TFDA for the past five years has provided a grant to nationals attending college teams in the form of matching donations up to $2,000 per team. We would now like to expand this program to include area teams that do not qualify for nationals, and we would like to use the program as leverage to encourage volunteer work by college players at the ever expanding youth level. College players will earn volunteer points as they assist with youth events, and at a certain point threshold their team will earn 100% of TFDA's matching grant for that season regardless of on the field results. Lower point thresholds will earn lower percentages, and the ratios are structured to encourage teams to reach the 100% threshold. There will be a second matching grant when teams qualify for nationals that uses the same percentage, but the dollar amount compared to past years will initially be lower due to the expansion of the program.

For 2010, TFDA will match $500 in donations for all area college teams meeting the highest point threshold, and another $500 for nationals attending college teams meeting the highest point threshold. It is not our intention to create a ton of work for college players, merely to encourage their involvement with the youth scene, so the system initially will not require massive volunteer hours. In the future, if a corporate sponsor or other benefactor can be found to fund the program and increase the dollars matched, then the thresholds will be increased to reflect the opportunity for higher rewards. (Currently the program is funded out of TFDA's meager operating surplus.)

The following document contains the details of the program:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=d66m4hf_1gw6cszc7

For the general TFDA public, the gist is 1) donate to our college teams to encourage their community involvement (will be part of the website soon) and 2) if anyone has connections/ideas for a sponsor/benefactor that would fund the matching grants and allow this program to grow further, let us know (email board@tfda.org)