• Grants for athletic programs seek to better underserved communities.kids on the bikes image by Peric Sinisa from Fotolia.com
  
  Athletic program grants provide funding to school-based and private organization programs that generally seek to support, create or expand youth athletic programs. These can be regional or national programs, and funding can range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Some of these programs are for specific sports like football or golf, or they are for specific genders or age groups.
  
  

Women’s Sports Foundation

• The Women’s Sports Foundation offers athletic grants to organizations looking to expand athletic opportunities to girls ages 8 to 18. Generally, these organizations serve financially strapped or underserved populations across the country, but the main cities of focus include Boston, Atlanta, Chicago and San Antonio. The grants are broken up into five categories: GoGirlGo! Grants, Jump Start Grant, Rusty Kanokogi Fund for the Advancement of U.S. Judo, Travel and Training Fund, and the Dorothy Harris Endowed Scholarship. Most of these grants go to individuals, except the GoGirlGo! Grant, which is open to organizations with sports programs. The organization does not accept unsolicited grants.
  
  Women’s Sports Foundation National Office
  
  Eisenhower Park, 1899 Hempstead Turnpike, Suite 400
  
  East Meadow, NY 11154
  
  516-542-4700
  
  womenssportsfoundation.org
  
  

Local Initiatives Support Corporation

• The Local Initiatives Support Corporation Grassroots program works with the National Football League’s Youth Football Fun program to either build or fix up football fields in financially poor or other underserved communities. The grant is open to nonprofit organizations across the country that specifically work with youth athletic football programs. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation will find the organizations who will either build or take care of the chosen fields. Then, the fund will provide monies to either add improvements, such as turf, seating, field lights, maintenance or scoreboards, or to create new fields. The overall goal of this program is to help children remain healthy through exercise and play.
  
  Local Initiatives Support Corporation
  
  501 Seventh Ave.
  
  New York, NY 10018
  
  212-455-9800
  
  lisc.org
  
  

Carol M. White Physical Education Program

• The Carol M. White Physical Education Program is a grant-awarding program overseen by the U.S. Department of Education, and this grant is given to school-based or community athletic programs across the country. Monies can be used to create new programs or enlarge or advance existing physical education programs. Grants range from $100,000 to $750,000, and application is open to programs for grades kindergarten to 12th grade. The goal of the program is to help physical education programs meet state standards and to assist students become physically active.
  
  U.S. Department of Education
  
  400 Maryland Ave. SW, 7E-247
  
  Washington, DC 20202
  
  800-872-5327
  
  ed.gov