2024 PRESIDENT’S REPORT

McDonough Supporters, Clubs, and Scholars

I am honored to have been elected president of McDonough and am pleased to report on my first year.  Thanks to the hard work of my predecessor, Bill Everett and the entire board, this past year has been one of the Foundation’s most successful.  I also want to thank all of you for your continued financial support without which we could not have awarded a record $182,000 in scholarships to 96 scholars from courses around the state.

Before I review the past year, I want to thank our outgoing board members, Glenn Walton, Brian Boylan, Richard High, and David Brussard, for their service to McDonough.  David Brussard was instrumental in getting Safety Insurance as our tournament sponsor as well as serving on the Investment committee.  Richard High has had two separate terms on the McDonough Board, providing much-needed representation in the southwestern portion of the state.  He also served on the Club Relations, Auction, & Marketing Committee as well as the Scholarship Committee.  Brian Boylan has represented Concord Country Club on the Board, as well as chairing the Tournament and serving on the Club Relations, Auction, & Marketing Committee.  Glen Walton has had a long tenure at McDonough, having chaired both the Tournament and Scholarship Committees, as well as serving as President.  They will be sorely missed.

The year started off with the challenge of FAFSA being completely overhauled and not ready and available to meet either our or most colleges’ deadlines.  We changed our application process and deadlines to help ease the difficulties that this imposed on our scholars’ disclosing their financial information.  Our scholarships are need-based, so accurate financial information is critical to our decision-making process.  It is obvious that our scholars persevered, as we received 96 complete applications on time.

Last year McDonough established a new sub-fund within our Permanent Fund called The McDonough General Endowment.  This fund was established with the intent of providing a solid financial basis for our annual giving.  In March of this year, under the auspices of Bill Everett, we launched our “Endowing the Future Campaign” to raise an initial $650,000 for the McDonough General Endowment over the next 5 years.  We started a grant application program and received our first grants from the Hunt and McIninch Foundations, as well as a five-year pledge from The Schleyer Foundation. The McDonough Board also pledged $50,000 in personal contributions.  Over the Fall, we received a check for $33,000 from REVO in Manchester, NH, who sponsored McDonough for five days of charitable gaming revenues.  We were also fortunate to have five days of charitable gaming at “The Brook” in Seabrook and received $70,500 in proceeds from them.  Over the course of the year, we raised over $200,000 toward the $650,000 McDonough General Endowment goal.

For the past two years we have run an online auction of donated rounds of golf from golf courses all over the state.  In 2024 this auction generated $18,609 toward our scholarships.

After all the dust settled around the scholarship application process, in late July the McDonough Board voted to award $182,000 to 96 scholars working at 36 clubs and courses in New Hampshire.  This is the largest scholarship total we have awarded to date and brings McDonough’s total historical awards to just under $3,500,000 to a total of 3,583 scholars.  Our goal for 2025 is to provide at least $200,000 in scholarships.

On a gorgeous day in September, we held our 40^th annual golf tournament fundraiser at the beautiful Lake Sunapee Country Club.  With a full field, and two of our scholars speaking at the awards ceremony, we raised over $24,000.  We express our thanks to Craig Garner and the entire Sunapee staff for making this day a successful and memorable one.

A couple of weeks after our Sunapee tournament, Laconia Country Club held its eighth annual Thomas L. DiFonzo Memorial Golf Tournament and raised $35,375 toward the Thomas L. DiFonzo Scholarship Fund.  The DiFonzo is a named, endowed scholarship within McDonough’s Permanent Fund.  Laconia generously donates the course and carts for this annual fundraiser, helping to maximize the significant proceeds raised from this event.  We thank Charlie Wheeler, Laconia’s staff, and LCC members, and the DiFonzo committee, which is chaired by Justin Dockham, for their continued support in honor of their former superintendent who passed away in 2017.

McDonough’s year was capped off at the NHGA Hall of Fame Induction Dinner, with the presentation of the Joe Kane Award to former McDonough Board of Director John Bottomley and the award of the Stan Lencki Distinguished Service Award to former McDonough President Glenn Walton.  Thomas DiFonzo was also inducted into the New Hampshire Golf Hall of Fame, posthumously.

The new year is starting off with the integration of a new scholarship application platform designed to improve the application process for both the Board and McDonough applicants.

And finally, I am extremely pleased to announce that Lisa Kress has accepted the position of full-time Executive Director.  Lisa has been working part-time and has made a huge impact on the Foundation.  Becoming full-time will allow Lisa to pursue more fundraising opportunities such as charitable gaming and grant writing, while still overseeing our scholarship application process, annual online auction, annual golf tournament, and all the other day-to-day tasks that are required to keep the organization running smoothly.  I know I cannot thank Lisa enough for all she has done and is doing to further the mission of the Foundation.

In closing I want to thank all of you who have contributed to the success of McDonough, whether you are individual donors, creators of or donors to our named scholarships, club members who donate through your club, or scholars.  We could not do what we do without your support.  And as I mentioned earlier, our scholarship award goal this year is $200,000, so we are counting on your continued support.

Thank you,

Bill Krueger

President

McDonough Scholarship Foundation