Restrospective

Thanks to those who came to our gathering on Friday at Marquand. The mood was heavy.  As we watched our children play together and talked about the summer, the magnitude of the loss and the tragedy of losing Nassau Swim Club really sunk in. How did we get to this point?  The NSC Board would like to share our story in a fully transparent and honest way. 

While Nassau has been around for over 60 years, the story of its troubles began after Community Park Pool was renovated in 2013. Membership at Nassau Swim club dropped significantly. Since membership is the club's primary source of revenue, NSC has struggled to raise enough revenue over the past 10 years. In particular, it has been unable to pay the ~$20k/year in property taxes to Princeton University, as required by its lease, and make payments toward the principle of a loan taken out for pool renovations in 2005. To make matters worse, NSC has operated with a less-than-full Board. While the all-volunteer Board was making a noble effort to run the pool and address the financial difficulties, the membership was generally unaware of the full scope of the matter. Further, while the Board was feeling increasing pressure from the University to pay the yearly property taxes and sewer fees, the Board never fully understood the true significance of this debt from the University’s perspective. As a result, the University became frustrated that the Board was ignoring their messaging and its financial responsibilities. The Board did not realize urgent action was required, as they believed PU considered the debt to be less important than the value of NSC to the community. 

On October 27^th, the Board was surprised to receive official notice that NSC's 50+ year old lease was being terminated. The reasons given for termination was that NSC would not be able to 

1. Make required payments on its debt obligation of at least $319,857 to PNC and the University;

2. Pay for next season’s operational costs, including costs for necessary capital improvements to open; and 

3. Address future capital improvements to maintain the facilities - estimated at over $60,000.   

The Board, which had been hesitant to reach out to its membership with its financial problems in the past, regrettably dealt with the news privately until January, when a Board meeting was held with a wider, but still limited, audience to respond to the October letter. After the meeting, an email was sent to all NSC members to share the dire situation and survey them for their willingness to volunteer and contribute financially, as well as their commitment to membership for the 2024 season. While only 54 members responded, the survey results were highly encouraging. The Board next met with its representative in the PU business office, and wrote an official letter on Jan 30th to the University to appeal the termination of the lease. The Board’s letter presented plans for membership growth and fundraising for capital expenses, and detailed the 2024 budget, which included earmarked funds to pay taxes and sewer to PU.  It also highlighted the expected closing of NSC’s outstanding loan at PNC bank, which eliminates all future debt/interest payments on this loan.  The Board followed up the next week with a collection of testimonials and letters from affiliates of both the University and Institute for Advanced Study, as well as members of the wider community. 

The Board received a letter on Feb 12th that our appeal was rejected. A Board member next wrote a letter to President Eisgruber requesting an in-person meeting to understand why our appeal was rejected and to work together with PU to keep NSC open. The President arranged for the Board to meet with a University administrator. In this meeting, the Board was told that the decision to terminate our lease had nothing to do with plans to use the land for other purposes, confirming the statement the University made to Town Topics. Rather, after ten years of NSC not paying taxes and not having a full Board, the University had lost all faith that NSC could overcome its financial challenges and meet its financial obligations. The University was clear to say that we should not get our hopes up, but they were gracious to have a second meeting a week later, where we could present a business plan. The implicit and explicit messaging was that our efforts were “too little, too late” and only a miracle could save us. 

The meeting was a wakeup call to the Board. After the meeting, the Board reorganized and recruited new members with the needed expertise. We carefully developed a business plan that included paying the yearly property taxes, as well as paying $20k per year to the University towards our $200k debt. The plan was based on 2022 membership levels and anticipated membership growth from a vigorous marketing campaign. It also included renting the pool to a swim team and a summer camp starting in 2025, as NSC has done in certain past years. It also included financial support from the IAS, based on contributions that the IAS has made in the past in support of an employee benefit plan.  The plan showed that all our financial objectives could be achieved by relying on modest 10% yearly revenue growth from 2025 onward.  This growth would be achieved via a combination of growing membership and price increases.

At our second meeting, the University seemed relatively impressed with our plan and that we had already raised $15k in pledges that would cover the needed pool repairs to open for 2024.  However, the messaging was still that we should not get our hopes up at all. The Board left the meeting thankful that the University was interested in hearing an update on our progress the following week and would give us an answer before our hard deadline of Apr 1^st. 

After our meeting, the Board went to work encouraging members to sign up early for membership and programs (swim team, aquatics program, etc.).  Efforts were made to identify a swim team or summer camp that would be interested in renting the pool. The following Friday we provided the University with an update indicating that we had signed up a total of 65 members and raised $60k in membership and program fees. For comparison sake, at that point last year, Nassau had brought in $25k in membership/program fees.  Note that May (not March) is typically the month when most people sign up for membership.  We also updated the University on the large effort we put into starting our marketing campaign to grow membership, our attempt to confirm a contribution from IAS, our arrangement for fiduciary training for the new Board, and a new idea for generating revenue this summer by renting individual swimming lanes to local businesses. 

Last Tuesday morning, following our weekly Board meeting on Monday night, we sent the University another update informing them of our plan to host an Open House at Marquand Park. The Open House would serve as both a reunion to encourage our community to sign up early for membership this year and as a meet-and-greet for potential new members. The update also mentioned a new effort to reach out to the Princeton Recreation Department and reported progress on the effort to rent lanes to local businesses. 

Then on Thursday night, on the eve of our Open House, we got the latest email from PU:

“Thank you for the time that we recently had to meet in person to discuss the Nassau Swim Club.  Since those meetings, I have carefully reviewed the material you shared both in the meetings and as follow-up to the discussions. 

I write to you today to advise that the University’s position to terminate the lease as of April 23, 2024 will remain as expressed in our first communication to the Club Board of Directors dated October 23, 2023.  

We appreciate the new board’s recent efforts to raise the membership’s awareness of the Club’s financial difficulties and gather pledges of support.  However, after reviewing all the information submitted, the underlying reason for the issuance of the October 2023 letter stands – the ability of the Club to meet its financial and operational obligations remains doubtful. 

I know that this news will be a disappointment to you all.  Please accept my appreciation to the Board for ensuring the University is informed of its efforts on behalf of the Club.”

The Board was devastated by the decision and respectfully disagrees with the reasoning behind it.  We worked so hard to create and execute a detailed business plan, and had been making excellent progress in raising the funds to put NSC on a firm financial footing.  In the business plan, each point raised in the October letter was addressed

1.  Make required payments on its debt obligation of at least $319,857 to PNC and the University;

The outstanding loan to PNC bank is fully satisfied and will be closed soon.  The business plan budgets that NSC will make payments of $20k/year on its remaining $200k debt obligation to the University.  

2. Pay for next season’s operational costs, including costs for necessary capital improvements to open;

We raised $22k in pledges, which is more than is needed to cover capital expenses this year.  We raised $60k+ in pledges for membership and programs, which is more than sufficient to pay the quarterly taxes and open the pool this season. The full-season operational costs, per the business plan, will be covered by the expected revenue from membership and programs. 

3. Address future capital improvements to maintain the facilities - estimated at over $60,000. 

Our business plan allotted $20k to renovations in 2024, more than enough to cover the needed pool repairs, $25k in 2025 to renovate the bathrooms, and $100k in 2027 to resurface the pool.  The plan included fundraising $20k this year, a goal we have already surpassed, and targeting $5k in fundraising annually from members, with the exception of a capital campaign in 2027 to raise $25k.  To make NSC resilient to future unexpected costs, the plan budgets for building our cash reserves significantly, targeting over $50k in reserves by 2026.

NSC is ready to go.  The pool is on the path to having a successful season, if only it is allowed to open. Our intense efforts over the past couple months show that our team has the dedication and resources to overcome NSC’s remaining challenges.  Moreover, our vigorous campaign to increase and retain membership will not only make NSC financially viable for years to come, but will allow the pool to have an even greater positive impact on the wider community. 

We hope the public can help us convince PU that we deserve another season and a chance to build on our current momentum. 

* For specific details about the PU correspondence and NSC business plan, please email us directly at info@nassauswimclub.org.