May Milestones
April-May Highlights: Celebrating Milestones and New Partnerships
Whew, what a month for the Let’s Play a Game Foundation! Okay, it’s a little bit more than a month’s worth of material but I promise it’s just that exciting. We are thrilled to share some major achievements and the formation of exciting new partnerships that are helping us expand our reach and impact.
Let’s start with the fun stuff! It’s been so incredibly fulfilling to put board gaming into folks’ hands and feel the overwhelming positivity at these events and I can’t wait to tell you about it!
New Partnerships and Events
Fusion Academy: This was our first official Let’s Play a Game Foundation event! We hosted a game night at Fusion Academy, a unique high school where students are taught on a 1:1 basis. We brought the kids together over games from our community library for an evening of fun and camaraderie. Check out a snapshots from the night below!
Solana Beach Schools Foundation(SBSF): Discovery Fest is an annual community event put on by SBSF, a local education non-profit, that brings thousands of elementary age students and their families together for an afternoon of interactive STREAM related fun. This year the theme was “Bee the Change”, and we hosted a booth at the event showcasing bee-themed games and trivia. It was a joy to see so many kids excitedly engaging in screen-free play while building skills and learning about bees. We had 3 staff at the booth and could hardly keep up with the crowd of enthusiastic kids all day! Here are a few photos from the event!
Solana Beach Community Connections: We’ve started a monthly role in bilingual game days for this local non-profit, whose events are aimed at enriching the social lives of seniors who choose to age in place in Solana Beach. The first session was incredibly rewarding, fostering intergenerational connections and providing joyful experiences for the senior community. Meeting folks from this organization and at this event has already helped us grow our impact by putting us in contact with a network of other mission-aligned non-profits. I didn’t get any pictures of play in progress, but here’s the set-up we hosted alongside several tables of Mahjong and Loteria.
Now, some housekeeping. These milestones aren’t flashy but they’re arguably most critical to our ability to make the magnitude of community impact that we envision.
IRS Tax-Exempt Status
On March 8th, we proudly received our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS. This is a significant milestone for our organization, enabling us to further our mission with increased funding opportunities and greater community support.
Candid Guidestar Gold Seal of Transparency
We are also excited to announce that we have been awarded the Gold Seal of Transparency from Candid Guidestar. This prestigious recognition reflects our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of accountability and openness in all our operations. It has already provided us with resources that are powering up our fundraising efforts.
We’ve also learned some things that we’re going to take with us into future events and relationships.
Take more pictures at events!
Always staff a booth with what you think you need… +1
Every game is an opportunity.
Our hunch is confirmed and we couldn’t be happier about it! The demand for the services that our organization can provide is massive. Now we have to strategically coordinate fundraising to allow us to continue to provide these services at little to no cost for the underserved communities we are mission driven to serve.
We are grateful for the support and enthusiasm from our community and partners. These achievements are just the beginning, and we look forward to continuing our mission of using games to bring people together and make learning enjoyable for all ages.
Thank you for being part of our journey. Stay tuned for more updates and exciting events in the coming months!
If I see you, Let’s Play a Game!
-Eric
