Girls Leading Girls Business Partnership Toolkit

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Written By Girls Leading Goals, Inc.

Who We Are

GIRLS LEADING GIRLS IS THE FIRST-EVER ALL-GIRLS SOCCER ORGANIZATION
WITH ALL WOMEN COACHES.

Started in 2014 to serve all girls, Girls Leading Girls is a San Francisco–based nonprofit organization that trains young women ages 5-17  in leadership and life skills through soccer. Our programs run year-round, locally and internationally. Our unique approach combines all female role models as coaches with a girl-centered curriculum incorporating topics on nutrition, body image, career exploration, goal setting, healthy relationships with soccer training to increase girls’ confidence on and off the field.

Our Program Outcomes

  • Improved fitness & nutrition to reduce childhood obesity

  • Increased technical & tactical skills in soccer to sustain participation in sports by girls

  • Improved social relationships with peers & coaches to reduce violent behavior (gangs, foul language, fights)

  • Increased leadership participation on & off the field to build women leaders in all sectors of society

  • Improved academic attendance to reduce generational poverty

The Problem

All girls begin to lose their confidence around age 12. The Confidence Gap grows throughout puberty and never closes as girls become women. 70% of girls drop out of sports at a rapid rate faster than boys around age 13. Girls become women and only 28% of youth sports coaches in the USA are women.

  • Between tween and teen years, girls’ confidence significantly drops by 30% - from 8.5/10 at age 8 to to only 6/10 by age 12.

  • Girls are 18% less likely than boys to describe themselves as "confident.” Girls are more likely than boys to describe themselves as stressed, anxious, shy, emotional, worried, depressed, and ugly.

  • Nearly 8 in 10 girls want to feel more confident in themselves.

We are closing the Confidence Gap by training girls to be leaders through soccer. Research suggests that 50% of all girls who participate in some kind of sport have higher than average levels of self-esteem, less depression, and are more likely to graduate from high school and experience academic success than those who do not.

Partnership Opportunities

1. Annual or fixed donation • Give an annual or fixed donation to support our work.

2. Percent of sales • Donate a percentage of sales for a fixed timeframe. Perhaps for the month of March in honor of Women's History Month.

3. Matching campaign gift • Offer a matching campaign gift to GLG to boost donations from your employees & customers. For example, for every dollar donated to GLG by your employees or customers, your company would donate $2 for a $1:$2 match. 

4. Point of sale • At the end of a transaction, ask your customers to donate to GLG in addition to their purchase. For example, you could ask customers to round up to the nearest dollar or donate a fixed amount at checkout during online/in-store purchases. 

5. Transactional campaign • Offer to donate to GLG in direct relation to customer action, such as customers who share a social media post or purchase a product. 

6. Annual Fundraisers sponsorship • Become a sponsor (includes promotional benefits) for either our annual spring fundraising event or our annual fall gala. Every May we host a 5K Run with our community & raise $5,000+ towards our free programs. Every December we host a formal gala at the Airbnb HQs in SF with 300+ attendees, a panel of women speakers like Leslie Osborne, and raise over $20,000 from donations & our silent auction.

7. Employee engagement • Inspire your employees through employee engagement programs. There are many options to participate in GLG like recruiting women to coach, having volunteers for events, women mentors matched with our girls, & more! We have plenty of opportunities to go around.

Steps to Start

1. Get inspired: Consider a cause-related partnership that will work best for your customers & company. Refer above for some ideas to get you started.

2. Contact us: Bring us your best ideas & we’ll work with you to bring them to life! Email us at brianna@girlsleadinggirls.org.

3. Begin your campaign: Once you have received confirmation from GLG, it’s go time! Publicize final results & highlight outstanding participants.

Our Solution Combines:

  • Accessibility & low to no cost for all girls

  • Girl-centered curriculum

  • All women coaches for representation & role modeling

  • Year-round opportunities to play

  • Multiple programs to reach girls from all backgrounds

Girls Leading Girls reached over 800 girls annually and over 5,000 to date:

  • Free After School Program: 350 girls in grades K-8th, and 85% are eligible for reduced lunch

  • SOL Soccer Club Program: 385 girls in grades 2nd-12th, and we have recreational, competitive, & travel level teams with 15% of players on scholarships; players pay a sliding scale fee to join a team

  • Summer Camp Program: 322 girls of all levels in grades 2nd-12th; 50% receive scholarships

  • Junior Coaching Program: 15 girls in high school who volunteer and learn to become coaches

  • International Program: 18 girls & coaches, ages 12 and up; previous trips include Nicaragua, Costa Rica, & France Women's World Cup)

Meet Nora

Meet a GLG success story - Nora almost gave up playing soccer before she joined GLG. She was a player on the GLG SOL Warriors 03 Travel team for 5 years. During that time, she was also a volunteer junior coach. Now, after graduating high school, she has been promoted to be a paid head coach. Read about her story here.

Still Have Questions?

We are here to help and welcome your ideas about partnering with Girls Leading Girls. Please contact us, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can: brianna@girlsleadinggirls.org 

Updated November 2022

Girls Leading Goals, Inc.
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