Bonito Foundation joins United Nations’ “Football for the Goals” initiative
Accepted!
We are deeply honoured to announce that Bonito Foundation has been accepted as a member of the United Nations’ Football for the Goals initiative. This recognition marks a powerful affirmation of our belief: that football is more than a game — it is a force for positive change in people’s lives.
A milestone for our mission
At Bonito, our mission is to build belonging, resilience, and social connection through grassroots football. From the start, we have believed that coaches and communities can use football not just to win matches, but to nurture empathy, emotional intelligence, and social development. Joining Football for the Goals feels like a confirmation: we are on the right track.
Football for the Goals is a UN-led initiative that brings together football stakeholders — clubs, leagues, associations, players and fan groups — to advocate for and implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the power of sport. (UN Press Release on Football for the Goals)
By uniting under this global platform, we commit to making sustainability, human rights, inclusion, and positive social behaviour a central part of how we coach, engage and grow our community. (United Nations FFTG Page)
What a day here in Geneva today! We are so very proud to have been accepted by the United Nations Football for the Goals initiative and join such an outstanding group of organizations in this community.
Jamie Elovsson
Co-founder, Bonito Foundation
Why this matters for us
- Strengthening our impact: As a member of Football for the Goals, we deepen our alignment with global development efforts and reinforce our long-term commitment to creating safe, inclusive football environments.
- Amplifying our voice: Through the FFTG network, we now have a broader forum to amplify our work and inspire other grassroots actors — and to learn from peers who also center social good in their football work.
- Leveraging football’s reach: The UN initiative empowers the football community to harness its global reach to advance sustainable development.
What’s next
Joining Football for the Goals is not just a symbolic step — it strengthens our roadmap for the future. We will:
- Embed SDG Principles: We will more explicitly weave SDG-aligned practices into Bonito’s Academy, coach training and community programming.
- Develop Sustainable Coaching Models: We will pilot and scale initiatives that help grassroots coaches promote inclusive, safe, and socially aware football spaces.
- Share & Learn: We will use our platform to document, reflect, and share learnings from our work — feeding back into the FFTG community and the wider global football ecosystem.
- Inspire Others: We will actively invite other grassroots organizations, clubs and coaches to join us — because the impact of football grows when more people believe in its power to drive meaningful change.
Grateful and focused
We are humbled by this recognition from the United Nations. It gives us energy and responsibility: energy to dream bigger, and responsibility to deliver on our promise of making football a source of belonging, growth, and social good.
Thank you to everyone in the Bonito community — our coaches, players, partners and supporters. This is your achievement as much as ours.
