RANCHO SANTA FE — The Rancho Santa Fe Association requested more financial information from the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club to further evaluate one of its membership levels called “sponsored membership,” for non-Covenant members.
First to speak on the topic was Rancho Santa Fe Association manager Bill Overton.
He shared that he thought the current board believed that the tennis club has done many good things to revitalize its club and to make their bottom line positive.
“I think we all agree on that,” Overton said. “So with that in mind, we ask this membership issue to come before the finance committee.”
According to Overton, the finance committee has had a series of questions all underscoring these sponsored memberships and their impact on the financials.
The tennis board is in the process of working with the RSFA staff in an effort to broaden their budget presentation documents, Overton said. While the tennis club did submit information, the finance committee was requesting additional details that could pinpoint exact tracking of this particular membership level.
In the audience at the Feb. 4 board meeting was Barbara McClanahan, who is serving as the tennis club’s board president. She wanted everyone to know how popular this membership has been.
“Our members are really thrilled with the sponsored memberships. It’s actually a service to our members to have these sponsored members because it increases the level of play, and it makes our clinics better,” she said.
At their front desk, she said, they had an informal poll asking its Covenant members how they felt about the sponsored membership. McClanahan said they had more than 100 positive signatures.
“We’ve never heard anything negative about our sponsored memberships,” she said. “Everybody loves the fact that they’re there.”
For McClanahan, this level of membership has enhanced the club immensely.
RSFA Board Vice President Heather Slosar said she knows how hard the tennis club is working to increase their membership and to overall make it a better club.
“I think that’s really great,” she said, adding how perhaps there are other revenue streams that should also be explored. “I think that what we really need to do is come up with a global solution to what’s going on at the tennis club.”
Slosar was hoping the financials could better identify if the sponsored memberships were working. The goal of looking deeper into the financials was to ascertain if there was a financial justification for having a non-Covenant membership.
