Bank Now On The Board

For the Aspen Junior Golf Foundation, the challenging economy has translated into a tough lie, if you'll pardon the golf-speak.

"We're down ... big time," said Alden Richards, executive director of the Aspen Junior Golf Foundation (AJGF).

Founded in 1987, Aspen Junior Golf serves approximately 200 valley youths in its summer-long daycamp program at the Aspen Golf Club. Staffed by two full-timers in the summer, AJGF relies on 40 volunteers to run the camp, which includes twice weekly instruction for juniors, equipment and unlimited use of the AJGF range, as well as weekly Junior Tour in the Rockies tournaments at courses across the valley.

While the program is as popular as ever, AJGF's fiscal situation isn't so bright.

"It's poor at best," said Richards, who took over AJGF in September 2000. "Rated on a scale of 1 to 10 - instruction is 10, facilities 10, with the kids having their own building, range and equipment. Golf course access is about an 8 and financial stability is about a 3. That's the only way I can rate it. We've got a lot of work to do."

AJGF's annual budget for the current fiscal year is about $150,000, Richards said, "and we're going to be showing a negative by the time the smoke clears in about two weeks."

Through registration fees ($150 per player for the camp program) and fund-raising tournaments - the Aspen Junior Golf Classic junior-am, the annual visit by PGA pros like Tom Lehman and Chris DiMarco (in concert with the staging of The International, near Denver), and the annual Golf Fore Kids tourney - AJGF nets about $120,000.

The remainder, in theory, is raised through other contributions, but AJGF still faces a $15,000 shortfall this year, according to Robin Ferguson, AJGF's accountant with Becker Business Services in Aspen.

"We had small cash reserves to resurrect that," she said.

Compounding matters this year is Junior Golf's purchase of the AJGF "caddyshack," the former municipal course pro shop at the Aspen course. AJGF bought the building for $200,000 and still owes $125,000 on the note.

"So some of the money went toward purchasing the building and ensuring perpetuity for the foundation," said Ferguson. "The board felt that to use the money they had to invest in the building was a real sound idea, and now we're fund raising to complete that purchase."

AJGF is also fund raising to meet the program's basic needs.

"There's a cost involved with running any program, and we're hard-pressed because the money has to come from somewhere," Richards said. "One of the reasons we're down is because we're trying to keep the program affordable ... and there's still hardship cases that I'm simply not going to turn away.

"My goal is to keep it that way. Golf is so damn expensive right now as it is, and I want to be able to give kids the opportunity to explore it when they're young - they can make their own decisions later."

To ensure he meets his goal, Richards has done what directors of so many struggling nonprofits have done: get creative.

One of the prerequisites of new board members is for each to come up with a $2,500 donation or an equal amount in fund raising. With a board of 10, that will generate an additional $25,000 next year.

"The new board is addressing the challenges, and their commitment should offset the losses that we've taken," said Richards, who also served as the head pro at the Aspen course in the mid-1980s. "And we're going to keep doing the same stuff: We're still going to charge fees, we're still going to accept donations and we're still going to depend on fund raising to support Aspen Junior Golf."

Ferguson, the AJGF accountant, said Junior Golf's predicament is fairly common nowadays. "There's the same numbers of nonprofits competing for fewer dollars," she said. "It's challenging for everyone in the valley."

And, like so many other nonprofits, AJGF has yet to find a quick-fix solution. "Of the contributions that we received this year, there's no one really big benefactor," Ferguson said. "We wish there was one."

Of course it doesn't hurt to dream.

"We're still waiting on that great big donor in the sky," added Richards.