A club built for inclusion — with the vision and community to make it real.

Founded by accomplished female athletes, LA Bulls Soccer Club set out with a bold mission: to open elite-level youth soccer to a more diverse range of players. Through MLSNext and Development Player League platforms, they wanted to challenge the status quo of who gets access to elite-level training and competition.

The club had built something real — high-level programming, a committed coaching staff, and a community of families who believed deeply in the mission. What they were ready to build next was the philanthropic infrastructure to match their ambition. Financial aid, scholarship programming, and sustainable funding that didn't depend entirely on registration fees.

This was precisely the inflection point COGEO was built for. LA Bulls were ready. COGEO sat beside them and got to work.

What COGEO did

Built a fundraising program from scratch — then a wildfire changed everything.

In 2024, LA Bulls partnered with COGEO to build a fundraising program from the ground up. Nine months in, disaster struck. Wildfires tore through Los Angeles, directly impacting Pacific Palisades — the Bulls' home base and the heart of their player and family community. What started as an effort to expand access became something far bigger: a test of the club's resilience, and proof that the infrastructure they had built was already working.

Built fundraising infrastructure from zero

Case statements, donation processing, donor management systems, campaign messaging, and strategic planning — all built from scratch, and all ready when the community needed them most.

Trained leadership in the art of philanthropic fundraising

COGEO coached club leaders on the ethics, mechanics, and deeply human side of fundraising — including how to make the ask with confidence, clarity, and authenticity for the first time.

Activated leadership and donor community during the wildfire crisis

COGEO guided LA Bulls leadership in positioning the club as a trusted voice and community anchor during the fires — turning a moment of crisis into a demonstration of organizational strength and philanthropic commitment.

Built diversified, sustainable funding streams

Individual giving, foundation grants, corporate sponsorships, and financial aid-specific campaigns — each revenue stream built to grow independently and compound over time, well beyond the initial COGEO engagement.

The outcome

In 18 months, a club with no philanthropic history raised $800K and became a community lifeline

$800K

RAISED IN 18 MONTHS

22x

RETURN ON CONTRIBUTION®

8,000

PEOPLE IMPACTED

5

ORG STAGES ADVANCED

The results were powerful — and enduring. Financial aid opened the door for deserving players who otherwise would have been priced out. The philanthropic infrastructure the club built gave them the stability and credibility to lead during the wildfires, emerge stronger, and deepen their ties to the Los Angeles community in ways that registration fees alone never could.

Club leaders now have the skills, the systems, and the confidence to sustain and grow their fundraising program independently. LA Bulls is no longer just a soccer club. It is becoming an institution — one that proves elite access and equitable opportunity can coexist, and that a community of believers, properly organized, can fund a mission worth believing in.

“COGEO didn't just give us a plan — they sat beside us and built it. Our fundraising program went from zero to sustainable in under two years. The impact was exponential."