About us
We give kids more than a ticket.
Kids Up Front started with a simple observation: empty seats at events kids would love to attend. Since 2000 we have turned that gap into millions of experiences.
Our story
In 2000, Kids Up Front Founder John Dalziel went to a sporting event and saw how many seats go unused. He realized at that moment there were many kids and families within our city who would love to be in those seats but may never get the chance. So, he created Kids Up Front, a charity where people could donate their unused tickets and give them a new life by sending deserving kids and families in their place.
Today six chapters work with teams, venues, promoters and hundreds of community agencies. Ticket holders tell us what they can't use, our chapters match the seats to families who will use them, and the agencies who already know those families make the handoff personal.
What we believe
Every kid belongs in the room
Arts, sport and culture shape how young people see themselves. Cost should not decide who gets to be there.
Dignity first
Families arrive as guests with good seats, not as charity cases. Tickets are never resold, and recipients are never singled out.
Local stays local
Every donated seat is placed in the community it came from, through agencies that live and work there.
“It is clear from the gratitude of these kids that a ticket is more than just a ticket. It is a true nourishment of spirit.”