Beyond The Sidelines Foundation
Sport belongs to everyone.
We expand access to organized sports for underserved young people and for people with disabilities — locally in Georgia, across the USA, and internationally in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia — by backing the coaches, clubs and communities who make play possible.
Talent is everywhere. Access is not.
A place on a team can change a childhood: a coach who believes in you, a field to run on, a group of friends who show up every week. Yet for many children the barriers — cost, distance, disability, or simply the absence of a program — keep them watching from the sidelines. BTSF exists to move them onto the field.
Programs
What we do
BTSF conducts direct charitable programs and makes grants to partners who share our mission. Our work falls into six areas.
Inclusive and adaptive programming
Youth leagues, clinics and camps designed so that players with intellectual, emotional or physical disabilities can take part.
Coach, referee and volunteer training
Education and certification for the people who make programs run, including safeguarding and inclusive coaching.
Equipment and facility access
Adaptive equipment, kit and field time so that programs are not held back by what they lack.
Access-to-play support
Fee waivers and participation assistance, administered by partner programs under their own criteria.
Leadership, health and wellness
Workshops that build young leaders and support the health and wellbeing of players and volunteers.
Grants to partners
Project grants to qualified nonprofit, school, club and community partners, under short written agreements with reporting.
Where we work
We start where we have roots and relationships — locally in Georgia, across the USA, and internationally — and we grow through partners who already do the work well.
United States — starting in Georgia
Inclusive soccer programming with the TOPSoccer program at Atlanta Fire United in Duluth, Georgia, part of US Youth Soccer's TOPSoccer initiative, with more communities across the country to follow.
International — East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia
Project-based collaboration with organizations involved in youth football development, beginning in East Asia and growing to Southeast Asia and South Asia.
About
Founded by young people, for young people
BTSF began with a question Ayan Ganguly kept returning to after growing up in Singapore and coaching players with disabilities in Georgia: who gets a place on a team, and who is left watching? Conversations with a mentor in late 2024 turned the question into a plan. Ayan founded BTSF with his brother Deven and his sister Uma as co-founders.
Transparency
How we hold ourselves accountable
- No BTSF funds go to any director, officer, founder or family member. Our founders are unpaid volunteers.
- Partners and grantees are chosen on objective criteria, and every grant is governed by a written agreement with reporting.
- A youth-protection policy with background checks and mandated-reporter rules applies to everyone who works with young people on our behalf.
- A conflict-of-interest policy modeled on the IRS form and Board oversight of all finances.
Donate
What your support makes possible
Every gift goes to work on the field — through programs we run and partners we fund.
Equipment that fits the player
Adaptive goals, lighter balls, sensory-friendly gear and the basics every program needs.
Coaches who are ready
Training and certification for volunteers so that inclusion is done well, not just well-meant.
A season a family can afford
Participation assistance so that cost is never the reason a child sits out.
A program where there was none
Seed support to help a clinic, league or camp take root in a community without one.
Beyond The Sidelines Foundation, Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit corporation recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a public charity exempt under Section 501(c)(3). Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Get involved
BTSF is volunteer-led. There is a place for you — on the field, behind the scenes or as a partner.