The first complete and official year of the ITTF Foundation comes to an end; time to reflect on the inaugural year of the ITTF Foundation. An amazing year has come to an end and we are more than thankful for everything achieved in 2019.

The ITTF Foundation was established as the Social Responsibility Arm of the ITTF and was officially recognised in March 2019. Solidarity Through Table Tennis being the guiding principle, the not-for-profit organization aims to use table tennis for positive social outcomes focusing on joint actions, rather than on mere charity.

A team of seven highly motivated staff members are working tirelessly on turning the ITTF Foundation into a leading organisation in best practice of sports for development and peace. The vibrant city of Leipzig, Germany, is the base for its headquarters, which was inaugurated in September 2019, demonstrating that the city is a perfect ground for growth of the Foundation.

2019 kept executing the multi award winning humanitarian projects initiated under its Development program. Same, World Table Tennis Day has been initiated under the same roof and is now under the umbrella of the ITTF Foundation, having organised the biggest #WorldTableTennisDay celebrations ever on April 6 2019.

Download the World Table Tennis Day 2019 Report here.

The year began with ambitious goals on the horizon with the following projects being successfully launched:

• The exciting and interactive ITTFFOUNDATION.ORG has been launched. You now have not only the possibility to read our latest news, but you can also browse through our multiple programmes and projects., applying filters of where and what you want to see, you can download interesting reads through the “Get Inspired” section, “Get Involved” tells you where and how you can help us, you can register your World Table Tennis Day event. We are keen to offer you the most personalized browsing experience. Keep posted, as exciting news are about to be added in 2020.

• A successful agreement between the ITTF Foundation and the ITTF Athlete’s Commission now enables athletes with personal tragedies related to illnesses and accidents and no or low means to fix them to apply for the Athlete Emergency Fund, funded by the ITTF Foundation and enabled through the athletes’ representative body. Click here to see details.

• 2019 also saw the launch of our donation campaign. You like what we do? Help us grow through your online donation and raising funds for our project partners working with some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups around the world. All private donations made to the ITTF Foundation go directly to our operations and partners on the ground. Don’t hesitate and donate now!

• As a best way to bring table tennis to where it’s really needed, 2019 saw the first 2 calls for the Dream Building Fund, a fund created for projects aiming at transforming a specific local issue linked to one or more UN Sustainable Development Goals #SDGs. Six projects came out of the first call, notably 2 in Africa, 1 in Latin America, 2 in Europe and 1 in North America. The second is still being evaluated and the successful applicants will be revealed in early 2020. Check out more information about the Dream Building Fund and the successful projects here.

• In October, the world saw the first ever World Parkinson’s Table Tennis Championships. New York was the host for this historic event, where different kind of people with Parkinson’s demonstrated how beneficial table tennis is for reducing the symptoms of this disease. The event showed an amazing spirit among the players, who went home with a big portion of hope to better promote the effects of table tennis on people with Parkinson’s. Read more about this amazing event here.

We truly believe in our impact of contributing to a better world through table tennis and are always glad when this is publicly recognized. This shows us that we must be on the right track with our work and motivates us to keep working in this direction.

2019 brought 2 international recognitions:

• The Sports Business Awards honoured World Table Tennis Day 2018 with the third “Best Sports Event of the Year”
• “Table Tennis for NepALL” project was awarded with Bronze – Best Sports CSR Initative of the Year
  at the SPIA ASIA Awards demonstrating table tennis as a particularly inclusive sport, able to reach persons with disabilities playing on a regular basis even in the most unlikely social conditions.

Two grants became available in order to keep doing the good work in the future, notably;

• The Agitos Foundation supports Para Table Tennis opportunities to refugees in Jordan; The Dream Building with Refugees project aims to provide access to para sport for refugees living in Jordanian Refugee Camps - Za’atari and Azraq and promote social inclusion.
• The European Union gives a grant to ENGSO’s led project “Sport & Psycho-social Initiative for Inclusive Training (SPIRIT)”, to which the ITTF Foundation will contribute through coaching framework and other expertise.

The ITTF Foundation is growing and we are particularly thankful to:

• ITTFs Executive Committee and all ITTF staff for their constant support.
• Chinas new Table Tennis Association (CTTA) President Liu Guoliang expressing CTTAs support for the ITTF Foundation at the recently celebrated ITTF Star Awards
• Our Governing Board and Board of Trustees for all the decisions taken to let the ITTF Foundation grow
• The City of Leipzig for its warm welcoming of our Foundation
• Our partner organisations with whom we enjoy working together
• Our sponsors and donors who believe in us and in the power of table tennis to change the world
• And particularly to all those people on the ground transforming lives on a daily basis through table tennis. It’s only because of you, who believe in the positive results of table tennis and who use this force that things are being done.