The Flag Star Football Foundation

Welcome to the Flag Star Football Foundation. Or, at least, to our website. 

Our real home is on a field. Or in a weight room. Or huddled up with our various teams and working towards a central goal. 

It's in those moments -- practicing great leadership, working towards a goal, pulling together with our teammates -- where we believe the change happens. And it's where our team is at their best. The Flag Star Football Foundation was formed so everyone can have those positive, productive, team experiences. 

The Foundation itself works across a number of different programs. We run various leagues, after-school programs and carefully-targeted (and cultivated!) leadership development groups. The commonalities amongst all these programs are an emphasis on Team. Progress. Leadership. 

Most importantly, the commonalities behind these programs is our leadership staff. Coaching is everything. As Julius Campbell said in "Remember the Titans" (our undisputed-greatest-football-movie-of-all-time), "Attitude reflects leadership!" 

The effectiveness of our programs also reflect leadership. We're only as good as the role models we put in front of our kids. Much of the impetus for the Foundation's work came from having the most positive, compassionate team of coaches on earth. And the realization that -- with that leadership -- we could do a whole lot of good. The Foundation's primary work is finding environments where we can place those role models in front of kids who might not usually have them. 

That journey continues to grow and learn and evolve. We do so with a commitment to our core values, beliefs and our best guess as to where and how our communities need love and help and support. And football. 

Thanks for being a part of this journey. Whether you're a donor, partner, coach or scholarship recipient, we appreciate having you on our team. 

Let's Go!

positive, productive playing environments

There's an old saying along the lines of, "We shape our own environments. And our environment returns the favor." We believe sports -- and our general development -- work a lot like that. 

For any of this learning, playing, growth to happen, we put a huge emphasis on creating a positive, inclusive environment where everyone has clear roles. We ask our leaders to lead, our players to play and everyone to work as a team. 

total inclusion

Everyone benefits from great role models. Everyone responds well to positivity. Everyone grows when taught and encouraged and pushed in the right direction.

Our job is to make these experiences available to everyone. Whether that's inclusion in an existing league or a program tailored to the needs of a given school or community group -- we're working to make these developmental, team opportunities available to everyone.

Leadership development

We could talk about this until the cows come home. Because what we really need to move our nation forward is a shared set of values and a team of leaders to advance them. 

Nothing great happens without great leadership. The leadership development process looks different for everyone, but the goal is the same: keep moving forward. Our leadership goals vary by age, but a general evolution looks like this: 

  • Embodying Core Values:  Effort, teamwork, enthusiasm, humility, commitment, embracing adversity. 

  • Encouraging and Supporting Others:  Not only embodying our values, but encouraging and empowering others to do the same. 

  • Full-Blown Leadership: Creating an environment where we discuss and share and embody the values we'd like to see in others. 

  • The Next-Level Leader: Someone who can not only create a productive team environment, but train and mentor other future leaders to do the same.

gOVERNANCE AND PROFESSIONALISM

This is, and always will be, a major focus for us as a 501c3. Although it's not a journey we're going about alone. We're backed by a board of thoughtful, compassionate professionals who share our mission and hold us to it. 

For all of our "play," we take operations and governance seriously. We live in a world of scarce resources. Whether it's our coach's time, the kids' attention or funding for scholarships, we know there's an opportunity cost to everything. We're looking to make the most of everything we have.

Along those lines, it's important to note: many of the Foundation's programs have a similar cast of coaches, leaders and mentors as Flag Star Football's general operation (as an LLC). These two are not the same. The Flag Star Football Foundation is governed independently. We answer to a board, we file separate taxes. 

There are (many) instances where we leverage Flag Star Football's platform to achieve the mission of this foundation, but only in ways that work to the foundation's benefit. No group, affiliate or LLC would ever explicitly profit from working with our foundation. All of our resources go directly towards our 501c3 mission.

Our Progress