over a two-year period. For each donation, recipients are required to submit an evaluation report containing quantitative and qualitative data of the donation’s impact. Good Sports reports this data back to its equipment and financial partners and utilizes the information to continually improve its offering to youth organizations.

Good Sports has been growing steadily for more than a decade.  Our financial support comes from individuals, corporations, foundations, special events, and we have a small earned income revenue stream.  

There are two primary drivers that enable Good Sports to be sustainable: securing the necessary amount of equipment to execute our community program and ensuring we obtain the funding to support our operations.

Good Sports maintains and strengthens existing partnerships with sports manufacturers and continues to pursue new opportunities in this sector with the hopes of providing a larger quantity and wider variety of equipment, footwear, and apparel to the organizations we serve.

Much like with our equipment partners, Good Sports continues to deepen and diversify our relationships with donors to ensure we have the necessary resources to operate and to prevent us from becoming overly reliant on any one partner. Developing this broad base of support from the sporting goods sector and our funding sources is what allows us to remain sustainable. 

We have also proven our ability to manage through challenging times that test our sustainability.  For example, our income dropped 27% during the 2008 and 2009 recession.  However, we had fully recovered within 2 years.  We are experiencing a similar challenge in today's COVID-19 crisis.  Although we had initially projected a 46% decline in revenue, we have finalized some major partnerships over the past few months and now expect to end the year less than 20% behind budget.  Steady leadership and resilience are key to sustainability.

Good Sports raises on average $5 million per year to support our efforts to give all children access to play.  Below is a breakdown of the sources of this funding:

• 15% from Individuals
• 40% from Corporations
• 19% from Foundations
• 8% in Earned Income
• 18% from Special Events

In addition to these funds raised to support cash expenses, Good Sports also receives millions of dollars in donated equipment annually.  

All of these numbers are estimates based on historical information and are subject to change especially in light of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on our organization.

Good Sports has the ability to have far greater impact than we do today both in the United States and potentially on a global scale.  To do so, we need greater access to people and organizations with knowledge in areas critical to our growth, as well as a network that is broader in geographic scope to help us understand our global potential.  Beyond the financial opportunity the path of learning that is available through the Elevate Prize is invaluable to an organization like Good Sports.  We are at the tipping point of remaining a small but stable organization or investing in the knowledge and resources to scale domestically and potentially at a global level.