Common Questions

You can make a one-time or recurring donation through our secure website. A five-year pledge of $1,000 per year (or $100 a month) helps support one school each year. Every gift, at any level, brings us closer to a future where every student has access to speech and debate.

Yes. The NSDA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation is fully tax-deductible as allowed by law.

Your contribution helps us expand speech and debate programs in under-resourced schools across the country—training new coaches, launching new teams, covering competition fees, and building sustainable infrastructure. Your donation will directly support the six elements of our plan which will double the number of students with access to speech and debate teams over the next five years.

 Absolutely. Honor a coach, mentor, or alum by making a donation in their name. You can note this in the donation form.

Yes! We’re building a national network of alumni and advocates who are helping us raise funds and spread the word. Contact us to join one of our Giving Circles or to host a fundraising event.

First- you should donate to them as well. They are all doing great work. In fact- here is the link to NAUDL, and you will find a list and contact info of the different urban debate leagues on this page here. We also encourage you to consider supporting individual school speech and debate programs.. Most people who believe in a cause will donate to multiple organizations working in that space advancing that work. It is no different with speech and debate. 

We also believe that we are pretty unique in this space. Here’s why:

• National Reach: We are the only speech and debate organization that is working in every state. We work with 4000 schools and 100,000 students. That is 10X more than any other organization. Two thirds of our schools are in urban or rural areas. Two thirds are Title 1 Schools. We work with substantially more under-resourced schools, urban schools, and rural schools than any other organization.

• Infrastructure and Experience: With a century of experience, we have the operational capacity, coaching pipeline, and technological tools to scale quickly and sustainably.

• Focus on Expansion: While other orgs serve select districts, NSDI is building the scaffolding to support every school—public, charter, rural, urban, and suburban—nationwide.

• Systemic Change: We aren’t just supporting teams—we’re advocating for state level funding and policy change to make speech and debate a core part of the curriculum in middle and high schools, and speech and debate a graduation requirement.

Impact: We are looking to provide access to speech and debate 100,000 more students annually, with a focus on rural and urban under-resourced schools. No other organization approaches that level of scale.

If you’re looking to make the biggest possible impact on the future of speech and debate in America, NSDA is the vehicle that can deliver.

Our initiative isn’t about quick wins. We are investing in long-term success by:

• Training and mentoring new coaches
• Building local leagues to reduce costs
• Embedding speech and debate into school curricula

Advocating for public funding and policy reforms

Yes. If you need to cancel or amend your monthly or annual pledge for any reason, please contact us at giving@speechanddebate.org, and we will gladly assist you.