Local golf course still needs $12,000 in donations

The Powell Golf Golf Club’s Keeping it Green in 2015 crowdfunding project has been a success through six weeks, but project director Toby Bonner said there’s still plenty of work to be done.

The project is aiming to raise $30,000, all of which will be matched by the city of Powell, to help erase the club’s $100,000 debt and provide new water tanks to irrigate the club’s golf course. The course’s current water tanks are aging quickly and aren’t expected to last much longer.

The project launched with a kickoff party on April 10, with the club raising $10,250 of its minimum $15,000 goal on the first day.“On May 7, we hit our minimum goal three days before our May 10 deadline,” Bonner said. “But that just pushed us into the ‘IN DEMAND’ phase, which allows us to keep the fundraiser open through the summer.”

Since then, however, Bonner (a Powell Golf Club Board member and the general manager of the Tribune), says donations have declined, and he believes people may be under the impression that the project has ended.

Through the club’s crowdfunding site, igg.me/at/growpowellgolf (Indiegogo), donations for the club had reached $15,930 as of Thursday. But other donators have pushed the total to $27,055. Still, that number is deceiving, as a portion of that amount helps to cover the cost of donation perks, advertising and shipping and handling for prizes. 

Bonner said the current net amount raised is closer to $18,000 leaving the club with about $12,000 in net funds still needed. Still, he said the immediate support of the community has left him confident for the fate of the project.

“I was confident, but the night before the project kicked off, I don’t think I slept,” Bonner joked. “But to see so many people come out and support us was a great thing for our chances.”

Bonner said that so far, somewhere around 100 people have donated to the project. He said the PGC is commissioning a window etching at its facility which will commemorate all who have contributed to the campaign with their names etched on the glass.

The project’s new deadline is Saturday, Sept. 26, the date of the Powell Golf Club Debt Reduction Tournament at the Powell golf course. While donators are encouraged to make donations for what Bonner calls “perks” (or rewards) through the Indiegogo website, Bonner said donation checks can also be made out to Powell Country Club Inc. Crowdfunding and brought to the Powell Tribune at 128 S. Bent St. in Powell.