In hopes of highlighting the community in which I currently live in I wanted to take this week to discuss nonprofits in my local area. In this blog I will highlight the sports nonprofits that are both well-known and not so well known in hopes of showing how nonprofits can vary in all aspects.
The first sports nonprofit that I feel everyone knows is the YMCA. Founded in 1844 in London, England, the YMCA has over 2,400 locations across the US. It is rain with Christian principles of healthy spirit, mind and body for all. In Eugene specifically the YMCA has a huge presence as it provides the local area with youth sports and activities to encourage kids to get active.
A Eugene company that I was surprised to find out was a nonprofit is TrackTown USA. With the newly built Hayward Field as a beacon of the Eugene track community, TrackTown USA works alongside the University of Oregon and the local Eugene community to continue to help facilitate track events. Throughout the year they host numerous running events to help grow the sport of track and continue the legacy set by those that came before us.
A fairly new nonprofit that was only created 4 years ago is Incline Sports. With basketball at the forefront of their mission they aim to use the game to instill core values in their players while also growing the game of basketball. On their website you can see that they often have members of the University of Oregon women’s basketball team stop in to help out from time to time. With their clinics, one-on-one, and group lessons they provide top tier training that allows students to then apply that in their leagues and beyond.
The final sports nonprofit in the Eugene area that I wanted to highlight was the Eugene Civic Alliance. Unlike the previous nonprofit that I mentioned, the Eugene Civic Alliance (EAC) is actually just a recreation space ran by a nonprofit organization. The EAC was founded in 2014 and the space was purchased in 2015. During the pandemic the EAC played a vital role in the community by allowing kids, teens, and adults a space to get active during a time when that was not always possible. Since 2015 they have grown enormously and now have plans to complete re-envisioning the space with hopes of continuing to service the Eugene community.
By showcasing these four unique and different sports nonprofits in the Eugene area, I hope to show just how different nonprofits can be. The nonprofit sector is vast and can service many different areas which makes exploring it so interesting. As someone with a passion for all the different ways in which nonprofits work I hope you continue to follow along in my journey of exploring sports nonprofits and all that they can do.