Great Pond Foundation

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Financial Overview

Joe Loughrey, Treasurer

The Great Pond Foundation is a 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization. Financial support for the organization is provided largely by contributions from individual donors. The fiscal year of the Foundation runs each year from July 1st through June 30th. Tax returns filed by the Foundation are available for public inspection here: 2008 ~ 2009 ~ 2010

FISCAL YEAR 2011 (FY’11)

As reported last year, we successfully raised over $800,000 to buy a dredge (fondly nicknamed “Nessie”), tool it, and try it out in the pond Other fundraising, however, slowed down significantly, leaving us with little money to support the work of the foundation, including dredging.

We did not know how much it would actually cost to operate the dredge, how much capital we would need to spend for retooling it as needed nor did we know how much capital to place in reserve for major rehauls and future dredge replacement. Nevertheless, we established what we believed to be a reasonable budget of $320,060 for FY’11 and developed a plan to raise the money necessary to fund it.

[Although our FY’11 financials have not yet been audited, the numbers presented herein may be viewed as very close estimates.]

Revenue was $269,127 of which $264,300 came from 40 generous individuals who live around the Pond. Seven of these donors contributed $15,000 or more, and another three donors gave $10,000 each.

Campaign Actuals
Location	Actual	Donors
Boldwater	$155,000	24
Kanomika	$53,200	10
Jobs Neck	$30,000	3
Herring Creek	$20,000	1
Crackatuxet	$5,000	1
Turkeyland	$1,000	1

Grand Total	$264,300	40

With prudent management, we were able to keep our expenses down to $201, 463 which included $50,000 to be held in reserve for dredge replacement costs.We spent about $70,000 less on capital to support the dredge; the operating cost of the dredge was about $23,000 less than expected; we spent about $13,000 less in Science, Education and Permitting; and we put $12,000 less in reserve than we originally planned. As a result, our revenues during the year were $67,664 greater than our expenses.

Even with significantly lower expenditures, we managed to accomplish a lot. As you will read in the rest of this report, the dredging program was very successful as was the third year of the oyster planting. As a result, the pond is much healthier and looks better this summer. Lastly, after a lot of experimentation and hours of consulting with experts, we developed a plan with the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology for a circulation study to determine whether other dredging sites on the Pond would be beneficial. If so, the study will help us work with the regulatory authorities and aid us through the permitting process.

Despite not meeting our fundraising objective, we had a good year financially.

We estimate that the GPF budget for each of the next several years will be between $225,000 and $275,000. As the chart below shows, the FY’ 12 budget is estimated to be $253,000, approximately $50,000 more than the actual expenditures for FY’11. The additional amount will be used to fund the circulation study and purchase capital items to improve dredging operations, It is unclear how the outcome of the circulation study will impact those figures. If the study determines that other areas of the Pond need to be dredged, securing permits will be a necessary (and most likely expensive) process.

FUNDRAISING PLANS

We have established a fund raising goal of $250,000 in FY’12 and in each of the several years thereafter. As we reported to you last year, the GPF’s goal for FY’11, FY’12 and FY’13 is to develop the funding sources necessary to sustain the work of the organization without having to rely as much on the same individual donors that have supported the GPF in the past.

Our plan is to diversify our funding base by:

continuing to broaden the support from those living around the Pond,
gaining support from people who live in the watershed,
building on our good relationship with the town of Edgartown to gain financial support for operating the dredge in the Pond,
creating new income opportunities by discussing private dredging contracts with groups from other ponds, and
securing grants from foundations and government agencies that care about our work.

We will discuss this plan at neighborhood association meetings throughout the summer as well as meetings with individual or small groups of donors and potential donors.

Your continued support is very much appreciated.