October 10, 2025 is more than just World Pickleball Day—it marks the official nonprofit launch of Pickleball for Good, a bold new chapter in the story of sport with purpose. While pickleball is already experiencing explosive growth across the U.S. and beyond, this organization is staking a claim on what the sport can achieve beyond recreation: promoting accessibility, social impact, and sustainability within “under-championed” communities that are under-resourced, underrepresented, or underserved.

At Pickleball for Good, the guiding idea is simple: pickleball can be a game changer. But only if we build it in ways that leave no one behind.

Empower Pickleball is proud to support this mission and to help amplify its reach—because we believe in the power of sport to connect, uplift, and transform.

What Pickleball for Good Will Do

When it formally launches tomorrow, Pickleball for Good will activate several core programs and strategies:

1. Global Pickleball Grants Program

This is a funding mechanism to get resources (courts, equipment, coaching, facility improvements) to Pickleball GameChangers who are bringing the sport into communities that lack access. They explicitly prioritize under-championed communities in the U.S. and globally.

2. Picklers Give™ Crowdfunding Platform

A platform through which local visionaries and change-makers (also called “GameChangers”) can raise funds and awareness for their own community pickleball projects.

3. Volunteer Network & Local Engagement

Pickleball for Good plans to mobilize volunteers—coaches, builders, organizers—to participate in local projects and events.

4. Eco / Sustainability Initiatives

The organization takes sustainability seriously. They envision initiatives like “No Planet—No Pickleball,” emphasizing recycling (balls, paddles), environmentally responsible facility practices, and linking the sport to stewardship of our planet.

5. Equal Access

Pickleball for Good wants to ensure that anyone who desires to play has access—whether it’s incarcerated youth, those needing adaptive equipment, or teachers who want to teach social, emotional, and learning skills through the sport.

6. Measurable Goals & Transparency

As of the launch, Pickleball for Good sets a 12-month goal dashboard on its website: funds raised, projects supported, balls & paddles recycled, and number of donors/sponsors. They also commit to transparency (e.g. donor bill of rights, financials) in their “About/Transparency” section.

Who’s Behind the Movement: Founders & Board

Here’s an overview of the people powering Pickleball for Good—the visionaries, stewards, and champions shaping its path forward.

Founder & Board President

Susan Swern
Susan is the founder and board president. She dreamed up Pickleball for Good by fusing three of her passions: philanthropy, pickleball and environmental justice. Her nonprofit development and fundraising experience spans nearly four decades.

Board Directors

According to the “About/Meet Our Team” pages:

Kim Bastien
Founding board director. She is a co-founder of Empower Pickleball and brings experience in marketing, partnerships and social impact to the table.
Cheryl Lovell, PhD
Founding board director & Vice President. She leads For Success in Leadership and Life, offering coaching, public policy and strategy. She’s also certified as a Level 1 IPTPA (International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association) instructor.
Jaime Schmidt
Founding board director. Co-founder of the consumer brand Schmidt’s Naturals; investor and entrepreneur. She discovered pickleball in 2022 and has since become an enthusiastic ambassador and stakeholder.

Kyle Duff
Board Secretary. His career has centered on elevating community voices and making complex projects accessible through effective communications. He sees sport as a way for communities to connect, participate and strengthen relationships.

Dan Brooks
Board Director. Based in Charlotte, NC, with a creative/agency background. He sees sport as a medium of connection and resilience.

Mark Eagle
Board Director. A tech executive, startup advisor and nonprofit leader; he has involvement in social impact, business development, and is also a certified pickleball coach.

Jim Fried
Board Director. Brings his nearly 30 years of experience as a finance professional in global treasury, finance, accounting and business operations and has held high-level finance positions in both for-profit and non-profit settings.
Shachi Sapre-Schatz
Board Director. Comes from tech/life sciences consulting. She is passionate about community, sustainability and bringing operational acumen to board efforts.

These individuals bring a mix of nonprofit, fundraising, business, marketing, coaching, and community leadership experience—and a passion for the sport—giving the organization a strong, diverse base of expertise.

How Empower Pickleball Supports This Mission

As a fellow advocate for inclusive, joyful, and accessible pickleball, Empower Pickleball is delighted to partner with and support Pickleball for Good in several ways:

Amplifying Awareness: Using our networks, communications, and community voice to spotlight their launch, initiatives and success stories.
Collaborative Projects: Supporting as a media partner community events in alignment with their grant or volunteer programs.
Resource Sharing: Helping through media support with volunteer mobilization, coaching partnerships, technology or platform support, or fundraising best practices.
Testimonials & Endorsement: Lending credibility in the broader pickleball ecosystem by backing the mission publicly.
Strategic Alignment: Ensuring that the values of accessibility, fun, equity and sustainability are echoed in both organizations’ actions.

What You (the Reader) Can Do

To help make this launch a success, here are some immediate ideas—and we hope you’ll join us:

ProjectFlex Pickleball Participants raising money through the Pickleball For Good’s peer-to-peer fundraising platform.

Mark your calendar → October 10, 2025: Celebrate the official nonprofit launch.
Become a donor or sponsor → contribute to the first round of grants, or back their crowdfunding campaigns.
Volunteer → if you have coaching, construction, outreach, design, or organizational skills, sign up for their volunteer network when it opens.
Nominate or apply your own project → if your community could benefit (or already is planning something), apply via their “Funding Your Vision” pipeline.
Share & amplify their stories → social media posts, club newsletters, local news features—help them reach more people.
Advocate locally → talk to your parks, schools or rec departments about collaborations with Pickleball for Good.
Use “eco-conscious” practices → recycle balls, donate used paddles, support green facility design—align your play with their sustainability ethos.

Looking Ahead: Impact, Challenges, and Vision

Launching on 10/10 is just the beginning. The real work begins afterward:

Setting up robust grant review processes, equitable selection criteria and transparent reporting.
Building capacity so that small, grassroots projects aren’t drowned out by larger organizations with better access to capital.
Navigating logistics in remote or resource-scarce places (transportation, courts, maintenance).
Fostering local leadership so that communities own their pickleball futures, not just “receiving” aid.
Tracking and reporting impact in metrics that matter (people served, courts built or refurbished, social impact and inclusion metrics, environmental outcomes).
Cultivating organizational sustainability so that support doesn’t peter out after early excitement.

If Pickleball for Good hits its stride, it could become a model for how fast-growing sports can also be forces for social justice, environmental care and community building.

It Starts With Us

On October 10, 2025, as Pickleball for Good steps into its formal nonprofit identity, we have an opportunity. Not just to celebrate another organization, but to recommit ourselves—as players, coaches, clubs, brands—to thinking bigger. To asking: Who is left out? Where is sport not reaching? How can we build courts that heal as well as host?

The ball is indeed in our court. Let’s play for good. Let’s ensure equal access. Let’s be “green”. Let’s make pickleball not only fun, but transformational on a global scale—together.

Pickleball for Good: A New Chapter Begins