About us
Who we are
Beyond The Sidelines Foundation, Inc. (BTSF) is a Georgia nonprofit corporation, incorporated on May 15, 2026 and based in Johns Creek, Georgia. It is recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a public charity exempt under Section 501(c)(3), organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes.
Our mission
To expand access to organized sports and related youth-development opportunities for underserved children, adolescents, young adults, and persons with intellectual, emotional or physical disabilities — locally in Georgia, across the USA, and internationally. We work to reduce economic, geographic, disability-related and social barriers to participation by supporting inclusive sports programming, coach and volunteer education, equipment and facility access, leadership development, health and wellness education, grants, and related community-based youth programs.
Where it began
The idea took shape in late 2024, in conversations between Ayan Ganguly and a mentor about how uneven access to organized sport is — for children in underserved communities, for women and girls, and for people with disabilities — across Asia and in Georgia alike. Having grown up in Singapore and learned Mandarin from pre-school, Ayan had seen how much a team can mean to a child and how often the chance to join one depends on where you live and what your family can afford.
Ayan's and his brother Deven's volunteer coaching with the TOPSoccer program at Atlanta Fire United gave that idea a face: the gap is not talent or interest, it is access. Ayan founded BTSF to narrow it, with Deven and their sister Uma as co-founders. The Foundation is governed by a three-member Board of Directors chaired by their father, Samrat Ganguly.
What we do
BTSF conducts direct charitable programs and makes grants. Planned activities include:
- youth sports leagues, clinics and camps;
- adaptive and inclusive sports programming;
- coach, referee and volunteer training;
- safeguarding, wellness and leadership workshops;
- equipment purchases and distributions;
- access-to-play support such as fee waivers and participation assistance; and
- grants to qualified nonprofit, school, club or community partners that advance BTSF's exempt purposes, under short written agreements with reporting.
Where we are starting
In the United States, BTSF is working on inclusive soccer programming with the TOPSoccer program at Atlanta Fire United in Duluth, Georgia, part of US Youth Soccer's TOPSoccer initiative, and will extend its support to other communities across the country.
Internationally, BTSF supports youth football development through project-based collaboration with organizations in East Asia, with Southeast Asia and South Asia to follow, and may collaborate with national, regional and multilateral football bodies where consistent with its charitable purposes.
What we believe
Access
Cost, distance and disability should never decide who gets to play.
Inclusion
Programs are designed with players with disabilities, girls and women, and underserved communities — not adapted as an afterthought.
Partnership
We strengthen the people and organizations already doing the work, and help new programs take root where none exist.
Integrity
Clear rules, written agreements, no insider benefit and open books.
Youth leadership
BTSF was founded by young people. Young people help lead it.
Our safeguards
BTSF's Articles of Incorporation prohibit private inurement, political campaign activity and substantial lobbying, and dedicate its assets to 501(c)(3) purposes on dissolution. No funds may go to any director, officer, founder or family member; the founders are unpaid volunteers. Partners and grantees are chosen on objective criteria. BTSF has a conflict-of-interest policy modeled on the IRS form, a youth-protection policy with background checks and mandated-reporter rules, written grant agreements with reporting, and Board financial oversight.
Why “Beyond the Sidelines”
The sideline is where you stand when you are not playing. Our name is a promise to the children who have been kept there — by cost, by distance, by disability or by the absence of a program — that we will help them cross it. You will see the phrase in our logo in Chinese, Bengali, Hindi and Spanish: the languages of our founders' heritage and upbringing and of the communities we serve first.
