USTA St. Louis’s 2023 Grants Program

The 2023 USTA St. Louis grants program is open for applications beginning March 15 and running through September 1, 2023. USTA member organizations can apply for grants online by clicking here. Once again, there are four grant categories:

Community Development — up to $2,500

Programming to support the growth of tennis opportunities through summer camps, clinics, open play and social activities.

Provider Innovation — up to $500

To assist tennis providers with creative ways to promote their existing USTA programming. This could include Team Challenges, Junior Team Tennis, officials/court monitors, tournaments and leagues.

Facility Enhancements — up to $1,000

To aid facilities with court repairs, accessories like scoring devices, permanent court lines, benches, nets, etc.

Equipment — up to $500

To help community tennis associations, schools and school partners with supplementing Net Generation School Tennis. And assisting with correctly sized equipment including mini nets, low-compression balls, shorter racquets and court markers. Also for USTA Adaptive and/or Wheelchair modified balls, nets and training equipment.

Grant applications will be reviewed and awarded as they are received until annual funds are exhausted. Applicants will be notified within 30 days of application receipt. USTA member organizations can apply for multiple grant types up to a $5,000 yearly cap per organization.

Each grant submission is a one-time application, and grant recipients are required to complete a program-end evaluation prior to receiving any more funds. A grant committee reviews and approves applications as they’re submitted.

“It is our primary mission to grow tennis in the St. Louis district,” said USTA St. Louis Executive Director Megan Kovacs. “Providing funding through grants to organizations reaching underserved individuals is a great way for us to give back to our community.

“We’re looking for ways to help both new and existing organizations obtain the resources they need to provide quality programming. Whether that’s facility enhancements, equipment, covering costs to manage programming or any other needs they may have.”

Grant submissions — which must be completed online — need to include a description of the program, objectives, evaluation methods, a budget and why the organization seeks funding. The age groups and populations that would benefit from the grant award are also required, as is a completed W-9 form.

“We hope to continue increasing awareness of our grant program and for our tennis community to recognize we are giving back,” Kovacs said. “In 2022, USTA St. Louis provided $21,700 to more than a dozen programs. We hope to do that and more in 2023.”

For additional information or if you have questions, contact Megan Kovacs at director@ustastl.com. USTA Missouri Valley also offers several grant programs available to USTA St. Louis member organizations. To review and apply for those as well as USTA National grants, click here.