US Sailing Foundation Home Page
Our Focus is on the Horizon
Revolutionary ideas and significant investment are required to create a vibrant future for our sport. As the fundraising arm of US Sailing, the US Sailing Foundation is gathering the visionary leaders and significant investment required for US Sailing to launch the sport of sailing into the next 100 years.
To thrive, the sport of sailing must inspire new sailors and grow participation in all types and at all levels of sailing, while upholding the highest standards of excellence and fairness. The Foundation, a related but separate 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, will secure the financial resources required to lead the sport into the future through investment in innovation and solutions that align the sailing community.
A Pivotal Moment
Sailing must change faster because the world is changing faster. Technology is delivering an increasing array of faster, more challenging equipment that requires an entirely new set of skills. Digital communications connect sailors in real time with opportunities to share and expand their experience. Electronic education platforms reach far wider, more diverse audiences. Social media exposes young sailors to choices, and the spectra of speed, agility, and adventure is irresistible.
Throughout the sailing community, there is deep concern over the sustainability of our sport, but the fragmented nature of sailing makes common solutions and unified action elusive. The result is a sport that is fractured, experiencing little growth and losing relevance in today’s culture.
In recent years, US Sailing has successfully developed channels that expand access and raise the bar in training and competitive standards; but it’s not enough because it was created for a framework that doesn’t fully represent the way many people want to sail, nor the way we all consume information and connect to each other.
US Sailing provides the necessary framework for our sport; racing rules, instructor training, official training, handicap rating services, and more. These are among the essential functions provided by all National Governing Bodies (NGB’s) for sports in the United States our role gives us a front-row seat to the state of our sport. From this position we know that if the sport of sailing is to grow and thrive, change is needed.
Course Correction, 2017
US Sailing is in the singular position to drive change by redefining standards in education, upgrading skill development models and providing a breadth of sailing experiences to produce skilled, well-rounded and adaptable sailors. Our congressional mandate provides the authority, but not the funding, to develop a complete continuum of learning and sailing experiences, from the entry ramp to the podium platform.
The first leg of our journey is charted, and over the next three years, we will be strategically invested in five transformative projects identified to offer the highest return on investment and the widest impact on our sport:
- A new national youth sailing model that presents youths with the right challenges at the right time and builds skills progressively over time along newly defined sailing pathways.
- Digital education platforms that utilize today’s technology to bring US Sailing Training and Education Programs to a far wider audience with instant access to best practices in sailing instruction from any location
- A professionalized system for high performance sailors and Olympic contenders to develop the advanced skills required for successful competition at the international level
- New communications platforms to connect sailors with the resources, information and experiences that are relevant to their interests
- Tools and connections for local sailing organization to help them provide newcomers with access sailing and opportunities to stay engaged
Visionaries, Revolutionaries, Disruptors
We are welcoming Change Agents aboard to lead and invest in a revitalized future for sailing. Over the next five years, we will be inviting new members to the US Sailing Foundation Board of Directors and Board of Trustees. We’re identifying people within our sport who are innovators within their own lives. People who have achieved high levels of success by exercising the courage to think differently, who bring a disruptive energy and know how channel it effectively, who have successfully conceived and implemented change and can bring that experience to our sport.
New to the US Sailing Foundation Board of Directors, 2017
Timothy Rutter – CEO and Founder, We Are Alexander
Tim has grown his company into a leading marketing communications firm with 26 offices in 12 countries. Under Tim’s guidance, We Are Alexander is revolutionizing the way marketing solutions are delivered on a global scale and leveraging new disruptive technologies that help companies build and protect their brands seamlessly around the world.
David Loring – Director of Financial Products, Blackbaud
As the leading software provider for nonprofits, Blackbaud understand the unique needs and challenges within the nonprofit business model. David’s 15 years of experience guiding many of our nation’s largest and most revered nonprofit organizations will inform the US Sailing Foundation fundraising initiatives, financial policies to ensure the transparent reporting and financial stewardship that is essential to the Foundation’s mission.
John Lovell III, Partner, Lovell and Company
Specializing in business and fiduciary accounting, Johnny Lovell, CPA, is the US Sailing Foundation Treasurer. John’s family accounting firm in New Orleans provides private clients with business and personal tax and estate advisory services. In 2006, Johnny alongside with his father was the first recipient of the NASBA Center for Public Trust (CPT) Being a Difference Award. John is a four-time Olympian and Silver Medalist in the sport of sailing.
New to the US Sailing Foundation Board of Trustees, 2017
Tom Siebel, Founder, Siebel Systems and C3 IoT
Tom Siebel was employee number 20 at Oracle, but left to launch Siebel Systems, creator of the first CRM Solution. He later sold his company to Larry Ellison. Since, Tom has made a tremendous impact on the world through his many philanthropic investments and recently launch a new, fast moving startup, C3 IoT, that is riding the convergence of artificial intelligence with the Internet of Things. As a business leader and sophisticated philanthropist, Tom is a disruptor of conventional thought and proponent of highly organized change.