Noticing the heavy resource disparities in the speech and debate society, whether relating to tournament costs and travel, or the inability of lower income competitors to afford high quality coaching, the nonprofit Democratize Debate was born, with the simple goal of making Speech and Debate, as an activity, more accessible and inclusive by helping fund competitors in need. In order to raise funds, the organization runs a tournament every 1-2 months, donating all proceeds to the organization, hoping to use them to fund competitors in need!
Our goal is to remove the exclusive aspects of Speech and Debate, which primarily stem from resource inequities, to ensure that no competitor ever feels that they do not have an equal chance at competition at this wonderful activity. We hope to achieve this by running our tournaments as well as through the support of wonderful donors who choose to donate to our cause!
Please note that we are not yet officially designated as a nonprofit, but are working on achieving nonprofit status in the state of California and may continue on to apply for IRS Tax Exemption in the near future.