George Pocock Rowing Foundation
Funds, Income & Expense
For the year ending December 31, 2006
Mission
The George Pocock Rowing Foundation serves as a community
resource for the support and advancement of the sport
of rowing in the Northwest.
History & Progress
The Foundation was started in 1984 when a group of
Lake Washington Rowing Club officers grew frustrated
with the lack of both local and national responsiveness
to the perceived needs of the sport. As a group they
decided that the United States was a big place and
needed a more decentralized infrastructure and decision
making system, and that because all the power and
influence in rowing resided on the east coast, little
would ever be accomplished locally without an institution
dedicated to local development residing in the Northwest.
Despite the great success stories at the University
of Washington, Lake Washington Rowing Club, and other
Northwest programs, the rest of the country, including
the national governing body would continue to ignore
rowing in the NW until the Northwest established itself
as a region that could not be ignored.
In 1984 we laid out four objectives:
1. To build a Seattle Rowing Center that could be
the home to many rowing clubs and programs, and serve
as a model for the rest of the region;
2. To create a mechanism to support post-collegiate,
high-performance athletes in their on-going training
for the National and Olympic teams;
3. To create an organization that could actively support
the design and construction of boathouses, and the
creation of rowing programs throughout the region.
We believed then – and do today – that
the most productive type of outreach to the rest of
the non-rowing world is to simply create more opportunities
to row. Success can be measured in the growth of the
number boathouses, programs, and people rowing in
the NW; and finally
4. To develop a Class A FISA racing venue in the NW
that would be so good that crews from all over the
world would want to come here to race.
The organization has grown and evolved, but these
four goals remain the primary guiding principals underlying
what we do. We are pleased with our progress to date,
but there remains much to do. The Pocock Rowing Center
opened in 1994, and now hosts a half dozen rowing
programs, and hundreds of rowing athletes. The PRC
high-performance program is respected at the national
team level as a first class senior level training
center. The number of rowing programs in the northwest
has exploded since 1984, and while we cannot claim
credit for all or even most of them, we were involved
with the creation or nurturing of many. We have set
another goal of assisting with the further growth
of Northwest rowing so that within another 10 years
there are twice the number of programs and four times
the number of registered rowing members in the region
as there are today. Although we have not yet completed
the Class A FISA rowing course, we believe we are
on track. Our current goal is to have a venue in operation
at Lake Kapowsin by September of 2011.
For reasons mostly having to do with
'bandwidth', the majority of our efforts have been
focused at the center of the geographic concentric
circle centered on Seattle. Long term, the scope of
our ambitions is truly regional, as the project at
Kapowsin shows. In summary, we believe that we have
delivered value to the rowing community in our region,
and with your support we will continue to do so.
Our Funds
The Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization,
with a number of funds that have been established
to receive and hold monies for specific purposes in
support of the Foundation's Mission.
In addition to the Foundation's General Fund, there
are four permanent endowment funds, the Kapowsin Project
fund, and the independently managed PRC funds that
focus on activities within the Pocock Rowing Center.
The funds, their purpose and policies are described
below.
Ayrault Fund
The Ayrault Fund is named after Dan Ayrault, an original
member of the Pocock Foundation Board, Headmaster
of the Lakeside School, teacher, coach, and two-time
gold-medal winning Olympic oarsman. Targeted donations,
investment income, and a portion of principal appreciation
of the Ayrault Fund are dedicated to a range of rowing
'outreach' activities. In keeping with the original
Foundation Goals, Outreach volunteers and staff work
with individuals in government, education, social
service agencies, and other rowing programs to support
the design and development of rowing facilities and
programs, and the recruitment of athletes of all ages
and abilities.
Interest and dividend income, plus a portion of a
given year's capital gains may be invested in program
grants. The fund is managed to ensure long-term growth.
Our 2006 unaudited results show Ayrault accounts had
a beginning balance of $101,320 on 12/31/05 and an
ending balance of $101,166 on 12/31/06. Outreach gifts
and income totaled $19,400 and expenses were $28,562.
Capital gains, dividends, and interest income totaled
$9,008.
There are four primary areas involved
in the GPRF outreach programs:
1. Health & Wellness:
Through the efforts of its founding directors, the
Foundation is involved in the creation of health and
wellness programs that use both indoor (ergometer)
and on-the-water rowing as a mechanism to foster both
the teaching and the practice of good health, exercise,
and dietary habits. There is an epidemic of obesity
and poor physical condition in our country. We believe
that rowing may be part of the cure. By focusing in
this area, we believe that we can very effectively
leverage the contributions of other funding sources
that are focused on health and wellness, and in particular
on obesity. We can show that rowing – even in
schools where there is no nearby rowable water –
is a highly effective way to increase the fitness
of children from the middle school ages and up.
2. 3rd Party Programs:
One of the most visible and successful Committees
in the Foundation is the Outreach Sub Committee for
programs. This group and its paid program director
dedicate countless hours to this activity. Because
of our association with Dan Ayrault, shortly after
the completion of the Pocock Rowing Center, the GPRF
began offering students in a Lakeside sponsored, summer,
educational enrichment program the opportunity to
row. Since that beginning, GPRF outreach programs
have been designed and delivered for homeless and
street dependant youth, adults with physical and developmental
disabilities, young women, and school groups. The
GPRF is not a school or social service agency, but
the Outreach staff works with such 3rd party agencies
to create programs for their populations that make
available rowing opportunities to leverage the inherent
metaphors and lessons of rowing to address larger
community needs. Our programs can offer rowing opportunities
to groups who for economic, cultural, or other reasons
may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience
rowing. We have created and spun-off to other rowing
organizations a number of successful programs, and
have developed materials to assist others in doing
the same.
3. Junior Program Scholarships:
Another initiative is focused on building the endowment
so that junior athletes and family members who may
have been introduced to the sport through one of our
introductory programs, or have come to it via another
path, can participate fully in a regular junior program
such as those operated by the Seattle Parks Department
at Mt. Baker or at the Pocock Rowing Center. To gain
the full benefit of participation in a junior rowing
program, it is important for the athletes to have
the full experience – which includes both 1)
extended time together working and training with teammates
and 2) racing. The benefit of working hard and measuring
progress against another crew is an important aspect
of the growth and development of a young person. The
culture of the rowing 'meritocracy' where the best
crew wins the race, and the others return home to
train and strive to improve their own performance
can only be learned from racing. Having their families
present to witness the young athlete's triumphs and
defeats is important as well. Most Junior rowing athletes
go on to college, and a statistically insignificant
number are ever involved in drugs, alcohol, or juvenile
crime. The 'rowing culture' stresses excellence in
all things, and this frequently carries over into
the athletes' academic performance, and future aspirations.
Many excellent Junior programs already exist in the
Northwest, so the goal of this initiative is to ensure
that these programs can offer assistance to those
in their communities who may have financial needs.
This may be the best thing we are doing. A recent
generous contribution has launched this new, exciting
extension to the Ayrault fund, and the Ancient Mariners
Rowing Club has recently stepped up and is partially
sponsoring a junior athlete – who is a graduate
of the Lakeside LEEP program, so that she can compete
in the regular PRC Junior programs.
4. Program Growth:
The Pocock Rowing Center was built to provide a home
to multiple programs, but the Foundation's scope has
always included the entire NW region. The fourth element
of the outreach program is the support and development
of boathouses and programs on every rowable body of
water in the Northwest. We cannot build them all,
but we can help local interests achieve their visions.
We are focused at this time on developing programs,
boathouses, instructional materials, and other supporting
materials in the Seattle Metropolitan area with the
ultimate goal of quadrupling participation in rowing
throughout the region.
With our weather and topography we see no reason why
the Northwest Region – by itself – cannot
equal or exceed the rowing participation and competitive
success of countries of similar physical size, population,
and economic resources. Ultimately the best form of
outreach will be to create many more programs around
the region so that each of them can reach out to their
own local communities and offer the benefits of rowing
to participants of all economic and cultural situations.
Putting more boats in more boathouses, and more people
in more rowing seats is the best way to achieve the
greatest good through our great sport.
The McWilliams Fund
The McWilliams Fund is named after Gordon McWilliams,
a great supporter of high performance athletes and
in particular of the program developed by Emil Kossev
at the Pocock Center. Supporting the aspirations of
potential Olympians has been a core objective of the
Foundation since day one. Senior level, primarily
post-collegiate, athletes dedicate themselves to the
pursuit of excellence to the virtual exclusion of
other endeavors, career goals, and economic rewards.
They are primarily supported by their parents and
friends, and by the High Performance Program at the
Pocock Rowing Center. The Foundation contributes a
part of its annual, general fund income to supporting
a portion of the head coach's salary, and income from
the Fund plus contributions raised to support the
team are collected by the fund and expended on the
training, travel, equipment, and other needs of the
team. The endowment is not large, so the bulk of year-to-year
expenses must be covered by contributions raised in
the current year to fund current expenses.
A long-term goal of the High Performance program is
to secure a major sponsor to better support the program,
and to over time, increase the permanent aspect of
the McWilliams Fund so that it can generate a more
reliable income stream. Gifts to the McWilliams Fund
that are restricted are used in the manner designated
by the donor. Our 2006 unaudited results show McWilliams
accounts had a beginning balance of $9,753 on 12/31/05
and an ending balance of $11,193 on 12/31/06. Total
receipts to the McWilliams Fund totaled $86,066, of
which $1,000 was a permanently restricted donation,
$32,220 was restricted donations, and $52,106 was
program income. (Athlete specific donations are not
tax-deductible.) Dividends, interest and a grant from
the PRF general fund totaled $22,624.
The Frances Pocock Fund
The largest single asset of the Foundation is currently
the Pocock Rowing Center. Like any building, it has
both regular annual operations and maintenance needs,
but like any building it also has long-term capital
maintenance or 'replenishment' needs. Everyone is
familiar with the concept of deferred maintenance,
and everyone has seen the effects on structures of
too much of it. To guard against this, the initial
capital gifts by Mrs. Frances Pocock that enabled
the construction of the Rowing Center also specified
that an endowment fund be established and maintained
at a sufficient level to ensure that long-term capital
maintenance could be performed on the building. In
100 years, the founders want the Center to be as sound
and attractive as it is today. In the intervening
period there will be earthquakes, floods, and the
ravages of both time and the wear and tear of hundreds
of users. We will have Global Warming, light rail,
traffic congestion, and Presidents worse than Jimmy
Carter, Bill Clinton, or George Bush. Based on an
engineering study conducted for the Board, it is estimated
that, including cost inflation, over the next 50 years
it will cost slightly over six million dollars to
maintain and rehabilitate the capital structures to
keep them in their current condition.
Because of the foresight and successful fund raising
of the Founders, the PRC sits on land owned by the
Foundation, it has no long term debt, and is large
enough that it should be able to generate sufficient
income to support its own capital maintenance. A permanent
endowment of approximately $2.5 million would completely
fund the annual contribution requirements necessary
to fund the 6 million, but we do not have that amount
in a permanent fund yet. However, it is a reasonable
and achievable financial goal for all operating and
maintenance costs, as well as an annual contribution
to the capital maintenance fund, to be produced from
income from dues, fees, and Center operations. The
people who use the building currently, will save currently
for its eventual restoration. Rent from the 3rd floor
offices, in addition to funding some program operating
expenses, covers its share of operating costs, as
well as its prorated annual contribution to the long-term
capital maintenance fund. The remaining contribution
must come from PRC operations which are on a growth
path toward being able to support not only rowing
program activity, but also the Center's full short
and long term operating and maintenance costs. At
this time, the Foundation is underwriting most of
that necessary contribution, but efforts are underway
where by the PRC membership will, over time and as
income grows, assume its full responsibility for the
maintenance of the rowing floors of their home.
Plans are for the Frances Pocock Fund to receive an
annual contribution from either a permanent fund or
the operating income of the building sufficient to
amortize the full estimated 50-year cost of the capital
maintenance and replenishment of the Pocock Rowing
Center building, as periodically reviewed and established
by the Board. Funding day to day operating costs and
operating maintenance of the PRC is the responsibility
of the office tenants and the PRC membership, not
of the Foundation, thus the monies in this endowment
are not to be used for day to day costs, or any other
non-capital maintenance expenses incurred by the Foundation.
In extraordinary circumstances the Board may borrow
from the Fund, provided that the Fund is repaid with
interest at the market rate avoided by borrowing from
the Fund. Funds in the this endowment may only be
used for capital maintenance activities approved by
the Board of Directors.
Our 2006 unaudited results show Pocock accounts had
a beginning balance of $135,804 on 12/31/05 and an
ending balance of $157,903 on 12/31/06. Transfers
from the PRF General Fund plus interest and dividends
totaled $54,442, while expenses associated with capital
maintenance totaled $32,344.
The Zesbaugh Fund
The Robert Zesbaugh Fund is a capital fund established
in the memory of Bob Zesbaugh to complete the capital
campaign for the construction of the Pocock Rowing
Center, with the residual to supplement the Foundation's
General Fund.
Pocock Rowing Center Operating Funds
The Pocock Rowing Center is an asset of the Rowing
Foundation, thus its financial results are combined
for tax reasons with the Foundation's Balance Sheet
and Income Statement. However, the annual operations
and maintenance, staffing, and program costs of the
PRC are funded by membership dues and fees & targeted
donations, and are controlled by the PRC Management
Committee (MC) and their sub-committees and staff.
The Center maintains a General Fund as well as several
dedicated funds for Junior rowing, equipment, and
other functions. We show them here in summary form.
Treasurer's Report
Where Our Income Came From
The GPRF accepts both unrestricted and designated
gifts from our donors. It is our policy to use unrestricted
gifts and unrestricted endowment income to support
the three major initiatives outlined above, including:
the high performance team, Kapowsin venue, and Outreach.
Gifts that are restricted are used in the manner designated
by the donor.
In 2007 we will begin the development of an $8 million
capital campaign to fully fund the development of
the FISA venue at Kapowsin. These will be restricted
to that activity. In addition we will be soliciting
"permanently restricted" donations for the
Ayrault and McWilliams Funds to increase our ability
to support our athletes and our outreach efforts.
Unrestricted donations allow the Directors to determine
whether those funds should be allocated to one of
our endowments or used for current grants.
2006 in aggregate, total sources of income were $474,796,
while total expenses were $511,009.
Sources
PRF General Fund Income - $15,036
Real Estate Income - $63,048
PRC Consolidated Income - $218,648
HP Team Contributions & Fees - $85,626
Jr. Team Contributions & Fees - $40,925
Outreach Contributions - $19,400
Row For The Cure - $21,500
Kapowsin - $2,000
Investment income - $8,613
Total - $474,796
Uses
General & Administrative - $24,535
Building Repair & Maintenance - $32,344
PRC Consolidated Expense - $278,896
HP Team - $106,810
Jr. Team - $29,508
Outreach - $28,562
Row For The Cure - $10,100
Kapowsin - $253
Total $511,009
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