Most coaches and athletes involved with World ParaVolley know very little about the World ParaVolley Foundation (WPVF). That needs to change immediately. The World ParaVolley Foundation is the funding arm of World ParaVolley. It’s a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in the US. The World ParaVolley Foundation enriches lives, helps end discrimination towards persons with disabilities, and acts as a global movement publicly campaigning for disability visibility, accessibility, and inclusion through its support of World ParaVolley events and programs.
The vision of the World ParaVolley Foundation is to promote diversity, inclusivity, and acceptance for all through the sport of volleyball. The mission is to fund the development, growth, and sustainability of competitive volleyball for people with physical impairments while transforming lives, challenging stigmas attached to disability, and fostering a more inclusive society. The Foundation raises awareness and funding based on our guiding principles:
- Share Inspirational Athlete Stories
- Foster the ParaVolley Movement
- Build Innovative Collaborations
- Change Perspectives and Empower Lives
Because the WPVF has failed to educate WPV members about its mission and purpose, we have failed to tap into our most powerful advocates. Our success has been hampered by not involving you in telling your stories, which is the story of our organization. Nor have we asked you to actively participate in spreading the message. And that stops today.
We need the help of the 10,000 male and 4,500 female athletes already playing ParaVolley across five continents. Help us raise awareness by following us on social media and participating in our social media challenges.
Help us raise funds by starting social media fundraisers by sharing a World ParaVolley campaign, starting one of your own, or raising money for WPV for your birthday. In this type of peer-to-peer campaign, athletes and coaches can easily create a World ParaVolley Foundation fundraiser on their own Instagram channel or Facebook page and ask people in their social network to donate.
For Facebook campaigns, create a post, (on a desktop click “Add to your Post”), then choose “Raise Money”, and select “World ParaVolley” in order to add the Donate button to your post. Facebook does not charge any processing fees and all donations go directly to the World ParaVolley Foundation.
For Instagram campaigns, instead of creating a “post” choose create a “Fundraiser”, and select “World ParaVolley” as your nonprofit. Identify a goal amount, invite collaborators from your personal network, and share your fundraiser. Instagram fundraisers are added to your bio and last for 30 days. They are shared to your followers in feed and you can edit or end at any time. Make sure you invite collaborators, people to fundraise with you, to grow your fundraiser faster. Instagram covers all donation processing with no fees. All money raised goes directly to the World ParaVolley Foundation even if you don’t reach your goal.
We also ask that you activate AmazonSmile on your Amazon account and choose the World ParaVolley Foundation as your charity of choice. Once you do, Amazon automatically donates .05% of your purchase to WPVF at no cost to you.
Finally, we ask that you contribute to ParaVolley Stories. There are three main ways to contribute.
1) Complete the ParaVolley Stories submission form to share a link to a broadcast news story about a ParaVolley athlete or team.
2) Check out the new athlete bios on our World ParaVolley YouTube Channel that serve as examples. Send an email to c.fiebich@wpvf.org with a video story that’s been produced by your National Federation or other group. Also send writen permission for WPVF to use or a contact name and information for us to get permission for use.
3) Athletes and teams are welcome to create their own video stories and send them to WPVF for use. Be creative. The format does not need to follow what’s been done by others. Share those videos with c.fiebich@wpvf.org and we’ll get them up as quickly as possible.
If you have other ideas about how to help the World ParaVolley Foundation increase awareness or raise funds please reach out to WPVF Chairman Jim Leask, WPV President Barry Couzner, or WPVF Marketing and Development Director Christina Fiebich. We are excited to hear your ideas and recommendations.
We pledge to keep you informed about WPVF activities by sharing updates in this section of future WPV newsletters.
Follow on Social Media:
Participate in World ParaVolley’s social media challenges.
- Share an “I ♥ ParaVolley” image, video, or message on WPV social media and hashtag it #iheartparavolley.
- Share a video message sharing how ParaVolley has impacted your life and hashtag it #paravolleyeffect.
- When you post a ParaVolley related activity on Facebook, add a donate button to your post.
- Create an Instagram Fundraiser when you post ParaVolley related content to Instagram.
- Choose the World ParaVolley Foundation as your charity of choice for your birthday fundraiser. Prior to your birthday, Facebook will automatically notify you of this option.
Other Ways to Support WPVF