FAQ

We’re an adventurous group, so no country is out of the question. Our primary work is in Africa and so far we’ve completed projects in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, and Belize. We have also done work locally in Austin, Texas where we have put on soccer tournaments for children and adults with special needs.

We work with impoverished schools and orphanages in Africa, with the goal of helping under-served children break out of the cycle of poverty.

Poverty can be caused by many variables, so we use many approaches to fight it. To achieve our goal, we use a two-part strategy that we describe as what we do on the field of play and off the field of play. On the field, we use soccer clinics to educate children about life through sport. Off the field of play we seek to tangibly improve the daily living conditions of the children, thru water, solar, education, medical, and construction / renovation projects.

We believe education is fundamental to success in life. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and especially in Africa. We use soccer clinics to educate children about life through sport, using drills and exercises to underline the importance of getting a good education and making good decisions in and out of school.

We depend on private donors, foundations and sponsors to cover any costs that are not project related, such as website management and marketing materials, so that we can continue to use all public donations to fund our projects in Africa.

No. ISWS is 100% volunteer run and our board members donate annually to the organization and are some of the biggest contributors to our projects in Africa. This is our passion. Not our job.

Yes! ISWS has hosted soccer tournaments for children and adults with special needs in Austin, Texas.

1. Take a look at our current project campaigns; choose a project you want to support; set a fundraising goal; and write a mission statement (including the name of your project).
2. Email or call us and share your fundraising plan with us, and we will create a fundraising page for you.
3. Once your campaign page is up, you are ready to begin fundraising! Your campaign will be open the duration you deem necessary (90 days is usually a good amount of time). Once your campaign closes, we’ll use 100% of the money to directly fund your project in Africa.

While we have (and still do) come across projects in many different ways  (including personal contacts, recommendations from others, US Embassy requests, and good ole fashion research), we have developed our own projects and programs that we feel will make the biggest impact (i.e. soccer clinics and sustainable school farms). These projects are based on years of experience and what we have found to work best in the communities we serve.

Yes! We’re a hands-on organization, meaning we are on location for all of our projects in Africa.  Being on location is important so that we can ensure that all donated funds are utilized appropriately and effectively and project work is completed as planned.

Our projects (from soccer clinics and tournaments to construction of sustainable school farms) are ongoing year round. We begin our work by overseeing the purchase of any necessary supplies or materials. Once supplies and materials are purchased, we oversee and often participate in the actual project work.

Absolutely not! We only use your personal information (name, email address, phone number) to reply to your inquiries and to send you newsletters and project updates. Our website is not set up to track, collect or distribute personal information. Our site logs do generate certain kinds of non-identifying site usage data, such as the number of hits and visits to our sites. This information is used for internal purposes to provide better services to the public.

Online: Donating online is the easiest option. You can donate using any major credit card or your PayPal account here.
Security for Online donation: We use PayPal, the largest online global payment processor, to securely process all online donations. Don’t Worry – you don’t need a PayPal account to donate to ISWS and we’ll never share your information with anyone.

By Check: Send checks for general donation to:

It Starts With Soccer
613-B Rocky Ledge Road
Austin, Texas, 78746

Fundraising Campaign donations: Want to donate to a friend’s ISWS campaign? You can do this by using your credit card and making a donation directly on their campaign page or by mailing us a check.

To donate online: Go to their campaign page and click on “donate”.
To donate by check: Mail us your check with the Campaign name in the memo line.

For donations made online, you’ll receive a confirmation email within a few minutes of donating. Within 24 hours, you’ll also receive a tax receipt by email for your records.

For checks or money orders you’ll receive a receipt by mail within 2 months of your donation. If you haven’t received either, please email us at contact@itstartswithsoccer.org.