love.fútbol
love.fútbol builds simple, safe soccer fields for children in impoverished communities worldwide.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sport
Soccer
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2006
YouTube Upload
Project URL (include HTTP://)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram:
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Lack of “safe spaces”
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Please select one
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic:
love.fútbol cannot be confined to one of the four above-mentioned principles. We focus on SOCCER—the game itself. The goal of this competition is to harness the power in sport: we provide the sport! Ask instead: what is soccer capable of?
love.fútbol provides safe environments for children to play soccer. The game is a tool and children use this tool naturally. Keeping them on the field keeps them off the street. The game becomes a catalyst for youth development, hope and inspiration.
The Four Principles:
Through playing, children build character. Through greater access, children once excluded on the basis of race, gender, class, neighborhood, ability or age, have their chance to play. Through community-driven projects, love.fútbol is a source of community development as much as youth development. Projects produce great social cohesion. Lastly, through the language of soccer, love.fútbol is a platform for future change. Our projects are an easily understood and agreed upon endeavor for impoverished communities. We specialize in garnering community buy-in. Thus, love.fútbol can serve as a stepping stone or platform for other social organizations to develop more comprehensive health, academic or employment programs and opportunities.
love.fútbol is more than a principle—it’s belief in the game.
Name Your Project
love.fútbol
Describe Your Idea
love.fútbol builds simple, safe soccer fields for children in impoverished communities worldwide.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
love.fútbol builds simple, safe soccer fields for children in impoverished communities worldwide.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
Simplicity. We believe in soccer. The game itself is a catalyst for youth development, hope and inspiration. We are not a solution—we are a step. Our goal is to address a global demand.
Additionally:
•Community-Driven Development – love.fútbol partners with communities so that projects are realized on a cost-shared basis. We provide basic funds for raw materials and a love.fútbol Representative; the community must organize themselves and provide the labor.
•Low Cost, Quick Impact – Our average soccer field costs less than $5,000; our average project duration lasts less than two months.
•The love.fútbol Representative (“LF Rep”) – love.fútbol develops carefully selected individuals from each country in which we operate. LF Reps identify projects, foster community-driven development and serve as ongoing project facilitators.
•The Platform Concept – love.fútbol garners community buy-in. We can serve as a stepping stone for other organizations to implement more comprehensive social programs.
Our approach is simple; some may miss its significance. We are unaware of any direct competition.
What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change?
Soccer’s universality can be explained in its simplicity—the game can be played almost anywhere. From our experiences, travels and research, we believe that millions of children worldwide face great challenges to playing this simple game. Barriers generally exist in the forms of SAFETY and ACCESS.
Please refer to the “True Stories” section of our website, under “Why?” on our homepage, for specific examples: www.lovefutbol.org.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
love.fútbol is a catalyst to action. We partner with local communities and utilize Community-Driven Development to realize our objectives.
Our commitment is to assume the financial costs of the raw materials—up to a limit—and provide an experienced love.fútbol Representative to facilitate the community’s project. We hire and develop local love.fútbol Representatives in each country we operate.
love.fútbol funds concrete soccer fields, often referred to as fútsal or fútbol sala courts. The sizes of these fields vary, but are generally not much bigger than a standard sized basketball court. Concrete soccer fields are common around the world. For more information on the basis behind this decision, please read “What is a concrete soccer field?” in the “Methodology” section of our website: www.lovefutbol.org.
The community is responsible for the planning, organization, and volunteered labor for the project. We strive to harness community interest, input, effort, skills and existing assets to empower community members to lead their own social development.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
We envision a day when all children have the opportunity to fulfill their passion for soccer.
To face a global demand we focus on simplicity, universality, versatility and scalability. Our pilot project in Guatemala was designed for our global vision. We developed three soccer fields in three separate communities, each with a distinct culture and language: Ladino, Kaqchikel and Tz’utujil. Each soccer field was a different size and located in both rural and urban environments. The diverse success of our pilot is an indication that our model is replicable throughout Latin America and beyond.
The love.fútbol Representative is the central pillar to our scalability model. Hiring and training local love.fútbol Representatives will extend our reach, decrease cultural acclimation costs, improve efficiency through “local knowledge” and enable us to continue operations in each country while expanding into new countries.
Our first love.fútbol Representative and in-country Director, César García of Sololá, will continue to lead our efforts in Guatemala. We expect to be operating in Costa Rica by 2010.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
Access to a safe soccer playing environment lays a first, critical step toward a foundation for a better life.
What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries?
In December, 2007, love.fútbol completed a seven month pilot project in Guatemala. We developed three soccer fields beside elementary schools in three separate communities in both urban and rural settings. love.fútbol projects have two main social outcomes: Youth Development and Community Development.
Our direct beneficiaries are children—specifically, local school children and non-school attending children ranging from four to eighteen years old. We keep children on the field and off of the streets. There are three main categories of youth impact: health of mind, body and spirit; skill development; and decrease in negative influences.
As a result of our community-driven methodology, love.fútbol projects are a source of community development as much as they are youth development. There are three main categories of community impact: empowerment, ownership and sustainability; collaboration and community building; and a platform for future change. The love.fútbol soccer field serves as a lasting symbol of community strength, a community asset with long-term economic advantages and a platform for future growth.
How many people have you served directly?
Our three-soccer field pilot in Guatemala directly served the communities of Villa Nueva, Las Canoas Altas and Santiago Atitlan. Fields were built on land owned and donated by local schools with priority given to the 107, 165 and 260 school children respectively.
love.fútbol fields are public and many non-school attending children in each community are direct beneficiaries. Often out of school for reasons beyond their control, these “at-risk” youth of the world need the game most. Please read “Enrique” in the “True Stories” section of our website for one example.
In Villa Nueva, the fifty-five families of this rural village collaborated to realize their own community asset. In contrast, our third project in Santiago Atitlán (pop. 40,000) directly served a neighborhood within a larger urban community—hundreds, if not thousands of children will have daily access to this field.
After more extensive research into Guatemala City and San Jose, Costa Rica, we have greater interest in working in the urban demographic.
How many people have you served indirectly?
In Villa Nueva, Las Canoas Altas and Santiago Atitlán, the 500, 750 and 40,000 respective community members were indirect beneficiaries. As a result of our community-driven methodology, love.fútbol projects are as much community development as they are youth development.
During our first project in Villa Nueva, we had a 95% participation rate among the fifty-five local families and over 400 volunteered hours. Midway through the project an older man observed: “No es solamente una cancha— se levanta la comunidad” ~ “This is not only a field— it is lifting the community.” The love.fútbol field is not just a field—it is a lasting symbol of community strength. It is proof of effective collaboration towards an easily agreed upon cause and serves a platform for future development.
Parents are also indirect and immediate beneficiaries because they have more confidence in knowing that their children are safe and in a positive environment. Tournaments against other communities are beneficial to soccer players and youth from outside the community.
Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation?
As a result of our projects, communities annexed a medical clinic to a school, repaired a badly eroded road and built infrastructure for new classrooms. Local businesses, mayors of municipalities and other local interests contributed funds and supplies to each school to take part in the action.
We are developing longer-term community impact indicators to measure changes to revenue or number of clientele for local businesses, revenue generated from hosting tournaments and changes in property value due to having an attractive community asset.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
•Empowering Girls – A cultural challenge.
•Our Theory of Change – Communicating the importance.
•Urban vs. Rural – Changes to the model and methodology.
•Determining “Need” – Vast and varied; difficult to develop protocol.
•Oversight – Corruption factor.
•Developing love.fútbol Representatives – A demanding role and unique individual.
•For-profit vs. Non-profit vs. Hybrid – How can we build more soccer fields?
•Community-Driven Development – Cultural or regional challenges to our methodology.
•Finding a Financial Stream (QUICKLY) – Keeping our lives afloat NOW!
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
love.fútbol earned 501(C)(3) status in late 2006. We raised $35,000 in seed capital for a comprehensive pilot program in Guatemala completed in December, 2007.
Over the next two years we will continue to take advantage of our tax-deductible status and fundraise through individuals and foundations. We seek to raise $200,000 for our next phase of growth.
However, love.fútbol has never identified with being a non-profit. We have a social bottom line and do not seek to limit the possibilities available for how to best execute our mission.
We are exploring both for-profit and hybrid financial models. We believe that due to great marketing and growth potential, love.fútbol will have leverage for developing strategic corporate partners and generating revenue though advertising, merchandising, co-branding and other earned-income models.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization.
We raised approximately $35,000 in seed capital through grassroots fundraising in 2007.
Budget for Guatemala 2007 pilot projects:
1) Villa Nueva: $4800
2) Las Canoas Altas: $4600
3) Santiago Atitlan: $4850
Total field costs: $14,250
Average field cost: $4,750
Full-Time:
Drew Chafetz – Co-Founder, Executive Director
Alfredo Axtmayer – Co-Founder, Managing Director
César García – Director of Guatemala/love.fútbol Representative
Part Time:
Advisory Board: Michael Fratantuono, Andy Levin, Adam Mendelson, Roy Neel, Melchior Ochoa, Len Oliver, Thomas Nottebohm
Volunteers:
Intern: Zain Hassan
*No staff member to date has been paid any salary. Drew Chafetz, Alfredo Axtmayer and César García have used funds solely for business expenses and basic living expenses, including food, shelter and travel. All non-business expenses have been paid for out of the pockets of the above volunteers.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
The demand for our innovation is limited to three things:
•Geographic locations where soccer is a popular sport
•Communities experiencing significant poverty or antisocial influences
•Communities where children do not have a simple, safe destination to play soccer
When discussing the growth potential or scope for love.fútbol, it is easier to discuss where we couldn’t operate than where we could. We believe there is demand for hundreds of love.fútbol fields that would reach thousands of children in Guatemala alone. The worldwide demand is vast.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
We have a grand vision and seek to develop a financial model and strategy that can keep pace. We believe that historical business models for "non-profits" are limited and thus, we are also exploring for-profit and hybrid models for financial growth.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
Drew Chafetz, Co-Founder:
In a small town in rural Morocco, I came across twelve small children playing soccer in the opening of a narrow alleyway. A canal ran lengthwise through the middle of their “field,” dropped down a foot deep and spanned about eight inches wide. The hard, ninety-degree corners were similar to that of a concrete, street-corner step and it was clear that these children grew up there—they jumped back and forth without even looking.
This simple alleyway story is not a harsh one. The risk for these children is not simply the risk of injury, but the more grave threat that without a simple place to play, they may lose interest in playing the game. They may be accustomed to their situation, but in a grander sense, they are in danger.
This isolated event in December of 2005 reinforced a greater theme I had known my whole life. Soccer was a language during my early travels. I played pickup with those same kids in Rio, Tibet and the Serengeti. The above story demonstrates of a common problem throughout the world—children lack a simple, safe place to play soccer. In that alleyway in Morocco love.fútbol was born.
In the Summer of 2006, I linked up with a good friend and former college teammate, Alfredo Axtmayer, whom shared a similar respect for the power of the game. We have extensively researched this concern and completed a three-soccer field pilot project in Guatemala in December, 2007.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material.
Drew Chafetz grew up traveling in many third world countries and the language of the game has often been his greatest tongue. He understands the importance that the game plays in the spirit of impoverished children in this world.
Alfredo Axtmayer’s dedication to the game has been rewarding. As a player, coach and teacher, he has always been a leader. He understands and embodies the importance of the game as a tool for youth to develop decision making skills, leadership qualities and self-esteem.
How did you hear about this contest and what is your main incentive to participate? (this is confidential)
We found this contest through the Ashoka website. Furthermore, a representative from the IDB and a few other individuals informed us about the competition.
Our incentive is to raise awareness of love.fútbol to the right crowd. For the first time since our conception we feel prepared to publicize love.fútbol.
Specifically, we have the intention of targeting NIKE as a corporate partner and hope that Mark Parker might have the opportunity to learn about our mission and vision. Secondly, I studied abroad in Barcelona and from there traveled to Morocco, where the idea for love.fútbol was born. I love Barcelona and Barça. My experience there greatly influenced my decision to start love.fútbol. John Laporta works with some of the greatest players on earth. The game saved some of their lives. In consideration of the team’s motto “more than a club” I believe Mr. Laporta may have interest in playing a role in love.fútbol—an organization centered on the notion that the sport is “more than a game.”
Affiliation (please list all that apply)
love.fútbol is a 501(c)(3) organization run with no political or religious affiliation. Co-Founders Drew Chafetz and Afredo Axtmayer were teammates and played for Dickinson College’s D-3 Men’s Soccer Program. They met on the soccer field freshmen year preseason in 2000.
The Inter-American Development Bank has endorsed love.fútbol and recognizes Drew and Alfredo as “IDB YOUTH Leaders.”
love.fútbol is proud to be have been selected by two Harvard Business School student volunteer consulting teams during the Volunteer Consulting Organization Fair in October 2007. These eleven students are working with love.fútbol over the course of the 2007-2008 academic year to develop marketing, growth and financial strategies.
love.fútbol currently has developed strategic partnerships with the following organizations in Guatemala:
The Department of Physical Education (DIGEF) under the Ministry of Education
The National Coffee Association (Anacafé/Funcafé)
The Guatemalan Soccer Federation (Fedefut)
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