Racing Funds & Donations

Racing Funds & Donations2023-12-11T12:49:09-07:00

US TEAMS FUNDING

Costs of Worlds Contests

The typical logistics of sending U.S. Soaring Teams to distant World Gliding Championships (WGC) are daunting and costly. While team members are all volunteers the main expenses of food, shelter, airfare, transportation, glider rental or shipping and entry fees are high. As most championships are held in Europe, the complex and expensive logistical challenge faced by U.S. Soaring Teams stands in stark contrast with many European competitors.

Team Captains & the Junior Team

Team captains/managers are recruited by the US team committee and these are funded 100% as this is a crucial purely voluntary role for each team. A good team captain works hard for up to 6 pilots and manages the not inconsiderable administrative and organizational burden of a WGC so that team pilots can focus on flying and not be distracted by the myriad of organizational details. Pilots are responsible for their own travel, rental, shipping and accommodation logistics, but once at the WGC they need to be free to focus on their team and flying.

Junior team members are selected according to team selection guidelines and are funded 100% through the Team Funding sources including the Mozer Trust which is set up specifically to support the US Junior Champion at Junior World Gliding Championships. Should we grow the Mozer Trust through continuing contributions, the SSA Board is empowered to expand support to include additional team members.

ROBERTSON TRUST

Keeps United States Soaring Teams Flying

Since 1950 United States soaring teams have a proud tradition as representatives of our nation and our soaring community at World Gliding Championships. Competitive soaring, the prospect of team membership and international competition builds participation in the sport, provides motivation to achieve at a higher level and pushes the boundaries of pilot skill and technology. The Robertson Trust provides a stable funding source for the United States soaring teams and is critical to their participation in World Gliding Championships.

The Robert Robertson Memorial Team Fund

The Robert Robertson Memorial Team Fund, often referred to as the Robertson Trust, was established in 1988 by Donald Robertson and the Soaring Society of America to memorialize his son and top pilot, Robert “Robbie” Robertson who was tragically killed in a sailplane accident shortly after winning the 1986 U.S. 15-Meter National Championships. The trust charter provides a dedicated source of funding to United States Soaring Teams participating in World Gliding Championships. Through careful administration by the SSA Foundation Trustees and private contributions, the Robertson Trust corpus has increased in size from the original $140,000 while providing critical support to the United States Soaring Teams since its founding in 1988.

There is no more fitting tribute to Robbie than what was written by his friend and mentor George Moffat at the time of Robbie’s death and originally printed in the October 1986 Soaring magazine.

On Sunday August 24, 1986, U.S. 15-Meter champion Robert Robertson was killed in the crash of his well-known Ventus, XT, just after takeoff at Middletown, N.Y. He died instantly.

If there were a Pilot-of-the-Year award in soaring, Robbie would have won it hands down for his performances this season. Winning by a wide margin in that Regionals which was almost a Nationals at Chester. The following month he, together with Karl Striedieck and John Seymour, set the all-time distance record for flight around a triangular course. In August, just two weeks before his death, he capped the ambition of his brief but meteoric soaring career by winning the hotly contested 15-Meter Nationals at Uvalde.

Robbie’s quick success did not always make him popular with those who had been soaring longer but less intensely. He landed out a lot, especially in the first few years, to some I-told-you-so grins by the more cautious. Robbie knew that the only way to define the limits of geography, weather, or self was to exceed those limits. Stirling Moss, the great English race driver, said that one of the requirements for the great ones is the luck to survive the necessary crashes as one defines the parameters. Robbie knew this and was always the first in the air, impatient with those of us waiting to gobble a sandwich or be sure of staying up. Robbie liked to head into the mountains (unlandable) at Wurtsboro or try the notoriously weak areas to see just how weak they really are. In early Nationals like Ephrata he often overreached, getting low and losing valuable time or going down. But he was also beginning to win, especially on the weak and difficult days. And that’s where it all starts, the ability to win; that and the ability to minimize losing. This year showed that Robbie had arrived.

What made Robbie so good, winning so convincingly after a soaring career of only half a dozen years? He had a high degree of intelligence, together with the sensitivity which so often accompanies it. He had great individuality, departing from what could have been the easy life of his aristocratic English background to live in many places, finally feeling most at home in the informal world of America. He had courage, flying his best on difficult days over difficult terrain combined with an endless quest for knowledge. He was a perfectionist, with obsessive care for detail, spending hundreds of hours on improvements such as the first Ventus tail ballast tank. These are, of course, necessary qualities for success in any highly competitive sport and often go along with a fairly abrasive personality. With Robbie, however, there was a remarkable grace under pressure, a pervasive sense of humor and helpfulness. It is hard to remember Robbie without seeing his infectious grin.

Robbie pushed the possibilities, loved life on the edge-and sometimes cantilevered well beyond the edge. He came to soaring only after highly successful encounters with motor racing, skiing (fast, of course) and scuba diving. Lately he had taken up windsurfing and was clearly the best of our highly informal Competition Pilots Windsurfing Association, especially when high winds were driving others ashore.

These things were one side of his life. Since he didn’t like to talk about himself, a lot of soaring friends would be surprised that he built fine houses for a living, and was a superb cabinet maker, fond of making traditional furniture. Classic cars he had restored were prized possessions of those lucky enough to own them. Guests at his home discovered him to be a gourmet cook, serving esoteric recipes with the same casual grace that characterized everything he did. He was the quintessential Renaissance Man.

The memorial service after his death, organized by old flying friends Chip Bearden and Doug Jacobs, was a who’s who of American soaring. Doug Jacobs, Karl Striedieck, Eric Mozer, Sam Giltner, Mike Opitz, John Seymour, and Charlie Spratt among others from the competition scene were there, but also actor and long-time cross-country soaring rival Chris Reeve, singer/pilot Ed Kilbourne, and a host of friends and co-workers from other worlds which Robbie inhabited. There were the crews who had loved him, Rod Reed and Sue Bury, and of course Sylvia with whom he’d been so close for several years and who had given him so much. For an hour in the twilight we sat in the garden outside the lovely woods-surrounded house Robbie had built largely by himself, perhaps a hundred of us in all, trading remembrances of this wonderful friend and remarkably varied man. His going leaves us lessened. John Donne, the great 17th century poet and divine wrote:

No man is an IIand, intire of it selfe;
every man is a peece of the Continent,
a part of the maine; if a Clod be
washed away by the Sea, Europe is the
lesse as well as if a Promontorie were,
as well as if a Mannor of they friends
or of thine owne were; any mans death
diminishes me, because I am involved
in Mankinde; And therefore never
send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

Robbie’s death leaves a large piece washed out of the lives of his friends, a large loss to the world of soaring.

-GEORGE B. MOFFAT XX

Reprinted from the October 1986 Soaring

While many international competitors receive funding from their governments, our soaring teams are funded by two types of personal contributions – direct and perpetual. Direct Contributions are available for use by the teams at their full value at time contributed while Perpetual Contributions to the Robertson Trust become part of the SSA Foundation to be managed and invested by the Foundation Trustees. The income from the invested funds provides perpetual support for generations of future U.S. Soaring Teams.  The Robert Robertson Memorial Team Fund has an established track record of growth and service to the U.S. Soaring Teams since it was established in 1988. The trust’s charter limits the use of the income from the Trust to funding U.S. Soaring Teams participation in FAI sanctioned World Soaring Championships. The Foundation Trustees have provided excellent long term guidance and are dedicated to seeing that the charter is honored.

WOODS TRUST

The Lawrence Wood Fund was established in 1997 to honor Lawrence Wood, a longtime competition pilot, supporter of the U.S. Team and past Soaring Society of America president. Lawrence Wood donated his personal Nimbus 3DT to the US Team Soaring Committee in 1997 to show his support of this effort. The U.S. Team Soaring Committee elected to sell the aircraft on the open market and to apply all proceeds over $100,000 for the benefit of the 1997 U.S. Team. The corpus of $100,000 was used to establish an honorary fund in the name of Lawrence Wood. Interest accrued by the Lawrence Wood Fund will be made available to the U.S. Soaring Team.

The Trustees have established the general guideline of making available from the applicable Trust funds about 5% per year for operations, intending that this would preserve the corpus of the funds, and hopefully provide some of the income and capital gain flowing back into the funds for further growth. This would be applicable to the Robertson Fund as one of the Trust Funds. The Larry Wood Trust Fund has also been established for US Soaring Teams use, and the above is applicable to it, as well.

The Woods Trust, as part of the SSA Foundation, is managed by independent trustees as gatekeepers held under the foundation structure which provides long-term security and stability to contributors while bringing the internal discipline necessary to preserve and manage long-term endowments.

Lawrence Wood was born December 7, 1918 at Refugio, Texas. He passed away on January 5, 2005 after a short illness. His father Richard Henry Wood, and his mother, Carrie Lambert Wood, were of Texas families with deep Irish roots. Interested in engineering and business administration, Wood joined Braniff Airways of Dallas, Texas after College. In 1940, he began a short but varied two years as co-pilot instructor, and administrator and became involved in the engineering aspects of airport design and construction.

In 1942, his experience with the airlines led to the rank of Captain and Pilot. Following the entry of the United States into World War II he became associated with the Contract Carrier division – Air Transport Command. Transferred in 1943, Mr. Wood became instructor of Army/Air Force transportation crews. In 1947, after the War and another brief stint with Branifff, he returned to Refugio. Lawrence Wood continued his association with flying through the years. He was one of the organizers of the Refugio Soaring Circle and served several years as a Director of the Soaring Society of America as a past President.

In 1986 he received the Soaring Society of America’s highest award – The Warren E. Eaton Memorial. The Lawrence Wood Fund was established in 1997 by donating his personal Nimbus 3DT to the US Team Soaring Committee to show his support of this effort. The U.S. Team Soaring Committee elected to sell the aircraft on the open market and to apply all proceeds over $100,000 for the benefit of the 1997 U.S. Team. The corpus of $100,000 was used to establish an honorary fund in the name of Lawrence Wood. Interest accrued by the Lawrence Wood Fund will be made available to the U.S. Soaring Team. He attended the Nationals in Uvalde last August spoke with Mark Huffstutler about doing some flights in a Ximingo motorglider. He loved soaring and dreamt of it until his death.

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TRUST FAQS

Can a business donate to the Trust?2020-12-28T16:12:49-07:00

Donations can be done in the name of a business and receive the same tax deduction as personal donations.

Can my estate donate to the trust?2020-12-28T16:12:25-07:00

Absolutely! A simple line in your will allows you to donate to the Robertson Trust from your Estate. If you wish to donate out of your estate the Trust Manager can assist you in setting this up.

Can the trust’s design or purpose ever be changed?2020-12-28T16:11:58-07:00

NO! The charter of the Robertson Trust is established to prevent any change in purpose or design. When you donate to the Robertson Trust you can be assured your funds will be working for the team permanently.

Are there fees associated with managing the Robertson Trust?2020-12-28T16:11:42-07:00

All SSA trustees and managers are volunteers. The funds are managed in accordance with the trust’s charter by an approved professional money management firm who may charge a small fee.

Who manages the trust?2020-12-28T16:11:27-07:00

In 1997, the Soaring Society of America established the Soaring Society of America Foundation as a unique entity with its own operating by-laws and officers, specifically to facilitate the raising of endowment type funds through planned giving and other contribution mechanisms, for the various SSA Trust funds. The Foundation assumed the management of the SSA Trust Funds with the intent of mounting a strong fund-raising effort for the Foundation

What is the tax status of the trust?2020-12-28T16:09:44-07:00

Donations to the Robertson Trust are fully tax deductible under the 503.1B rules. See your tax professional.

Can I donate stock & other securities to the Trust?2020-12-28T16:09:29-07:00

YES! There are tangible tax advantages to donating stock and securities to the Trust. Contact the Trust Manager for more information.

Can I donate equipment to the trust?2020-12-28T16:08:57-07:00

You bet! The Robertson Trust accepts equipment at fair market value. Proceeds from the sale of the equipment will in turn be donated to the trust in the name of the original donor.

If team members are well off should they be paying their own way?2020-12-28T16:08:26-07:00

No. The team is open to all participants who, through talent, drive, hard work and no small amount of sacrifice earn the right to represent the United States at the World Gliding Championships. True, some team members have been financially successful, but selection to a US team is performance based only. Past team members have included teachers, architects, welders and many other professions. With the addition of the Club, World and Junior class, the world championship dream is available to a wide spectrum of US soaring pilots. There is little more discouraging than winning a place on a U.S. Team only to be faced with a $10,000 bill for participating. Our best pilots will loose interest if championship participation means a huge personal bill. Meaningful team funding helps keep this dream alive.

Will my donation to the Robertson Trust amount to anything?2020-12-28T16:07:12-07:00

The point of the Robertson Trust is to create and preserve a permanent fund that will sponsor US Soaring teams for generations to come. Any contribution amount is welcome. Every effort is made to keep administrative costs to an absolute minimum.

Why are the United States World Teams important?2020-12-28T16:06:43-07:00

The World Gliding Championships are the highest expression of competitive soaring. The possibility of world team membership encourages pilots of all levels and from around the globe to strive to be their best. This effort can only energize the overall soaring movement. Beyond the individual and the sport comes the nation. The United States and our nations ideals are held high when we field successful, fully funded teams, at World Gliding Championships.

How did the Robertson Trust develop?2020-12-28T16:06:05-07:00

The Robert Robertson Memorial Team Fund was established in 1988 to memorialize the late Robbie Robertson who was tragically killed in a sailplane accident shortly after winning the 1986 15-Meter National Championships. The Robert Robertson Memorial Team Fund, often referred to as the Robertson Trust, was established by Robbie’s father, Donald Robertson and the Soaring Society of America to provide a strictly dedicated corpus of funding the income from which would be used to help fund the United States Soaring Teams participation in sanctioned World Soaring Championships.

What is the SSA Foundation?2020-12-28T16:05:46-07:00

The Robertson Trust is one of several trusts and endowments administered by the SSA Foundation. In 1997, the Soaring Society of America (SSA) established the SSA Foundation as a unique entity with its own operating by-laws and officers specifically to solicit, manage and distribute endowment type funds held by the SSA. The thinking behind the SSA Foundation was that an independent foundation managed by trustees as gatekeepers would be the best way to solicit and manage the various endowments held by the Soaring Society. The clear corporate identity of the foundation structure provides long-term security and stability to contributors while bringing the internal discipline necessary to preserve and manage long term endowments. This means that the income from your contribution to the Robertson Trust will be sending US Team pilots to World Soaring Championships for generations to come.

How does US Team funding compare with our international competitors?2020-12-28T16:04:53-07:00

Unlike many European teams the United States Soaring Teams receives no government assistance and must rely on donations and private funding to participate in the world gliding championships. This hand-to-mouth existence has allowed the US Soaring Team to participate on only the thinnest of margins in years past. The advent of new FAI sanctioned teams has stretched the funding of our teams to the breaking point.

Do all contributions go toward sponsoring this years team?2020-12-28T16:04:34-07:00

This is an important distinction… There are two primary types of contributions critical to fielding U.S. Soaring teams, direct and perpetual. Direct contributions are fully available for use by the teams while contributions to the Robertson Trust are invested, with the income from these contributions providing perpetual support but at a lower per year return when compared with direct contributions. Both direct and perpetual contributions are critical to insuring our soaring teams can participate internationally. The challenge with the Robertson is to build the trust and restore the balance between direct and perpetual funding.

I do not fly contests, why should I care about competition and the US World Soaring Teams?2020-12-28T16:03:47-07:00

Competitive soaring rewards excellence while providing some of the spark that keeps our sport going. Many of the astounding improvements in equipment and techniques our sport has enjoyed over the years can be traced back to a need for competitive excellence. Most of the used single place gliders in this country were imported originally by competition pilots.

Competitors tend to be among the most active participants in our sport, often shouldering key roles on a local, regional and national level. The drama of international competition is the ultimate expression of competitive excellence as the worlds best soaring pilots compete for the title of World Champion.

For many nations, including the United States, fielding soaring teams to compete internationally is a point of national pride within the countries soaring movement.

So if, fostering competitive excellence, helping to spark participation, appreciating the international competitive drama and holding our nation’s place in soaring high are not enough, there is this. The simple fact is that not all competition happens in the air. Adequately funded teams are in a much better place to compete and win against the world’s best.

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