INTERVIEW: Richmond RFC's Cary Kennedy

The Richmond (VA) Lions
RFC owns a ten-acre parcel of
land located 15 minutes from
downtown    Richmond   in
Sandston, Virginia. The land is
paid for and clear of all liens. As
of the fall of 2004, one field has
been cleared, graded and seeded.

Rugby Magazine editor Ed
Hagerty spoke to Richmond's
Cary Kennedy over the past few
months to determine how the
club came to acquire its land and
their philosophy regarding its
development and use.

RUGBY: Can you give us a little
history on the acquisition of the
Richmond Rugby Club's prop-
erty and its current status?

KENNEDY: We purchased the
property in October of 1988 for
$60,000, with a $ 15,000 down pay-
ment. Chris Parley and Jay Cooke
located the property, arranged the
financing, and obtained the
club's approval to go ahead with
the land purchase over the ob-
jections of many doubting
Thomases.

The property remained vir-
tually undeveloped for many
years, except for some incomplete
clearing. By 1999, via intermittent
fund raising efforts and the stead-
fast support of Bill Grogan, Tom
Oxenham, Danny Patterson and
Basil Nesbit, the $45,000 balance
was retired.

The property was originally
purchased in 1988 by the Rich-
mond Rugby Football Club, Inc
and conveyed to the Richmond
Rugby Ground Fund, Inc in De-
cember of 1992. In July of 1994,
the Richmond Rugby Ground
Fund was renamed the Richmond
Rugby Foundation Ltd.

RUGBY: Why was ownership
shifted to the Richmond Rugby
Foundation?

KENNEDY: Having the field ad-
ministered by an independent,
incorporated foundation was cru-
cial to the continuity of this
project for several reasons. Since
the land purchase in 1988, the
club has gone through three name
changes and one merger: Rich-
mond RFC, to Richmond United,
to the Richmond Lions. A club's
finances go up and down and we
didn't want to commingle that
money and lose momentum.

After watching previous ad-
ministrations spend club funds on
things that were considered

34           - April 2005

The Richmond (VA)
Lions RFC owns a
ten-acre parcel of
land in Sandston,
Virginia; located 15
minutes from down-
town Richmond. The
land is paid for and
clear of all liens.

wasteful, we realized that one
wrong move by a club board
could wipe out our savings.

Being incorporated as a non-
profit foundation protected the
money that was raised and also
gave the club a level of protection
on insurance and liability issues.

RUGBY: What were your rea-
sons for purchasing the land?

KENNEDY: Owning your own
property is a great way for a club
to build permanent wealth. Rugby
clubs operate on annual budgets
and they're boom and bust.
They'll have $10,000 in the cof-
fers one year and be down to zero
the next.

We also wanted to have a
field for practices and matches
when our current playing field,
Dorey Park, controlled by Henrico
County, is unavailable.

RUGBY: How did you raise money
for the land purchase?

KENNEDY: The money to pur-
chase our rugby ground started
in the early 70s when long time
club member Basil Nesbit began
to save profits from rugby kit
sales. The profits from kit sales
were very modest but they cre-
ated an awareness of the need to
fund raise. The significant sums
came later, but Basil Nesbit kept
the club thinking about raising
money.

RUGBY: How was the rest of the
$15,000 down payment raised?

KENNEDY: The bulk of it was
proceeds from the Porter Cup, a
traditional tournament we've run
since the early 1960s. It included
the club entry fees and significant
ad sales in the Porter Cup tourna-
ment program that went with it.

RUGBY: How was the $45,000
paid off?

KENNEDY: Initially it was a pretty
slow process, but over time there
were significant donors to the
Richmond Rugby Foundation
(RRF), such as Bill Grogan and
Scott Coffield. It caught momen-
tum when Danny Patterson put
together a phenomenal pub-crawl
fundraiser. The club sold tickets
at a set price $15-$20, which could
be redeemed for drinks at the little
restaurants and bars in the old
section of Richmond called The
Bottom. The restaurants and bars
loved it and we made a lot of
money.

Then in the early and mid
1990s we paid off the mortgage
with money raised at upscale cock-
tail parties at Bill Grogan's beau-
tiful home on Monument Avenue
in Richmond. Club members from
the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s attended
and pledged or wrote checks that
totaled $10,000 at each party we
had.

RUGBY: How did you raise money
to clear the pitch?

KENNEDY: That was cocktail
party money too. There would be
$500 check here or $100 check
there; nothing over $2000, but it
added up. We not only paid off
the mortgage, but after the last
cocktail party we had close to a
$10,000 surplus.

It wasn't necessarily money
in hand but when the pledges fi-
nally trickled in we took that
$10,000 and used it to clear, seed
and grade the property.

The IPS approved
the RRF's applica-
tion for a Section
501(c)(3) charitable
organization. This
status allows for in-
dividual donations to
be considered as in-
come tax deductions

RUGBY: Are donations to the
Richmond Rugby Foundation tax
deductible?

KENNEDY: The IRS approved the
RRF's application for a Section
501(c)(3) charitable organization
in January of 1996, with Tom
Oxenham as our legal counsel.
This status allows for individual
donations to be considered as
income tax deductions on federal
and state returns if the individual
itemizes his deductions on
Schedule A Form 1040.

Bill Grogan, also an attorney,
now serves as the RRF's regis-
tered agent with the Virginia State
Corporation Commission.

RUGBY: What are the current

goals of the Richmond Rugby

Foundation?

KENNEDY: We are Virginians

and that means fiscal conserva-