The 2024 Holiday Fund donation drive has begun – please give generously. Your dojo is counting on you and your support.
As everyone in your dojo community knows, Goju Karate is a non-profit organization, now in its thirteenth year of training, teaching and expanding the reach of karatedō.
While tuition revenue covers our basic expenses, we rely on the generous donations of patrons and students of the dojo to help us reach higher every year.
Why Donating Matters
In 2024, donations helped us make it possible for students to train who cannot afford to pay full tuition. This included both adults and kids. These karateka are no different from you or your kids – they train just as hard and line up alongside you in class.
But they wouldn't be there if it wasn't possible for the dojo to offer greatly-reduced tuition to those that need help.
Karatedō has always been meant for everyone — everyone, that is, that has a deep desire to improve themselves and to make an impact on their community and the greater world.
But not everyone can afford to pay tuition at the dojo. The funds we raised during our Holiday Fund 2023 drive helped pay tuition for those adults and kids who are a valued an important part of our dojo community.
In some cases, these are kids from families that, given all the other expenses in caring for kids, need help to make karatedō a part of their lives.
For adults, donations to the Holiday Fund help to partially pay tuition for some adult students who can‘t afford to pay all of their tuition because they are young in their professional journey in life, or are in professions that provide subsistence wages but don’t allow them to fully afford tuition.
For other adults, donations to the Holiday Fund help them pay tuition when circumstances in life create financial hardships temporarily, and they need help for a period of time until they once again can contribute more fully to the dojo community financially.
No matter the circumstance, however, our Dojo is proud to be a place where we support one another as part of a greater community.
Enabling Innovation and Bringing Karatedō to a Bigger Audience
Donations also helped us create and deliver special programs and seminars and to extend karatedō to a wider and more global audience. For the first time, we were able to make Kagami Biraki accessible to other dojo and several dojo in other countries had their first Kagami Biraki. Later in the year, other dojo participated in our seminars, and we even helped to create special recognition for members of the global karatedō community.
In 2024, we expanded our Mentor Program for kids who want to be kids doing martial arts, but have special needs to make that happen. Our dojo makes that happen every Saturday morning in the Mentor Program.
And for the first time in 2024, we proudly watched our Mentor kids participate in rank testing, and we also saw them successfully complete in a division in the Tameshiwari Tournament that didn’t even exist before this year. What an amazing achievement! Everyone who contributed to the Holiday Fund 2023 made that possible.
Make a Difference
It's annoying to be constantly asked to contribute, but it's also important to understand that institutions like our dojo only exist because they are valued and supported by their community.
We only ask for help once a year, traditionally always at the holiday season.
So if you're able to help, please donate generously. You'll have both the deep appreciation of the dojo community today as well as that of the dojo community of the future.
Step up, and make a difference.
