The Future of Fundraising at USRowing: a Note From Our CEO

September 7, 2021

TO: USRowing Membership and Supporters

FROM: Amanda Kraus, CEO USRowing

I hope you're all enjoying the final days of summer. I'm writing to share an important update on the direction of fundraising at USRowing.

USRowing now.

I began my role as CEO of USRowing in November seeing an organization with great opportunities for growth and change. We have been heads down putting staffing, structure, and systems in place to ensure a strong future. I have been doing this work in tandem with our talented and driven new board chair, Nobu Ishizuka, the rest of the board and staff, as well as several thoughtful and informed volunteers.

We have been focused on building a sustainable organization that can meet the needs of all rowers—from middle schoolers taking their first strokes to our National Team athletes competing on the world's stage. We see these as pieces that build off of one another and make our sport stronger and more compelling. In the coming months and years, USRowing will be led with compassion, competence and care for all of our stakeholders.

In assessing what it is needed to move us forward, it is abundantly clear that USRowing has historically faced uncertain funding, understaffing and the need for bold change and new initiatives to bring value to our members. What we do have is a group of people on our staff who are talented and tirelessly working hard to move us to be a more diverse sport, run camps, train coaches, improve the culture of our sport and coach our National Team athletes. I am inspired and buoyed by the people who have come forward and asked, "how can I help?" to move this organization on a path to realize our potential through the three priorities the board has set in motion. They believe in a brighter future for USRowing and they are looking ahead with me. Head in the boat.

Identifying USRowing priorities.

We have identified three priority areas that will require philanthropic support: the National Team, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Coaching Education. By investing in these programs today, USRowing signals its commitment to building the foundation of the sport for a stronger, faster and more inclusive tomorrow.

In addition, our ongoing programming of events, regattas, referees, juniors, masters and others will, likewise, be served by future philanthropy.

USRowing and the NRF.

For many years, the National Rowing Foundation (NRF), a separate non-profit organization with a mission to support the U.S. National Team, raised critical funds to donate to USRowing in support of the Senior National Team. There was an effort to merge the two organizations this year. One key condition the NRF made for the integration was the right of the NRF to minimally appoint two board members as part of USRowing's current bylaw and governance changes. This proposal did not receive broad support from USRowing stakeholders and, therefore, the board did not pursue this change. As a result, the integration is not moving forward. The NRF will likely still collect donations from their board members as well as key supporters and allocate these funds as they see fit—either to USRowing or other entities as determined by their board.

USRowing funding.

To realize the vision of a renewed USRowing, we will work toward a sustainable, predictable and stable financial model.

Even before stepping into this role, I shared with the board my strong feeling that future fundraising for USRowing should be seamlessly integrated into the organization itself. In order to secure funding, we needed a lean, effective development team who are dedicated to the full breadth of our work. Over the past number of months, we have successfully built this team with 3.5 talented staff. In support of this team is a communications staff along with our finance and operations groups to ensure our donors are well informed and appreciated.

With a team in place, a board taking a bold leadership role and a case for supporting the sport that has meant so much to so many, we plan to lift up the whole organization and find our champions to support multiple parts of our sport—education, juniors, masters, referees, adaptive, DEI, coastal and the national team.

The future of fundraising at USRowing.

Our initiative and ongoing work will be broad and inclusive. We will steward our supporters with care and be diligent about safeguarding the intent of their donations. We will lead with transparency and responsiveness, and we will always be forthcoming about where and how funds are utilized.

The goal will be to support all our many constituencies and stakeholders who will all be part of the vision.

The USRowing Foundation.

The next step for us will be the creation of the USRowing Foundation with a board fully aligned with the goals, vision, and mission of USRowing. I, along with the board of directors, are looking forward to building this group and, together, finding support for rowing for generations to come.

Board members of the USRowing Foundation will serve to support the shared vision with USRowing—raising funds for the national team, diversity and inclusion in the sport, coaching development along with opportunities to enable all of our programs to flourish with consistent funding.

USRowing will ensure consistent communication and transparency with the foundation as well as its other stakeholders in the rowing community. USRowing and the foundation will speak in one voice, ensuring alignment every step of the way.

I hope many of you will join us, whether it's through volunteering your time or making donations now or down the road. The USRowing leadership is making this bold move believing we are stronger if we lift up the whole organization and invest in all of our rowers, with clear emphasis on the priorities identified above. There is no tougher, smarter, or more driven group of people than the rowers in this country and I look forward to welcoming all who will join us on this journey.