As an organization we love to say "we do our best to do a lot with a little", and we truly think we embody this notion. As an entity, RCSC actually has a very small operating budget, which usually fluctuates between $30-50k a year. For a group that offers 250+ events a year, books fields with the city at a whopping $145 an hour in rental fees, offer two no-cost programs, and 6 sliding scale programs, and comprised of over 1,600+ individuals in the Greater Seattle area, not to mention general admin costs; this is all a massive undertaking of love. Every day we are making sure to keep the lights on and things running smoothly, all while running entirely off of donations, volunteering, and non-funded board positions.
The reality is, it’s donors like you who keep the doors open and the lights on. Many of our programs are low-cost or no-cost programs, and while it really warms our hearts to offer programs for those who need it most, it makes our financial challenge all the more real.
Funds raised are used for: financial registration assistance for low-income players in our programs, team fee assisted registrations with outside leagues when possible, jersey allocation, tents/rain covers/hydration, banners/sunscreen, storage costs, and so much more. RCSC believes in transparency and as a board work hard to make clear where every penny is spent and saved and take great care to write growth models that ensure longevity as well as savings to protects us in the harder years.
RCSC wants to make sure we are putting best efforts forward to move the needle on gender diversity and inclusion in sports. That's the 10 second elevator pitch. But the reality is, it's deeper than that. As a club we have decided that community and inclusion is our purpose - there always have been marginalized people in the world - and we want to do our best to make sure that they don't feel alone and have a seat at the table. But all this effort costs money: storage costs, taxes, mailing and business addresses, insurance costs, and the costs of goods rising is always factored into everything we do here.
Unfortunately transphobia and intolerance is on a rise here in the US (and globally) and often treated as a inflection point in the world of gendered spaces in sports. This program highlights the need for de-gendering sports spaces and creating inclusive pitches focused on the love of sports rather than gendered expectations. We know that players such as these are significantly more likely to face under/un-employment, housing instability, limited support and family access, proportionally disadvantaged access to medical care, and lack of community and inclusion. Members who encompass this identity as well as intersectionality from multiple marginalized communities are also disproportionately affected in a myriad of ways.
Queer people, specifically queer people of color and especially those intersectional to trans and gender-nonconforming identities are 78% more likely to be underemployed, underpaid, unhoused, and marginally effected by government programs. Especially those who already come from impoverished and low-income families, as a society we know that these groups are more disproportionately likely to struggle to thrive in the best of circumstances, and only with the right resources. At RCSC, we say "community first, soccer second", because that is our lived reality. Soccer is a source of pride, joy, camaraderie, skill, communication, and self expression. But lived reality always comes first because those are the barriers that limit HOW we can access soccer. Seattle is a tech town, and a wealthy one at that, and even with 1,600+ members, roughly 40% of our demographic as a club face housing insecurity or instability. Sliding scale programs, networking, building friendships, reinvesting in community helps people feel more secure than ever.
As always, often who we are and how we show up off the pitch, largely shows who we are on the field. We care about our members, because our members are our neighbors, and together we are a community.
