The department had largely stopped using club venues three years ago under a directive from a previous Athletic Director. But current AD Bill Moos has added memberships at the Country Club of Lincoln, Firethorn Golf Club and Champions Run “not as a perk, but as an avenue to get business done.” The clubs will be used for golf outings and other social events to raise funds and recognize donors for their support. Trade arrangements were set up with the clubs, involving game tickets and invitations to several events, for the memberships in lieu of fees and dues.
Bill Moos, Athletic Director of the University of Nebraska, has added three country club memberships to the department’s toolbag as it seeks to boost fundraising from new and existing donors, HuskerOnline.com reported.
The department has made membership arrangements with the Country Club of Lincoln (Neb.), Firethorn Golf Club, also in Lincoln, and Champions Run in Omaha, Neb., the website reported.
The memberships are only for Moos, the university’s chief development officer Marc Boehm, and key senior fundraising officers, HuskerOnline.com reported. No coaches for any of the university’s athletic teams received the privileges.
“The new approach to country clubs is not an employee perk,” said John Jentz, the athletic department’s Chief Financial Officer. “It is an avenue to get business done by those in the development office and the athletic director.”
The memberships are noteworthy, HuskerOnline.com reported, because the athletic department had largely stopped using club venues three years ago, following a directive from then-Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst. That decision, along with reducing the number of courtesy cars for athletic department personnel, was made in an “effort to reduce perceived employment perks,” said Jentz.
Despite that policy, the athletic department for the past two years maintained membership at ArborLinks, about 45 minutes from Lincoln in Nebraska City, Neb., HuskerOnline.com reported. But that arrangement was lightly used and has ended, said Boehm, the department’s Executive Associate Athletic Director for External Operations.
While country club memberships for key athletic department fundraising personnel are not standard practice at NCAA Division I schools, HuskerOnline.com noted, they are not uncommon either, especially among schools in the “Power 5” conferences (Nebraska belongs to the Big Ten). Nebraska, like other schools, sees the need for country club memberships as a way to meet with donors and potential donors in a private setting away from the campus and downtown Lincoln, both Jentz and Boehm emphasized.
In addition, the clubs will be used for golf outings and other social events—both to raise funds and to recognize donors for their financial support to the athletic department.
In fact, Boehm said the athletic department recently hosted a golf outing at Firethorn GC that was attended by about 100 “Ruby Level” members who donate at least $1 million and are lifetime givers, HuskerOnline.com reported. Head football coach Scott Frost and several other coaches attended the event.
Nebraska recently revamped its fundraising program with the launch of the Huskers Athletic Fund, which has generated positive results in just one month, HuskerOnline.com reported. Establishing the fund represents a greater grassroots effort to attract donors in the $100 to $500 range, as well as a more concerted push for larger contributions as the department lays the financial groundwork for potential renovations of the university’s Memorial Stadium and other athletics projects in coming years.
“We are extremely fortunate to have a passionate fan base that leads to industry-leading partnerships, and who fill our football, basketball, and volleyball venues,” said Jentz. “But because we are at the top of the market and at capacity now, philanthropic giving will be a key component for our future.”
While not disclosing with the athletic department memberships cost at each of the three clubs, HuskerOnline.com reported that membership at the Country Club of Lincoln starts with a golf membership initiation fee of $20,000 and monthly dues of at least $710, according to information provided by the club. Social memberships require a $6,000 initiation fee and $430 in monthly dues. The club also reported that it ran a promotion earlier this year that cut initiation fees to $12,500 for golf and $5,000 for a social membership, according to HuskerOnline.com
A full membership at Firethorn Golf Club includes a $7,000 initiation fee plus monthly dues of $495, according to information posted on its website, HuskerOnline.com reported. A social membership requires a $3,000 initiation fee, with monthly dues of $175, which provides access to the club’s two restaurants, par-3 short course, swimming pool, tennis and workout facilities.
At Champions Run, a golf membership costs $5,000 to join, plus $455 in monthly dues, according to information provided by the club, HuskerOnline.com reported. For a social membership, the initiation fee is $1,500, plus $205 in monthly dues.
It’s unlikely Nebraska’s athletic department shelled out that type of money for any of the memberships, HuskerOnline.com reported, as Boehm said there were “no cash” membership arrangements. Rather, the department set up trade arrangements with the clubs, involving game tickets and invitations to several events in exchange for certain membership arrangements, Boehm said.
For example, the website reported, Firethorn GC will host the university’s President, Hank Bounds, Moos and the university’s golf coaches, Mark Hankins and Judd Cornell, for a social hour open to its members on October 18th.
Neither Boehm nor Jantz disclosed the value of those trade agreements, HuskerOnline.com reported
Moos is the only university official with a personal Country Club of Lincoln membership, the website reported. Boehm has a social membership at Firethorn GC, while three development staff members have golf privileges there and Marla Grose, a development associate based in Omaha, has a membership at Champions Run.
Bob Vecchione, Executive Director of the National Association of the Collegiate Directors of Athletics, told HuskerOnline.com that athletic departments utilizing country clubs “is not standard operating procedure. But similar to local businesses, some athletic departments utilize country club settings for business purposes.”
While country club privileges are not a necessity, Vecchione added, if a “high percentage of athletic department donors are members of a local club, one could make a case that becoming a part of that community and getting to interact on a frequent basis would increase one’s chance to raise money.”
“When my father took me fishing as a youngster, he always motored to locations where other boats congregated,” Vecchione told HuskerOnline.com. “When I asked him why he followed those procedures, he said, ‘Because we gotta fish where the fish are!’ I would argue that the same procedures apply to fundraising.”
Jim Rose, who served as an athletic department fundraiser under several athletic directors at Nebraska, told HuskerOnline.com that he followed that approach, even when he paid for his personal membership at Happy Hollow Country Club in Omaha, and viewed the expense as an important investment for his business and for his career
Meeting in a country-club setting, where there was a higher level of privacy, would “help me close deals,” Rose told the website. Generally speaking, he added, a donor “appreciates that level of privacy.”
“You want them to feel comfortable,”Rose said. “Most donors prefer to keep their activities as/ private as possible and don’t want their philanthropic considerations to be made public. They don’t want to show up on social media.”
Given Moos’ career background as a fundraiser, Rose said he’s not surprised that the Nebraska athletic department has largely reinstituted club memberships. “I’m thrilled they are bringing them back,” he said. “It’s a good way to do business.”
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