<div>I fell in love with basketball young. I was lucky. I came up through WAIS and SBL with some remarkable coaches, and the friendships from those years shaped the man I became. Long before Ark had a name it had those values. Show up, look after each other, leave the place better than you found it.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>My son Leo has had a ball in his hands since he could walk. He dunked a plush basketball on a ring I hung off the wardrobe door. He played his first under-10s game at Warwick. He won his first gold medallion at Country Champs and every step has been beautiful to watch. I wanted to take everything I’d learned and build him a platform to grow on. And the moment I pictured it for Leo I couldn’t stop picturing it for every other kid like him.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I’ve spent twenty years building places Perth likes to gather in. I co-created Uncle Joe’s on King Street in 2012 and it’s still trading fourteen years on. I co-founded Head Studio, Australian Hair Salon of the Year in 2013, with a team of twenty-one. Ark is the first place I built for my boy, and it’s the one closest to my heart.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Then came the injuries and the setbacks, the normal stuff life throws at you. Somewhere in the middle of it I stopped asking what have I done and started asking what’s next. How do I stay strong in body and mind so I can show up properly for my son and my family?
</div>
<div>Mostly, I got down on the floor with my boy and played.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>So one night at the kitchen table I drew it. Not a business plan. A place. A court under a warehouse roof where no one calls time. A cafe serving the food I love making. A garden I’d been growing for years in backyards. A sauna and a cold plunge, and quiet corners to just sit. Even the pillars came out of a scrap yard, because they were too beautiful to leave behind.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Then the doors opened and other kids wandered in. I watched Leo’s exact expression, that lit-up this-is-mine look, land on face after face. Kids whose families couldn’t stretch to a membership. Kids who just needed somewhere to be.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>A year on, Ark is bigger than me. My brother and I are planning a future where our boys grow up together. My sister backs us every day from the other side of the world. Emma and Glenn from Aspen Coaching run sessions under our roof for everyone from the smallest kids to the oldest. Good, family-minded people who stand for what we stand for.
</div>
<div>I do the heavy lifting here and I don’t do it for recognition. I pour the first coffee of the day, keep the cabinet full of fresh bread and the week’s ferments, and spend my mornings with the regulars and local businesses who have become Ark’s backbone. Now I want to build a small team around me so Ark can reach further into this community and get the run it deserves.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>What this fundraiser pays for:
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Basketball is booming and courts are hard to come by, let alone free ones. This fundraiser pays for ARK OPEN DOORS, a year of free community access, run by a local, on a court we keep making better:
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>FREE OPEN COURT. </strong>Three free open-run blocks every week, 156 blocks across the year. No booking fee, no membership. Turn up and play.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>THE COFFEE WALL.</strong> Pay a coffee forward. Buy one for a stranger, a kid after a run, a tradie having a rough week. It lives on the wall until someone needs it.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>COMMUNITY RECOVERY.</strong> Free intro sauna and cold plunge slots each month for locals who’ve never tried it.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>A PAID COMMUNITY HOST.</strong> The biggest line. Your donations fund a real part-time job for a local who opens up, runs the free blocks and keeps it all moving.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>COURT UPGRADES.</strong> Gear and padding so the free hours happen on a better court.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Where every dollar goes:
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/106513391_1785382960637324_r.png" width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The first free blocks start <strong>1st September 2026</strong>. What’s raised by then decides how much of this list we switch on.
</div>
<div>Where every dollar goes ($29,173)
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Every dollar lands on this list, and we’ll post updates here showing it happening, receipts and all. And every donor goes up on the wall by the court, whatever the amount. Put one on the wall and your name stays part of the place.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Past the goal, we unlock <strong>THE ARK 10:</strong>
</div>
<div>Ten local kids get a full year of weekly coaching, about $1,000 per kid, for families who’d never otherwise get it (takes the total to $39,393).
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Then <strong>BEAT THE HEAT:</strong> ventilation and seating so the free summer hours stay playable <strong>(about $45,000)</strong>.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you for reading and I look forward to growing this wonderful community together - Mark Cain
</div>

Anonymous

Nicholas Hillas

Harry Brown

Tomoya Fukase

Carl Harris

Justin A Holland

Eniko Nehez

Alex Collins

Peta Landon

Deborah Lee Walter

Jacob Brown

Mark Gaskin

Mark Schneider

Bea Hodges

Dominic Solly

Eleanor Friston

Andrew Nottage

Cameron Green

Sam Odquin-Curtis

Support kids community basketball & Recovery for all!

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

be_supporter_comments_enabled_supported_funds

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Support kids community basketball & Recovery for all!

Still $5,387 to go. Help us build momentum.