HUGE NEWS ALERT! We’re absolutely buzzing to share that the International Olympic Committee has selected Bonito Foundation to join the Tech365 Explore think tank as part of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub!

Sport for good! Technology! Innovation! Teamwork! This is exactly our kind of beautiful game, and we’re excited to step onto this global field.

Joining a Global Team of Innovators

As one of 25 international organizations chosen for this initiative, we’ll unite with an incredible team of innovators worldwide. The connections and collaborations that will emerge from this initiative perfectly align with our mission to bring together those who use sport as a force for positive change.

We’re honored to be playing together with remarkable people representing these organizations:

• PiTCH – Players in Training, Coaching and Health from Edinburgh Napier University (Great Britain)
• Positive Impact Events (Global)
• Tom Edwards at City St George’s, University of London (Great Britain)
• Eleven Campaign (Global).
• Women Emerging (Great Britain, Global)
• All In For Sport (USA)
• RAIS3 Partners (USA)
• Sports Beyond Limit Mindset (Kenya)
• Never Stop Playing Sports (Japan)
• Teampact (South Africa)
• Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Foundation (Global)
• Invictus Sport (Australia)
• Bamako Technologie (Mali)
• eMuseum of Sports (Brazil)
• Fundación Gold Sports (Colombia)
• Athletepreneur (USA)
• 5 Ironmans Beat Alzheimer (Global)
• Sportiw (France)
• Propelathon (India)
• Girls First Initiative (Tanzania)
• Community Innovation Hub (Nigeria)
• Maria Luisa Zambrano Rojas (Colombia)
• Sarreya Sport (Somalia)
• love.futbol (South Africa, Global)

Leveraging Technology for Greater Impact

With over 25 years in the tech industry, I’ve witnessed its constant evolution—both positive and challenging. At Bonito, we’re not just tech enthusiasts; we’re committed to developing a culture that fosters innovation while embracing accountability through our core values and principles.

We believe purposefully designed technology serves as a powerful equalizer and connector—creating innovations that positively impact both people and planet.

Thanks to generous backing from tech companies of all sizes (more on that in an upcoming post), we bring substantial capabilities to the table that we’re excited to share with our fellow organizations in Olympism365.

Sharing Knowledge and Building Capacity

The initiative is led by Beyond Sport and Women Win – two powerhouses in the sport for development sector that we deeply admire. For a small, newly established foundation like ours, being recognized by the IOC alongside such established organizations feels like scoring the perfect goal in extra time!

Through this collaboration, we’ll learn from others and share our expertise, strengthening our ability to educate and empower the entire football ecosystem. We’ll elevate football for good practitioners with innovative approaches and equip grassroots coaches with frameworks that amplify their social impact. By bridging these worlds, we’ll help transform how football serves communities worldwide.

Creating Solutions Together

Together with our new teammates, we’ll harness our collective expertise in technology and sport for development to advance sustainable solutions that make a real difference. The knowledge-sharing and collaborative projects will directly strengthen our work with grassroots coaches and community builders.

Sport for good + Tech for good = Impact. And we’re ready to play!

It’s been about four months since we officially became a registered non-profit, and it’s time for a match report on where we are and where we’re headed next!

Some Highlights So Far

• When we drew up our game plan in early 2024, we hoped to be registered before summer, but bureaucracy had its own timeline. The administrative journey took longer than we expected and shifted our roadmap, but hey – now it’s done. Achievement unlocked!
• We’ve released a first preview of our digital platform (where you are right now), showing a small portion of what’s to come. Let’s call it a warm-up.
• We’ve set up our home pitch at Norrsken House, Stockholm’s vibrant Impact Hub. Being surrounded by passionate, forward-thinking impact-makers, companies and other non-profits, has been fantastic – helping us connect with experts in many fields and opening new doors. The amazing support from the Norrsken Foundation team has really helped us find our rhythm in these early stages.
• And for some news from today: Bonito has been selected to join the IOC Olympism365 initiative – a recognition that perfectly matches our passion for using sport as a force for good!

Our Current Challenge: Getting Match Fit Financially

Like most players in the non-profit league, our biggest challenge right now is fundraising. To realize our vision of using football to create more peaceful and sustainable communities, we need the resources to move at the pace we know is possible.

We’ve been teaming up with awesome organizations like Common Goal, Fútbol Más, Elitfotboll Dam (EFD), and ECOS to submit applications for various projects. We’re expecting responses during June–August and feel good about our chances of scoring some wins here!

Game Plan for 2025

In 2025, we’ll keep building our foundation to make bigger plays in 2026 and beyond. Right now, we’re focusing on two key areas:

1. Fundraising and Partnerships

• Continuing to pursue funding for both specific projects and our day-to-day operations
• Creating meaningful partnerships with companies, and together create shared value
• Developing supporter packages for businesses who want to be part of making football a force for good

Want to join our team? If you represent an organization that could partner with us, shoot an email at per@bonito.football and let’s talk about creating something amazing together while making football even more beautiful.

2. Full Digital Platform Launch

Our original roadmap had our full digital platform launching in Q4 2024, but we’ve adjusted our timeline to early Q2 2025. The platform will have two complementary halves:

• Editorial Website: Think of this as a fanzine for Football For Good – a place for news, stories, interviews, and profiles of the people and organizations using football to create positive change
• Community Platform: A digital clubhouse where the real MVPs of Football For Good – coaches, volunteers, and practitioners (some truly unsung heroes) – can connect, share knowledge, and learn from each other

To see what we’re building toward, check out the interviews we’ve already published with international superstars in the Football For Good sector here.

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Thanks for reading this far! If you haven’t joined our team of supporters yet, sign up for our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn to stay in the game and know when we launch.

Change is at your feet!

Jamie & Per
Your coaches at Bonito Foundation

We are excited to share that the Bonito Foundation is now an official NGO partner of the European Football Development Network (EFDN)! This partnership is an important step in our mission to use football as a tool for positive change.

What is the European Football Development Network?

EFDN is a network of football clubs, leagues, and organizations from across Europe working together to make a difference in society through football. They focus on inclusion, community support, and creating sustainable programs that improve lives.

Joining this network allows us to connect with amazing organizations that share our vision of football as more than just a game—it’s a way to bring people together and create real social impact. It is also an exciting partnership for us given the extensive resources that EFDN will be able to provide our community with!

Sharing Inspiring Stories

One of our key goals is to tell the stories of the great work being done by EFDN members. From grassroots football programs to major community initiatives, we’ll be helping to share these stories far and wide, inspiring others to join the movement for social change through football.

We sincerely hope that this is just the beginning of an exciting partnership. We’re looking forward to working with EFDN and its members to make football a stronger force for good.

Stay tuned as we celebrate and share the stories of those already creating a positive impact and collaborate on new ways to bring change through the beautiful game.

 

Our launch week continues! Today, we’re rolling out the first version of our football for good events calendar – a simple way to discover and track upcoming events.

Want to feature your event? Submit it for free!

Shape the future of football for good as a founding member of the Bonito Community! Be part of a community where you can connect with peers, share your experience, learn new things, and drive positive change in the sport.

Sign up now to secure early access. Onboarding begins in February 2025.

We’re looking forward to having you as a member. Welcome!

We want to give you a heartfelt welcome to the launch of the Bonito platform!

Bonito means beautiful in Portuguese and we believe that the game of football is indeed that-beautiful. Its beauty however lies beyond the poetry of the passes, the movement of the ball and the crucial goals scored. We believe the beauty of football lies deeper. Embedded in the game is the power to unite, forge bonds and deepen relationships based on trust and empathy, build bridges and lift individuals and groups to new heights. Its a game of passion, teamwork, comradery … it’s beautiful.

All over the world everyday heroes are using football to make positive change. Bonito is an editorial platform and a community.  Over the coming days, weeks, months and years we will bring you stories from all over the world, interviews with key football for good heroes and editorials on important subjects related to the beautiful game of football and more specifically its ability to do good.

Who are we?

A chance encounter on Slack in late 2023 brought us together on this journey! Since then we’ve been working together, transforming Bonito from just an idea to reality.  We are now a registered non-profit foundation in Sweden (organization number 802482-6136).

Here is a bit about who we are:

Jamie Elovsson comes with a wealth of experience in sport for good. Previously at UN Sport (UNOSDP), Johan Cruyff Institute and as a consultant working across the sector, Jamie is a generalist who has experience and training in everything from social impact, monitoring & evaluation to story telling and content creation. He even teaches some tennis on the side!
Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn

Per Sandström has 25 years of digital product development expertise, most of those years running a digital agency that worked heavily with NGOs and other civic society organizations. He also works as a football coach in the girls’ academy at IF Brommapojkarna (BP), the largest football club in Europe.
Connect with Per on LinkedIn

Together, our blend of experience in sport for good, technology, and design, combined with our love for the game of football and our belief that it can be a driving force for good, has fueled the fire to start this platform.

But why are we doing this?

We want to help harness the power of football and bring tribes of football enthusiasts together to participate in a movement aimed at taking collective ownership for the game and transforming  this power into real social impact. We wanted to build a platform for more of the heroes of football to lead the game through its mission to be a positive force in the world. And we believe by sharing stories from every corner of the world we can help start our support for this movement. 

We have big plans for the future so join us! Subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on social media and check back often to be inspired!

Change is at your feet!

802482-6136. Who’ll be the first to play with this number on their shirt?
Bonito Foundation is now officially a registered charity, and this is our organization’s number! ❤️⚽

This milestone takes us one step further toward our launch, being set for an exciting journey as we work to help those heroes of the football for good world harness the power of football to inspire, uplift, and create positive change in our communities. 🌱✨

Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far – we couldn’t have done it without you. Let’s keep the momentum going and make a real impact, one goal at a time.

Change is at your feet! 💪⚽

Bonito is in the final steps of becoming a non-profit foundation and is finalizing our registration with the Swedish authorities. We’re at the end of some lengthy bureaucracy, getting close to kick-off, and what you see now is a minimal preview of what’s coming.

Read our Upprop / Announcement (Swedish and English)

First up for the Bonito platform are an editorial website and a community. Our editorial website champions the Football for Good movement by telling stories, providing knowledge, fostering engagement, and inspiring others. Our community will bring people from the Football for Good sector together, empowering and supporting their important work.

Learn more about us here. When fully registered as a foundation, we’ll tell you more about our story and where we’re going. Until then, please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn for more updates.

That’s it for now. Beware of bugs and glitches. Enjoy, and stay tuned!