SNOWMASS, Colo.—Ten years after singer-songwriter John Denver died in a plane crash, the environmental foundation he co-founded is surviving, albeit on a shoestring budget.
Denver and Tom Crum launched the Windstar Foundation in 1976. It went dormant after Denver died Oct. 12, 1997, near Monterey, Calif., but has slowly been rebounding.
“When John was alive, naturally people were more inclined to donate to Windstar. John and Tom were doing this when the term ‘environmentalist’ didn’t exist,” Denver’s brother, Ron Deutschendorf, told The Aspen Times on Thursday.
“When I say, ‘Hi, this is Ron Deutschendorf,’ it doesn’t have the same effect. It’s sort of hard, and when John’s accident happened, what happened is Windstar went into a dormant state for three years.”
Tax forms filed last October show Windstar generated $80,634 in revenue in the fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2005, but it still had a deficit of $60,362. Its net assets were $46,489, records show.
Windstar’s biggest expense was $112,763 for a symposium whose speakers included Jane Goodall, The Aspen Times reported. The foundation, which has no payroll, spent $34,796 in contract labor, $2,251 on advertising, and $1,374 on newsletters, among other expenses. The foundation also handed out a $2,000 in college scholarships.
Membership is the biggest source of revenue, Deutschendorf said.
“Like any foundation we’re always looking for donations and greater membership,” he said. “We just haven’t had the kind of funding we used to have. And outside the valley, I’m not sure anyone knows we exist.”
Deutschendorf said the foundation does have important assets, including his brother’s music.
Through an agreement with a record label, Windstar is releasing a 1985 John Denver performance in Russia that will be available to members Nov. 6 before it is widely distributed.
“Windstar has a lot of assets that we haven’t used to the best of our advantage,” Deutschendorf said. “We’ve been very tight.”
Deutschendorf said he would like to see seminars with past Windstar speakers like Al Gore and Ted Turner put on DVD and sold, with proceeds going to the foundation.
On Saturday, concerts featuring artists with ties to John Denver are set as a benefit for Windstar Foundation and the Aspen Camp for the Deaf.
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Information from: The Aspen Times,
