The Business of Giving

Unknown Speaker 0:00
This is a k u and v studios original program. You're listening to special programming sponsored by the cars marketing Chamber of Commerce. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents, the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Unknown Speaker 0:29
What's wrong with the world Maamar people live in live thank God.

Unknown Speaker 0:33
I think the whole world's addicted to the drama Hello, everyone. And welcome to the business of giving podcast. My name is Guy Dawson and I am the founder and executive director of the cause marketing Chamber of Commerce. And the cause marketing Chamber of Commerce is a 501 C six organization that brings businesses and nonprofit organizations together to create synergistic relationships that benefit the community. The business of giving podcast does just that it highlights these two pillars of the community, the for profit in the nonprofit sector, for those of you who want to learn more about what we do at the cause marketing Chamber of Commerce, cause marketing chamber.com.

Unknown Speaker 1:16
Being a part of the for profit and nonprofit world creates some wonderful opportunities. And I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to be a part of a conference. And it was composed of marketers for the turf building industry. And at this event, I met a man named Jeff Jensen, who was a part of an organization that I had no idea even existed. It is the golf course superintendent Association of America. And I do play some golf. I've been to many baseball games football games, and had never really thought about the importance of turf. turf is such a part of our lives, really an underappreciated aspect of our lives. And when Jeff did his talk at this conference a couple of weeks ago, it just really interested me in I wanted to learn more about his organization from that perspective. But also, they are an organization that is very committed to philanthropic work. And so we're going to talk about his organization today, as well as a lot of the philanthropy that they're doing related to their business. Please welcome Jeff Jensen, field staff, regional representative of the golf course, Superintendent Association of America. Welcome to the business of giving podcast, Jeff.

Unknown Speaker 2:38
Well, thanks for having me today. Guy, it was a pleasure to meet you a few weeks ago at the Toka conference. And

Unknown Speaker 2:44
you know, just a little background on gcsaa. For our listeners who may not be familiar. We were founded in 1926. And we serve as professional association for men and women who manage and maintain the game's most valuable resource, which is the actual golf course itself. We have over 20,000 members in 78 countries now, we have 98 affiliated chapters that operate under us, including international chapters in the Caribbean, and Mexico. And our main focus is really, you know, providing education, information, resources, you know, charitable giving and legislative representation to our members, as well as the golf industry at large. As you kind of mentioned earlier, we're also a 501 C six organization, we do have a 501 C three branch of the gcsaa Foundation, which again, is responsible for many of the charitable aspects of gcsaa, you know, including our scholarships research, our disaster relief programs, and a lot of the other stuff that we do from outreach opportunities there. So we've been around a while now we're coming up on our 100th year and to 2026. So to do that, and proud to represent the golf industry in the southwest, right, yeah, really, you have a lot of roots underneath you. It's admirable, we, you know, we, as a chamber of commerce, we're in development. And whenever we are able to connect with an organization that's been able to last almost 100 years, it's, it gives the nonprofit organization something really to strive for. Right, Jeff? I mean, you guys have definitely built a solid business model. And you're also doing a lot of great things in terms of education, of course, other things with your foundation.

Unknown Speaker 4:24
Yeah, correct. You know, obviously, I think giving back to the community is always an important aspect, especially in the business we're in is a people business ultimately. And even though it's, you know, focused on, you know, the golf course and the turf aspect of it. You know, we deal with a lot of people and, you know, giving back to the community is always on the top of our list of, you know, initiatives. Yeah, and you've got a host of programs that you're involved in. The one I'd like to talk about first is the first screen program. Can you explain how you're helping children with that program?

Unknown Speaker 4:58
Yeah, first screen is a

Unknown Speaker 5:00
A unique learning initiative, we took over this 2018. It's basically what we call technically, it's always been called fam learning, we call it STEAM learning. And that sounds like stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math. So we like to throw the arts into that as well, in addition to the traditional STEM learning. And basically what we have is a program that's for third to 12th grade students. And we pair local schools in the community with golf courses. And we conduct on site field trips that are focused on basically on sustainability, the environment and learning opportunities for kids.

Unknown Speaker 5:36
Some of the learning stations that are included in these field trips. So when the kids come to the course they learn about soils, they learn about water quality, and particularly in the desert southwest here, water conservation. They learn about mathematics, they get to measure, you know, different sized areas,

Unknown Speaker 5:53
wildlife and habitat, which is obviously, you know, big in every part of the country. We have a section called Cool Tools on the green, which introduces kids to some of the tools that a golf course superintendent uses in their everyday work. We also focus on technology. So, you know, state of the art irrigation systems using our share our weather stations, our computer technology, drones, we also always have a career panel, you know, talk to the high school kids and specifically about potential careers, not only in the golf course, maintenance side, but the green industry as a whole. You mentioned, sports turf earlier, parks and recs, taking care of cemeteries, all that type of stuff that a lot of kids might not be aware of. He is aware of career opportunities there. And many of these jobs are good paying jobs, good benefits, and a good way for people who enjoy working outside to, you know, haven't have a good, you know, good paying job and a good career. And then of course, we always introduce the kids during these trips, a lot of them never had the chance to be on a golf course. So in addition to the game of golf, and kind of give them a chance to see what that's about a little bit. And for just kind of a scope on this program. We've had 41 states who have now held field trips. To date, we've served well over 5000 students. And I'm kind of proud to say that my region, which includes Arizona, California, and Hawaii, and Nevada is one of the leaders for first Greenfield trips, a lot of these trips are certainly done in California. And, you know, another thing I think is interesting to point out with these is that 1/3 of the trips for field trips are held with Title One schools, which for listeners who may not be aware of those who are underrepresented, and what are considered high poverty schools. So it gives a chance to the kids to get a little different perspective than the classroom can give them sometimes. Right. And one of the things I know you had talked about when you gave your presentation out there a couple of weeks ago, Jeff is that the perception of what golf is all about is that it's a very wealthy. You know, a lot of the perception about golf is that it's something that well, what very wealthy people do, and part of what you're doing as an organization, and you have been doing is really starting to give a broader perspective of what Golf has to offer. And I love what you were just talking about a second ago, reaching out to children, or at least high school kids to show them the possibilities of actually that it's an industry and it was great to hear the talk that was given by the one the young lady who works with the minor league team up in Reno and then the other other guy who works at TPC, Summerlin, it. This is an actual career that you could get into that, that pays really well. And there are golf courses all over the world or other turf opportunities.

Unknown Speaker 8:39
Yeah, correct. As you said, at the conference area, you got to see Leah for the Reno aces. She's the grounds manager there for the aces. You know, obviously another side of the turf business to get into lock interests, a lot of kids being in sports, where that's football, baseball,

Unknown Speaker 8:55
you know, soccer, those type of things, to be able to work on those fields as unique learning experience. We also had Patrick Parkins, who, as you mentioned is the actual TPC, Las Vegas, he's the superintendent there and

Unknown Speaker 9:07
Patrick spend with the TPC network a long time and a great example of a young man who came up through the kind of the ranks and as you know, really risen his career to being the superintendent at one of the, you know, higher end facilities in Las Vegas. But yeah, the game is, it's traditionally been kind of looked upon as, you know, rich, kind of white holding elitist. I think that perception is you know, we're starting to change out a little bit. I think if you go out to your local golf courses, you'll see a lot of ethnicities out there, you'll see a lot of different ages of kids, you'll see kids anywhere from you know, you'll see kids from anywhere four to five years old, and then all the way to the senior golfers you know, and I think the one biggest thing we're seeing where the you know, the largest increase of golfers is and probably post pandemic as we're seeing a lot of women really take up the game or get more interested in the game by those who played are now playing a lot more than they used to. And the women is really the expanding part of our game of golf right now and it's

Unknown Speaker 10:00
great to see so many people coming together. And it's a great game that you can play for, you know, the whole your whole life. You know, personally, I love other sports growing up as well, I played a little bit of everything basically, and

Unknown Speaker 10:12
but you know, as I get older, no longer able to really get out on the softball field anymore. Certainly not playing football at my age, but golf is, you know, allows you to remain competitive. And, you know, it's a great way to network with people, get out with your friends enjoy being outside enjoy being in nature. And, you know, it's like I said, it's a game that can be played for a lifetime. Yeah, it's a great game, I don't get to play as much as I would like, and it's a very unpredictable game.

Unknown Speaker 10:37
And I'll write, you enjoy the challenge of trying to figure it out. And, yeah, I would highly recommend you all, if you've never golf before, I think just going out on a Corson. And having that experience is like you mentioned, Jeff, just to be in in the outdoors and enjoying that aspect of it, the camaraderie of being with other people when you're golfing and the fun that you have. And there's a competitive aspect, there are just so many positives, again, not being a huge golfer, but I do have clubs, and I go out sometimes in the it's, there's a whole experience, right, Jeff gets tied into golf beyond just playing it in itself.

Unknown Speaker 11:19
Yeah, I think, you know, you look at a lot of people obviously just go out and they they get to play the game. But I don't think a lot of times, they look upon, you know, what goes into actually preparing a golf course for play that day. I think a lot of people don't understand, you know, the time and commitment it takes to, you know, get a golf course in shape, to continue to lead to take care of it to continually take care of the environment around it. Most importantly, make sure that the water is clean, make sure that we're you know, using as few nutrients as possible, see pesticides as possible, you know, maintaining a very good habitat for our wildlife or our pollinators. And, you know, our superintendents are extremely focused on that across the United States. We work with, you know, best management practices, which are, you know, kind of, I like to kind of call it a Bible for operating a sustainable golf course, all 50 states have guides in place that helped them with best management practices, in sustainability on golf course operations. So we're very committed to that aspect of it and to, you know, obviously furthering the education of our golf course superintendents and our members, but also, you know, educating our golfers and our non golfers on what we're actually doing out there, and that we are, you know, you know, stewards of the environment. And there are other programs that you have is attached to your foundation. Jeff, can you tell us more about other local charities that you work with?

Unknown Speaker 12:38
Yeah, well, from a, you know, from a local standpoint, as I mentioned, we have 98 affiliated chapters, you know, majority in the United States, we do have a Caribbean Mexico chapter, and we have one chapter in Ontario, Canada, but the remainder in the United States and a lot of those local chapters work, you know, very well with the charities as well. A couple of really good examples, actually, here in Southern Nevada, the Southern Nevada golf course superintendents Association, their charity, they work very closely with a Special Olympics golf. Our chapter executive Misty Fidel, Bill roar, who is a former retired golf course superintendent, and actually is in the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame as well, Bill and misty worked very closely with that program, they actually teach the kids as well, and the Southern Nevada gcsaa helps out with some funding with that, and obviously, with golf courses available to, you know, take lessons at for the Special Olympic athletes. So that's something that they're very proud of hearing participating. And, you know, that's one of their main, you know, charitable aspects here in Southern Nevada.

Unknown Speaker 13:43
You know, a couple other I think, really good examples, really like to point out our San Diego chapter down and count Southern California there, they put on a fundraiser everywhere every year called The don't stop believing fundraiser. And that's raised over the last several years, it's raised $160,000 for cancer research. And it goes to, you know, kind of a different area of cancer on a yearly basis. I believe it started with testicular cancer, and then it's moved on to breast cancer and different different other areas of research there. But again, you know, 160,000, for a fairly small organization, you know, with over just over 100 members is a, you know, a large amount of money to raise in some in a short period of time. So, that's one that I'm extremely proud to be associated with, and they've done a great job with that. And then, you know, the last example I'll just kind of talk about that happened, you know, recently is our Arizona chapter, which is called the cactus and pine golf course superintendents Association. And in December, you know, they, along with their partner native resources, made a $10,000 donation to the St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix to help feed the hungry. So $10,000 Obviously buys quite a bit of meals in that world and you know, something that that association is extremely proud to do.

Unknown Speaker 15:00
To benefit, and they've done so on a yearly basis for quite a few number of years now. And it's a great organization that flew back down there and helps out a lot of people.

Unknown Speaker 15:09
Wow. So yes, you guys are really engaging in the business of giving on a high level. And you know, one thing I really enjoy, Jeff is when I see nonprofit organizations, who engage in services beyond the things that they are actually attached to, and that sense of community and really sort of being a mentor, for other nonprofit organizations, that's with all these efforts that you were just talking about. You guys are out there, as they say, walking the walk and showing about the importance of giving back to your community with your actions, even though you are also a nonprofit.

Unknown Speaker 15:48
Yeah, correct. And obviously, we have things for our members as well, you know, internally, that we do from a charitable aspect, and the one I'll probably probably point out to most here is we actually have a national disaster relief effort for our members. And that, again, includes gcsaa members only, but for you know, our members who have experienced personal loss from whether it be a hurricane a wildfire out west, here's a good example, flooding tornadoes currently in the Midwest, which had been really bad this spring, those funds from our disaster relief are available for our members, they're able to typically access those funds within 24 hours. And you know, the purpose of those funds is obviously to, you know, help them in a time of dire need, obviously, they may need housing, they may need food, water, repairs to cars, whatever the case might be, and that money is available for them to help them out. And then as you said, you know, from an academic standpoint, from kind of outside the organization, I think it's still important for our industry to, you know, give back to certain causes. And again, these are just an example of some of the ones that we do out here. But this goes on throughout the United States, and many of our charity support, like I said, food banks, local churches, you know, youth golf groups, and different things like that Special Olympics, like I said, and I just think it's important that you know, that we look at other aspects just outside of our organization as well, like you said, it's, you know, it's really important to support your communities. For those of you who are just tuning in, you are listening to the business of giving podcast at K u and v 91.5. F, M, jazz and more, and I am speaking with Jeff Jensen, he is with the golf course superintendent Association of America. I want to keep sharing with all of you that we're going to have the first annual cause and business cruise October the 19th. Through the 26th 2024, we're going to cruise through the Hawaiian Islands, it's an opportunity for you to network with giving professionals. We're going to be doing some service work over there specifically on the island of Maui. Many of you know that the island of Maui was very adversely affected by fires back in October of 2023. And we want to go over there and do some service work on one of our layovers. Again a great opportunity for you to connect with people in the cars marketing space, we're going to spend a lot of time together networking and collaborating. Proceeds from the cabins that are purchased for this will go to nonprofit organizations, more information about the cause and business crews October 19, through the 26th cause marketing chamber.com We'd love to have you come and be a part of that. I had another event that I wanted to share with all of you that I participated in many years ago. And this is through a great nonprofit called us vets Las Vegas, and they're going to have their veteran stand down event. And it will be on Friday, June the 28th from 8am to 4pm. And this is an event that supports homeless veterans. I had many years ago, I participated in this when it was over at Cashman field, and now it has moved to the World Market Center. But this is an opportunity for you to go out and support homeless veterans. There are all types of services out there for veterans, specifically, those of course homeless veterans and otherwise in the Amin, there are all types of products there. They get haircuts, there's just all it's really a day that is committed to bettering the lives of homeless veterans. And so for more information about that honor.us vets.org/l WS D 24. And we will continue to make announcements about that particular event as we move closer to it. But again, highly recommended, from my perspective as you're really going to meet a lot of wonderful people and the advocacy for veterans, of course is so important in our communities. Veterans really give a lot of themselves to protect our freedoms, so any opportunities that we can have to support them, I highly recommend.

Unknown Speaker 19:58
So Jeff, you guys are again

Unknown Speaker 20:00
In a very busy organization, and another thing that you really engage, well, let's talk about the vets because that's, you got initiative specifically geared towards them. Do you? And since I just talked about them a second ago, would you like to speak to those initiatives?

Unknown Speaker 20:15
Yeah, a little bit. Certainly, obviously extremely important, you know, aspect of our society is our veterans.

Unknown Speaker 20:22
You know, just amazing people out there, and they've given their service to our country. And, you know, a lot of them are coming back here, you know, whether they've been deployed or they're just getting back into civilian life. And some of them are looking for the next step in their careers outside the military. Some of them may have, you know, maybe looking at this might even be a third career for them. But, you know, Operation double eagle, which is part of the warrior Alliance, works with gcsaa, and operation double eagle as an amazing program. They basically prepare US military veterans for careers in the golf maintenance industry. They offer a nine week certification course, at Augusta Technical College down in Augusta, Georgia, and basically includes both classroom and then on the course learning opportunities, as well as career placement for people in the golf maintenance industry. For veterans who are interested in that. And GSA is proud to partner with Operation Double Eagle, we help a lot with the curriculum for those courses, both again, in the classroom and on the course. And then of course, you know, one of our major areas is helping with job placement of those veterans across the United States as well. So it's a great program, we're kind of new to this one a little bit, but we're gonna continue to work and expand and work with, you know, the warrior Alliance on this operation, Double Eagle, and the ultimate goal for them is to really expand this program more nationally, so it's not just in Augusta, Georgia there, they have other colleges that are doing it, maybe regionally. You know, and of course, you know, GSA is proud to, you know, provide a lot of the curriculum there and work with them and help place our vets into some jobs, when they get back out of the military. And, you know, they make a tremendous, you know, maintenance employees, a lot of them worked outside, they enjoy working outside, they're disciplined individuals, obviously, they're able to make decisions quickly on their own.

Unknown Speaker 22:08
And they really fit a lot of what the golf, you know, the golf industry is looking for, in terms of, you know, hard working reliable people. And it's something we're very proud to be a part of, and like I said, it's kind of new to us, but we're gonna grow it and, you know, continue to work on it. Yeah, veterans are phenomenal employees. My experience having had veterans work with me and my company and hearing other people who employ veterans, like you had mentioned, Jeff, veterans learn to complete the mission. And that's really a when you're when you're running a business where you've got mission after mission after mission that you are completing, or you're working towards completion of and so yes, I'm a big supporter of veteran employment. You touched on some of your efforts as an organization to with Dei, maybe you'd like to elaborate more on how you're helping young people through Dei.

Unknown Speaker 22:59
Yeah, di is, in honestly been embraced by GSA. And we work on a lot of different initiatives. From that perspective, a couple that I'll bring up is one that we started just talked about kind of development of our next workforce. You know, we work with the jobs for American graduates program, which is a program at the high school level that provides, you know, increased mentorship and job learning skills for high school students, it gives them the opportunity to kind of get out and see some, you know, jobs which they might be interested in, in the future, it gives them some hands on learning experience to in certain areas. And that's a program that we've just recently started working with, I was lucky enough to have a group of these kids down in Phoenix. With me in January, I was kind of able to show them what goes on in the golf industry, and just a really brilliant group of young individuals who, you know, are academically doing really well at their school, they're involved in a lot of sports and a lot of other you know, outside activities. And it was just a pleasure to get to work with these kids and hopefully teach them a little bit about the golf industry and maybe have some of them look at

Unknown Speaker 24:06
you know, us as a, you know, future endeavor for their for their jobs.

Unknown Speaker 24:12
You know, as I ramble on here, a couple others, I think, that are really important from the DI perspective is that we partner with historically black colleges now, for career fairs, and golf industry expos, you try to get minorities interested in the golf maintenance profession.

Unknown Speaker 24:27
You know, we have been for a long time, obviously, it's a little bit more of a, you know, heavily a Caucasian profession. So, we work, you know, to get these folks involved and to, you know, let them know that some of the opportunities that are out there on a golf course, and I think the HBCUs have been a great way to do that. We also exhibit a yearly as and speak year at the African American golf Expo.

Unknown Speaker 24:50
From a women's standpoint, I think this is probably our you know, one of our kind of our low hanging fruit for growing our workforce. A lot of what

Unknown Speaker 25:00
Women are really starting to get involved in the golf maintenance industry. Getting to see a lot of women superintendents out there, a lot of women super, you know, assistant superintendents, as well. And we really, you know, kind of jumped on this on this way. And we started a women's task force. So we just completed a women assistant superintendents from across the country. We hosted our inaugural women's leadership conference in November last year back in Lawrence, Kansas, we had 40 women, which was the maximum we could do for last year, but we had over 90 apply for the, for the Leadership Academy, and kind of brought them in. And they're not only from just the golf industry, from all areas of the green industry as well. So we mentioned sports, turf, Parks and Rec.

Unknown Speaker 25:43
Vendors, anything else that might be there that are women who were involved in the green industry specimens, extremely successful, trying to get more of them involved. And, again, just another, you know, kind of non traditional route for golf maintenance. That hasn't always been the case. But, you know, identifying some of the great skills that these women possess, and you know, they're able to very efficiently run golf courses. And we recognize that and we're just trying to enhance upon, you know, the education that they're provided, and, most importantly, really, the networking with other women in the profession as well, so they can discuss challenges and opportunities. And that part of our business leadership conferences, stuff, I think, is going to explode in the next three to five years. Jeff, it was such a pleasure to have you as part of the business of giving podcast today and to learn more about the golf course superintendent Association of America one more time, can you let people know how they can learn more about your organization?

Unknown Speaker 26:41
Yeah, absolutely. We have a very extensive website gcsaa.org. Again, gcsaa.org golf course superintendents Association of America. And there's a lot of resources on there for obviously, for our members, but also for some of the community's anyone interested in the golf professional a little bit to see what goes on behind the scenes and a lot of videos, a lot of stories that are updated on a weekly basis. So I encourage those who are more interested to just go to our website and find out more information. All right, for all of you, I want to remind you that you can listen to the business of giving podcast on Spotify, Apple podcast, Amazon music and more the business of giving transition transistor dot F m we also greatly appreciate positive reviews, the ones that we've been receiving, they're very helpful for our show. We also greatly appreciate it when you stop by our social media sites. And as always, always want to encourage you those who are tuning in I love the all the feedback I'm getting from the community about this show. Bringing these two pillars of the community together and as I do want to sign off as always do I want to remind you to give the business?

Unknown Speaker 28:16
Feel the weight of the world on my shoulder as I'm getting older your people guess holder most of us only care about money.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai