Husky Swimming Foundation

This is just a quick update to announce that the Foundation has added four new board members.  The Foundation’s Bylaws currently allow for eleven board positions and we are proud to add Andy Hathaway, Bill Patterson, Brandon Drawz, and Jana Vincent to the Board.  With the addition of these four, our current board is as follows:

• Catherine Clark, President
• Kelly Sterling, Secretary
• Ryan Stratton, Treasurer
• Ron Van Pool
• Rick Colella
• Mark Prothero
• Megan Wolfe
• Andy Hathaway
• Bill Patterson
• Brandon Drawz
• Jana Vincent

We have a great group of individuals with a wide range of experience both within the sport of swimming and professionally.

Our next scheduled Board meeting will be on July 8th and we will be sharing our progress with you as we move forward.

We thought it best to give you a recap of the month’s events and to provide an outline of how the Board plans to move forward:

• On May 28th, several members of the swimming community, including a few of our board members, had an opportunity to make a presentation to the Board of Regents.  There was no discussion–this was simply a presentation to the Regents regarding the University budget.  Subsequently, the Regents approved the budget without reinstating the program.
• On June 5th, the Board of Directors of the Husky Swimming Foundation held our first meeting to discuss Foundation goals (both short-term and long-term), an initial gameplan for accomplishing those goals, and to put together a small team to meet with Athletic Director Scott Woodward, and Assistant A.D., OD Vincent.  The initial board meeting was a positive step and a recap of our vision is below.
• On June 11th, a small group met with Woodward and Vincent to seek information regarding the program cuts, what could be done to save the program immediately, and to discuss the long-term vision of the Foundation.  The meeting went as expected–there is no workable immediate solution and the program will not be reinstated in time for the 2009-2010 season.  However, the athletic department is very much open to the concept of bringing back the program with a newly built facility and a program endowment.

So now we move forward.  At the June Board of Directors meeting, the Foundation Board formed seven committees that will begin to oversee the long-term commitment of the Foundation to build a new facility and to have the swim programs reinstated.  The committees are as follows:

1. Facility Committee
2. Fundraising Committee
3. Public Relations Committee
4. U.W. Liaison Committee (work with the University and Athletic Department)
5. Government Liaison Committee (Seattle, King County, Washington State, etc.)
6. Pacific Northwest Liaison Committee (work with Club, High School, Water Polo, Diving, and Synchro teams)
7. USA Swimming Liaison Committee (Work with USA Swimming)

At the next Board meeting, which is scheduled for July 8th, Board members will be assigned to oversee the committees, which will be open for membership from the city, county, University and swimming communities.  Each committee will have specific tasks and goals and will report to the Board on a monthly basis.  The overall goals of the Foundation are as follows:

1. Reinstatement of the UW Swimming Team by funding annual operating expenses, including scholarship endowments;
2. Construction of an aquatic facility to support the reinstatement of the UW Swimming Team and local communities; and
3. Support and promote the sport of swimming at all age levels and skill levels in the Pacific Northwest.

We greatly appreciate the support of everyone so far.  We have taken just a few steps on what will be a long journey, but we know that if we can all solidify our efforts behind a single, unified effort, that we will be successful.  Please stay tuned and look for an opportunity to help out.  We will be soliciting your volunteer time in the very near future!

The Foundation requested a meeting with athletic director, Scott Woodward, and a small group met with Woodward and O.D. Vincent yesterday morning.  Representing our interests were Rick Colella, Ron Van Pool, Kelly Sterling, Ralph Teller and Jeff Lowell.  It was a productive meeting which will definitely define our objectives as we begin to move forward. 

The group’s goal at the meeting was to get a better understanding of the decision, what (if anything) could be done to save the program immediately, and to share our long-term vision.  The decision remains a budgetary cut, but there will not be an opportunity to resume the program this year, with or without significant donations from the public.  However, the athletic department is very receptive of the Foundation’s long-term goal of construction of a new facility, program endowment, and reinstatement in the future.  It was mentioned specifically that Diving will have to be a part of the program, which we certainly envision with a new facility.

So, our short and long-term objectives can become much more clear now.  As mentioned in an earlier post, we will have a summary of our Board meeting from last week up shortly which will help set forth our agenda and plan of action as we move forward with the process of raising capital, building a new facility, and getting our program up and running again.  Please see this as a call to action!  The Foundation will be asking for your support, with both volunteer hours and monetary assistance.  The community needs a new aquatics facility, the Univeristy needs a swimming and diving program, and we will need your help to get it done.

On a related, but equally important note.  Husky Pool is in jeopardy of closure unless we can obtain renter and tenant commitments to use the pool.  The pool will be closed after the summer quarter if they cannot find enough tenants to pay for the cost of keeping it open.  We need to help get the word out to teams that may be interested in using the pool–High School Teams, USA Swimming Teams, Water Polo Teams–this is your official call to duty!  If the athletic department cannot find viable renters/tenants within the next 30 days, the decision to close the pool in August will be made.  If you are an interested party, please contact O.D. Vincent immediately (his phone number can be found HERE).

The Foundation board met last night to begin the process of creating short and long-term goals and a game-plan for accomplishing the Foundation’s primary missions:   program reinstatement and building a new facility.  We are in the process of putting together an Executive Summary of the meeting, which should help outline the direction we are heading and most importantly, the help we will need from you, our supporters.  It was a productive meeting and we have a great team in place!

We hope to have our summary up by mid-week, after the Board has had a chance to review the document. 

One result of the meeting was finalizing the team that will be meeting with the Athletic Director, Scott Woodward, and Assistant A.D., OD Vincent.  The meeting will be held this coming week and we will provide everyone with an update as soon as possible.

There was an opportunity to meet with the Board of Regents last week regarding the swimming program.  The following is an update from Rick Colella, who attended the meeting:

Just another quick update.  The Foundation Board of Directors will be meeting tomorrow night.  The agenda will be primarily focused on putting together a single, streamline plan that will address both the short-term and long-term needs of the program.  We will provide an update with as much information about the events of the last couple weeks as soon as possible.

On another note, our online fundraising efforts continue to be positive.  We have received word from the IRS that our application is under review and we hope to receive our exemption by the end of June.  We have raised several thousand dollars to date and we extend a HUGE thank you to our donors.  Once our exempt status is confirmed, we’ll be sure to let everyone know!

ONTRACC continues to be a strong supporter of our efforts and has committed to donate the profits from DVD sales of their film “Topping Point” to the Foundation — here is the latest from Sean Jump and Scott Ellison:

Seattle’s King5 news ran a great story about our efforts.  You can see the text article by clicking HERE or watch the video HERE.  Great work on the interview, Cat, and a big thank you goes out to King5 for supporting our cause!

It seems like it has been a quiet week, but there has been lots of work done behind the scenes this week.  There is an alumni group that will be presenting a business plan to the Board of Regents on May 28th that will address the current reinstatement of the programs, the long-term needs/goals of the programs, and the opportunity to build a new facility.

In addition, there will be a meeting with Scott Woodward in the near future that will touch base on these issues, with a stronger focus on the current state of the programs.

The Foundation Board of Directors will be meeting on June 5th to discuss the results of these meetings and to develop a game plan for moving forward on all of these issues as a cohesive group of alumni and swimming supporters.

We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available…

KUOW interviewed Petra Radovic this morning.  Click HERE to read the transcript.  Great job, Petra!