About
THE FOUNDATION
The Kelly Clark Foundation was established in 2010 to provide youth with the resources and opportunities they need to achieve their highest potential through snowboarding. The Foundation believes that success starts with the opportunity to follow your dreams. With the help of our generous partners and donors, the Foundation gives promising young snowboarders that opportunity, enabling our scholars to turn their dreams into reality. To date, the Kelly Clark Foundation has awarded over $100,000 in scholarships in an effort to eliminate financial barriers for talented young athletes across the country. The Kelly Clark Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization, all donations are tax deductible.
OUR MISSION
The Kelly Clark Foundation strives to empower youth, using snowboarding as the medium for success. By removing the financial barriers to snowboarding, the Foundation hopes to (1) make snowboarding more financially accessible, (2) increase and diversify participation in the snowboard industry, and (3) facilitate opportunities for the widespread use of snowboarding as tool for personal success.
Through our programs, scholars, partners, and supporters, we hope to spark not only greater participation in the industry, but a contagious spirit of paying it forward, and giving back to our growing snowboarding community.
CURRENT PROGRAM
PASSPORT PROGRAM: The Kelly Clark Foundation is able to recognize and contribute to the efforts of nonprofits aligned with the Foundation's mission and vision. The Passport Program funds non-profits that provide Underserved youth with opportunities to achieve success through snowboarding. To qualify, a non-profit/community group must utilize multi-week snowboarding programs to (1) teach life skills and (2) mentor disadvantaged youth.
Passport funds are project specific, and allocated for the following uses: (1) food, (2) snowboarding equipment, (3) transportation to the mountains, (4) lift tickets, and/or (5) any other expenses necessary to facilitate a snowboarding program, including but not limited to, lessons, insurance, safety equipment, and so on.
Eligibility:
A qualified 501(c)(3) organization with a valid IRS Tax ID;
The organization is seeking funds to facilitate a multi- week snowboarding program that (1) teaches life skills and (2) mentors disadvantage youth.
Project/program must be described with specificity, to include: (1) clear and specific goals, (2) objectives, (3) action plans, (4) a general budget, and (5) a clear measure for evaluating success.
Limitations on Passport Funding:
Passport funds may only be used on expenses directly and specifically related to facilitating a multi-week snowboarding program as described above.
Funds may not be used for: overhead, rent, fringe benefits, salaries, research, general operating support, conferences, political campaigns, endowments or any other indirect costs for the organization.
*CONTACT TO APPLY
A LETTER FROM KELLY
I grew up in a small mountain town in southern Vermont, where as a child, every free moment was spent on the mountain. I started skiing when I was two and was snowboarding by the age of seven. As I was about to start high school, an amazing opportunity arose for me to attend Mount Snow Academy. This was a great opportunity, and a turning point for my career in snowboarding. By attending a mountain school I was able to snowboard on a daily basis and pursue my snowboarding dreams while still completing my studies.
After enrolling in school, I started to compete in local events on the weekends, which led to national events, and eventually to international competitions. By the time I was in 11th grade, I had joined the US Snowboard team and was pursuing my dreams to the fullest extent. The year after I graduated high school, I competed in 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake City winning the Gold Medal in Women’s Halfpipe.
Throughout the course of my career I have won every major event in snowboarding, have had the amazing opportunities to work with companies and campaigns around the globe and am currently in pursuit of another Olympic medal. When looking back on my career and life path I keep coming back to the amazing opportunity I had as a teenager to attend a mountain school and put all my energy into snowboarding.
It is my intention with the Kelly Clark Foundation to give back, and see others have the same opportunities that I have had; and I am looking forward to watching their dreams come true.
Kelly Clark