Foundation

NIRSA Foundation highlights from the Annual Conference

A look at the Foundation’s successes in Austin and over the past year

The NIRSA Foundation Board of Directors is pleased to share some inspiring news from the 2008 Annual Conference in Austin, Texas.

Scholarships and endowments

This year 17 students and 3 professional members were recognized with NIRSA Foundation Scholarships. Each scholarship covered registration costs for the recipient to attend the 2008 NIRSA Annual Conference & Recreational Sports Exposition, or a specialty symposium. Scholarships were funded by the Foundation general fund and by the Endowments of William Wasson, Sonia and Max Gartenberg, Region VI/SoCal, Texas (Salado Consortium), Will Holsberry, and Anthony J. (Tony) Chivetta, along with scholarships named for the three NIRSA Foundation Corporate Partners: Woodway, Sports Imports, and Star Trac.

$1 Million Milestone Campaign

In 2006, the Foundation developed the $1 Million Milestone Campaign, designed to bring the NIRSA Foundation’s holdings beyond the million dollar mark by 2010. The Foundation Board of Directors is honored to announce that with the generous support of members, Matching Sponsors, and Corporate Partners Woodway, Star Trac and Sports Imports, the Foundation fund surpassed $1 million during the 2008 Annual Conference, a full two years before the original goal!

From left, Bill Rivera and Justin Street from USTA present Foundation Chair Beau Rugg with a $15,000 matching check.

From left, Bob and Darcy Bingham receive a card of thanks from Foundation Chair Beau Rugg.

From left, USTA Director Bill Rivera and USTA First Vice President Lucy Garvin accept a crystal bowl from Foundation Board Member Loretta Capra.

The United States Tennis Association partnered with the NIRSA Foundation for the third year in a row as a Matching Sponsor of the annual fundraising campaign. The USTA matched $15,000 of contributions made by NIRSA Members during the Annual Conference. This year individual member contributions totaled over $23,000!

At the Annual Conference Opening General Session, the Foundation Board of Directors recognized Bob and Darcy Bingham and the United States Tennis Association for their generous support of the Annual Matching Gifts Campaign. They were each presented with a crystal award engraved with a message of thanks, and an oversized thank you card signed by NIRSA members.

NIRSA Foundation Golf Tournament

Congratulations to the 212 golfers, 30 volunteers, sponsors, and the golf tournament committee for an extremely successful 14th Annual NIRSA Foundation Golf Tournament held on April 2 at the Jimmy Clay and Roy Kizer golf courses in Austin.

The event sponsor, Marmon Mok Architecture (Greg Houston, Partner), was very instrumental in the ability of the tournament to raise slightly over $6,000 this year. In the 14 year history of the tournament, this was the single largest event in terms of net contributions to the Foundation. This success could not have happened without the support of all the individual golfers, volunteers, and the tournament sponsors: Woodway, Sunflower Marketing, CC Creations, Texon II (towel and supply), TUN (The University Network), Matrix, and the Collegiate Golf Alliance.

Foundation Golf Tournament Committee Chair Dave Koch said, “On behalf of the Foundation Board of Directors, we would like to recognize and thank everyone who contributed to the success of the tournament by participating, contributing raffle and silent auction items, and by just having fun! The tournament has now raised over $60,000 in its 14 year history!”

The 2007 T-Shirt Quilt won by Juliette Moore

Quilt raffle

This year’s impressive, hand-stitched quilt featured 20 winning T-shirts from the 2007 T-shirt Competition, and was designed by Roy Easley, Emeritus Member from Cal Poly Pomona. Raffle tickets were sold throughout the Conference by volunteers and by NIRSA Foundation student scholarship winners. All of the student scholarship winners volunteer to work at the Foundation Table, assist with the T-shirt Competition, and sell quilt raffle tickets. Their assistance is invaluable and much appreciated. Ticket sales raised a record $2,560 for the Foundation, with the top seller Megan Holman of Bowling Green State University reaching sales of more than $225.

The drawing for the quilt was held at the Annual Business Meeting, and Juliette Moore, CRSS of the University of Arizona, was the lucky winner.

T-shirt & Apparel Competition

Hundreds of T-shirts and many other apparel and non-apparel items were entered into the NIRSA Foundation T-shirt & Apparel Competition, or donated for the rack sale. The competition winners are listed in this issue of the NIRSA Know. Winning T-shirts will be sent to Jacqueline Hamilton, CRSS, Life Member from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Jacqueline will use these shirts to create a quilt for next year’s raffle or auction.

The Foundation is grateful to everyone who donated and purchased items at the Annual Conference. The T-shirt & Apparel Store raised just over $1,700 for the Foundation!

The NIRSA Foundation Board of Directors thanks everyone for a successful year. Remember to support the future of recreational sports – support the NIRSA Foundation.