Ing Foundation Grant

The Ing Foundation supports the growth of the Western playing community with substantial grants of cash and equipment to the European Go Federation and the American Go Association. In North America, annual infusion of funds from this grant continues to fund a wide variety of programs and projects, including three distinguished tournaments. (See below for details).

Tournaments: Ing Foundation funds support three important events: the North American Ing Cup, an invitational that has brought America's top-rated amateur players to the Go Congress for more than ten years; and the Redmond Cup for children, which chooses our contenders in the World Youth Championship; and the Ing Redmond, an invitational tournament for young top-level American players. With Ing Foundation support, the AGAproduced the North American Masters Tournament, the first significant online professional Go tournament

Doing More for Kids: Nothing was more important to the late Mr. Ing than teaching children. As always, the AGA has devoted a large share of the grant to child-related purposes -- Congress scholarships, the one-of-a-kind Summer Go Camp, child-friendly materials on CD-ROM and in other media. But progress is slow. We need to find even more new and effective ways to introduce children to go, and to support their growing interest and help them develop into strong players. Chapters interested in teaching children are encouraged to apply for regional funds to support local teaching programs.

Regional Allotments: Each regional VP disburses up to $6000 within each of the AGA's three regions, providing support for tournaments that utilize Ing's SST Laws of Wei-chi. Local and regional organizers are also encouraged to think "outside the box", especially about programs that might benefit children. School- or after-school-based teaching programs and other child-based activities would be very much in keeping with the Ing Foundation's mission, as well as our own.