1. Opportunities:

Plenty to check out in the New Year, from funding opportunities with FIBA Foundation, Nike Community Impact Fund (NCIF), and award opportunities with SBJ's Celebration of Service, to some cool jobs (all with salary ranges noted):

• ​Soccer Forward Foundation - Manager, Community Engagement & Activation ($80-90K, must be NYC or ATL based)
• ​Eat. Learn. Play. 4 roles (in San Fran, all with salary listed)
• ​Chief External Affairs Officer at YMCA of Greater Boston ($225-250K, Boston)
• ​Program Administrator - Coaching HER/Tucker Center ($50K, Minneapolis, note it's a one-year temporary position)

2. Events:

ICYMI, as we have some new subscribers since December, here's a running list of events to check out (plus a few new ones, and please email me any others this community should be aware of, will add to future issues):

JANUARY:

1/29: Meridian's inaugural Sports Diplomacy Forum (Washington D.C.)

FEBRUARY:

2/4: Sports Power Brunch (San Fran)

2/4: National Girls & Women in Sports Day (multiple locations)

2/25: 2nd Sport Fundraising Summit(London)

2/26: GW University Sports Philanthropy Summit (Washington D.C.)

SPRING:

3/25: WISE Women of The Year (NYC)

April: Business of Women's Sports Summit (NYC)

4/2: The Play Equity Summit (LA)

4/21-24: Engage for Good Summit (Palm Springs)

5/5-6: Project Play (Boston)

Also 5/5-6: Green Sports Alliance Summit (Cleveland)

3. WISSC Woman of Wisdom:

Lastly, meet our first woman of wisdom for 2026, Radha Balani, known as RB. RB is a partner, strategy & leadership at Think Beyond, co-leading the consultancy, which empowers sports and entertainment to be more sustainable, impactful and valuable.

HER ADVICE TO WISSC READERS:

Get to know yourself. Understanding your core beliefs, how they impact your behavior, and how they can either be your super power or kryptonite is so powerful. This knowledge helps me right-size challenges in the workplace, understand how my behavior impacts others, and it gives me the power of choice. I get to choose how I see challenges, choose to pause, and choose how I respond as opposed to react. I don’t do it perfectly by any means, but this self knowledge has helped me navigate so many professional challenges. It also helps me choose being happy over being right more often!

HOW YOU CAN HELP HER:

If you want to know more about driving value through sustainability and sport, give RB a shout. If you want to listen to some short podcasts that take you inside the business of sport, check out The Game Plan.