Soccer and Community Impact

Mission

The Bridges United Foundation is the social impact arm of Ballard FC and Salmon Bay FC, North Seattle’s USL League Two and USL W League soccer clubs. The Foundation serves as the strategic umbrella for all community work undertaken by the clubs both during the season and throughout the year, focused on free soccer camps and clinics in Western Washington as well as an innovative multi-sport academy model focused on holistic youth wellness.

BECOME A FOUNDATION PARTNER

What we do

Soccer is a powerful tool for social impact, and a soccer club provides a big platform.

Free & Focused: All programming and equipment provided through the Foundation will be focused on marginalized communities and be provided at no cost to participating youth. We estimate we will reach 1,000 youth in 2023.

Quality Training: Foundation programs will feature age- and skill-appropriate, high quality sport training and other programming. Our programs will be developed by experts and implemented by trained, community-aligned staff.

Leverage Ballard FC/Salmon Bay FC Players & Coaches: Ballard FC and Salmon Bay FC have assembled a group of players and coaches representing our community’s past, present and future professional soccer heroes. We will leverage the status of these heroes to reach and impact youth in Seattle.

The Ballard FC Foundation uses soccer as a bridge, providing both access and connection in our community in addition to offering support to key partners. We will build an innovative, high-impact program strategy in close partnership with the communities we intend to serve.

Our Impact Pillars

Access

Free soccer training and equipment provided at 1-day clinics, multi-day camps, multi-week impact academy (with multiple sports, nutrition, literacy and mental health elements)

Connection

We will lead a program to bring non-local players with powerful impact stories to Ballard FC/Salmon Bay FC and build community by involving fans in social impact projects (such as beach clean-ups or Foundation partner volunteer outings)

Now through the end of Tuesday get your Goala 🎟️ for 25% off! Use the promo code GIVING25. The Goala is our Foundation’s main fundraiser of the year and will be vital to our social impact success in 2025 and beyond. Get your tickets today - link in bio! P.S. We’ll have some major announcements this year you won’t want to miss!

Tickets are live! We are thrilled to invite you to our annual fundraiser and party to celebrate the Foundation’s impact in 2024! 🎉 The Ballard FC Foundation is the social impact arm of both clubs, and leverages our players and coaches to be forces of good in our community. We do this by providing camps and clinics throughout underserved areas in greater Seattle - and because of your support, they’re always free to participants. We’re also proud to partner with numerous organizations to lift up and fund their vital work as well in our region, including, but not limited to: @kcplayequity, @ymcaseattle, @upower_org, @clubinsider, @famfirstrenton, @ratcityfc, @clracademy_, and @rain_city_soccer_club. 💛 Please join us on December 19th to hear stories from the successes of 2024 - including how we impacted over 2,000 youth by providing over 5,000 hours of coaching - and help us fundraise for an even more impactful 2025. 🙏 The link for tickets is in our bio - see you on December 19th! 🎊

Proud to be expanding our soccer ball donation to two new program partners: Jane Addams Middle School Girl’s teams and Jamhuri United. It’s an honor to work with you all and help provide the best resources possible to our youth - from Meadowbrook to Federal Way — soccer is for all 💛

And that’s a wrap on CLR 2024! 🙌 Our weekly sports and leadership camp in partnership with @clracademy_ has finished up a second successful summer! ❤️🧡💛 We are proud to have offered sessions every Saturday this summer to youth participants to expose them to sports, leadership, mentorship, and good nutrition every step of the way. 📷: @blakedahlin

Our fall programming is in full swing! We’ll be leading ⚽️ clinics with our player coaches at two @clubinsider locations this fall - Rainier Vista and Ballard! As always our clinics are accessible for all skill levels and are completely free. We can’t wait to see you this fall! 🙌 Have a need in your neighborhood? Email freeclinics@goballardfc.com to start the conversation!

Shots from our CLR Academy this past summer 🙌 This camp is a weekly program we host in White Center every Saturday and teaches youth about leadership in their community through sport. We’re proud to partner with @clracademy_ to provide this free programming for kids in our greater community 💛 📷: @blakedahlin

🙏 for the ❤️ A sampling of thank you notes we’ve received this summer from youth impacted at clinics led by coaches Charlie, Alex, and Cameron ❤️🧡💛

Highlights from our school ambassador program this past season 😍 Player ambassadors from our first team met with numerous schools across the region to inspire change, talk about life as a footballer, and of course have a good kick around ☺️ In total we met with over 350 youth across middle and elementary schools in King County this past summer 🙌 Thank you to our generous donors whose support goes directly to programming, such as this, and allows our players to represent the club so well 🤝🧡

Join us September 15th for the @kcplayequity Play Day! Registration and more info is available on their bio ☺️

Our CLR Academy is in full swing this summer 🙌 Led by @coach_mario_valderrama and Coach @carlking74, we are once again providing free programming every Saturday 10am - 12pm in White Center for youth. In partnership with @clracademy_ our youth receive sports training, learn leadership skills, and have access to healthy snacks and drinks throughout the program - all summer long. All are welcome and we hope to see you soon! 💛🙏