supporting youth rugby

The Seattle Rugby Foundation (SRF) was founded in 1997 as a 501(c)3 (tax free) body by six members of the Seattle Rugby Football Club (SRFC) – Alex McCutcheon, Denis Thomas, Jeff Walker, Tom Payne, Jeff Gourley and Peter Buckley - who constituted the initial SRF Board. The stated purpose of SRF was to support youth rugby in the Seattle area.

The initial funds for SRF came from the sale of the Seattle RFC clubhouse in the Ravenna area of Seattle. In 2017 the Foundation was very fortunate to receive a bequest of some $30,000 from the Estate of Sigi Kohl, an Old Puget Sound Rugby Club alumnus. This donation more than doubled the Foundation’s reserves.

After years of inactivity The SRF Board was reorganized in 2019, adding Mark Firmani, Katherine Nash, Brigid Lagergren and Jen Sporleder as active members joining Tom Payne and Peter Buckley. The reconstituted Board agreed that SRF needed to be more proactive in supporting youth rugby. This new approach included bringing SRF into the electronic age by establishing a web site, embracing social media as a tool, being more active in raising and distributing funds,  and establishing links/collaborations/partnership with other local bodies which have an interest in supporting and developing youth rugby – such as Rugby Washington, Seattle Saracens and Seattle Seawolves.

The SRF operates as an on-going concern that aims to be a contributing participant towards the development of youth rugby for decades to follow. The current operating guideline for the Seattle Rugby Foundation is to annually distribute 20% of its capital endowment back into programs that directly support youth rugby and at the same time, develop financial resources to allow the Foundation to continue well into the future.