United States Savate Federation

USAT Institutes Donation Program to Aid Aspiring Athletes

USA Taekwondo has announced a new program to help aspiring Olympians fulfill their potential and reach their dreams. Athletes and clubs can solicit donations that will be tax deductible to the donor as long as the program guidelines are followed. Here is how the program will work.

Athletes and USAT member clubs can solicit donations from individuals and or corporations. Funds to be donated are made payable to USA Taekwondo. The donating entity completes a grant application and submits with said funds to USAT. USA Taekwondo segregates the money and pays 86% of the money back to the member club for the approved deductible program. 7% of the money will go into a general fund for grants to any approved high performance program grant requests. 7% of the money will go toward offsetting administrative costs.

Examples of approved activities include the purchase of LaJust EBP equipment for a club that can be utilized for all members of the club, coaches' travel to events where they are coaching all high-level athletes at the club and other examples as set forth in the program guidelines below. One of the important prohibitions in the program is that grants cannot be awarded to pay for the training of a few specific athletes. The grants must be for the benefit of the entire club.

"USAT wanted to find a way to leverage its 501C3 tax exempt status for the benefit of its member clubs," said David Askinas, USAT CEO. "Recognizing that most dojangs in this country are for-profit entities we knew there was a need to establish a vehicle for individuals and clubs to solicit tax deductible donations to aid our high performance goals. After careful research into the applicable IRS laws we are confident that we have created a program that can legally benefit potential donors and clubs alike."

Program Guidelines:

1. USAT shall set high performance goals that it will support with the donation program and will keep a public written statement of said goals.

2. The grants will generally be made to cover the cost of training equipment, travel expenses and other expenses that benefit every high level athlete at a private club.

3. Some of the funds may go back to high performance teams/ clubs to cover rental costs at their facilities.

4. Some of the funds may go to offset a coach's fees and travel costs for attending an event with his high performance team.

5. No funds will be sent to the taekwondo club owner for reimbursement of an individual athlete's training fees.

6. USAT will set up a grant application process and have an internal committee set up to approve grants from the program.

7. USAT will retain a reasonable portion of the donated funds for administrative purposes.

8. USAT will not grant dollar-for-dollar grants back to any donor's designated club. It will use a portion of the donated funds to make grants to other applicants.

9. Any donations made under this program should be classified as restricted donations for accounting purposes.

The grant recipients shall prepare a yearly final spending report and submit to USAT for review and record keeping.