In August 2008, a San-Francisco based nonprofit called YouthNoise teamed up with shoe-giant, Nike, to organize their first ever Play City Training Camp. The idea behind the Play City campaign was to rally young, social entrepreneurs in LA around the concept of “sport for good”. No one had any idea what was going to come out of it, but nearly a year and a half since that day, no one has yet to be disappointed.
Out of that 2-day boot camp came Just Like You International Sports Exchange, an innovative, 501(c)3 nonprofit after-school program that teaches kids about other cultures through traditional sports and games from around the world. Their mission: “to promote international awareness among youth through sport, laying the foundation necessary to create tomorrow’s global citizens.”
The idea is very simple--children all over the world enjoy running around and playing games. Every culture has its own unique set of games which themselves contain a lot of information about the region, culture, history, traditions, climate, geography etc. Playing those games is a fantastic way to introduce young kids to the global community. Every week, Just Like You volunteers go to a number of elementary schools and spend an hour and a half with the kids, 30 minutes of which is spent sharing fun facts about the country.
Being such a young nonprofit, Just Like You has relied heavily on the numerous services that Grassroots.org provides to its member organizations free of charge. The organization’s website, www.playjustlikeyou.com, was entirely designed using DoodleKit, one of the many offerings in the Grassroots Toolbox. DoodleKit allows you to fully customize your website’s look and feel and even hosts your domain name for a site that looks like it could have cost thousands of dollars to build. DoodleKit simply provides an initial template but since you can tailor everything to taste, your final web design is entirely unique to your organization from color scheme to content layout.
Nowadays, an organization’s success relies heavily on its online presence. Corporate partners, volunteers, community organizations, schools and media all use an organization's website to assess a nonprofit. Just Like You has been approached by individuals and organizations all over the world since the website went live, which has allowed the organization to expand its reach and maximize impact.
Just Like You is growing at a phenomenal rate, having reached over 400 kids with their programming in LA and with plans to open up chapters in Austin, Minneapolis, Boston, DC and Irvine. Just Like You has even piloted their programming at an orphanage in Botswana! The organization now boasts an impressive list of partners including Nike, Disney/ESPNZone, Boys & Girls Club of America, Los Angeles D-Fenders, City Year, UN University for Peace, to name just a few.
The internet is a powerful resource and nonprofits have a great opportunity to utilize the power of the internet through the Grassroots Toolbox. Build your website and have it do the talking for you. Utilize all of the features including SEO Optimization to improve your site’s visibility and the Blog to keep partners, volunteers and other stakeholders informed.
Feel free to check out the organization’s website at www.playjustlikeyou.com. Just Like You is a fun way to get involved in your community, work with kids and stay active. Join the movement!
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