Golf classic winner is Orcas Center -- Candace VerBrugghen: Fundraisers keep ticket prices affordable

The sixth annual Island Market - Orcas Center Golf Classic, Saturday, Sept. 18, produced many fine performances out on the course, but the big winner was the local arts and community center which relies on the event to help pay for operations.

Orcas Center depends on grants and local fundraisers to bring in 18 percent, or about $70,000 of an annual operating budget that stands this year at $387,000. The money not only helps Orcas Center to meet its budget requirements, it also enables the Center to keep ticket prices down, Executive Director Candace VerBrugghen said, explaining that most of the arts center’s money comes from programs and memberships.

Raising around $70,000 every year can be quite a challenge, and VerBrugghen says that she and her board members “work very hard to provide this type of resource to our community.” She understands that every organization dealing with the arts must “scramble” every year to make budget, and that it must compete with all the other non-profit organizations that are also struggling to raise the money they need in order to provide essential services to the community.

But VerBrugghen isn’t complaining, because she that Orcas Center, thanks to a large reservoir of community supporters to draw from, has it a lot better than most. “We’re in good shape compared to the other arts organizations in Washington and the United States,” she says, pointing out that several have gone under in recent years, most likely because of the economy.

The golf classic was expected to raise between $32,000. Golfers paid to enter the classic, but most of the money came from sponsorships and auction proceeds.