In the course of investigating Greensboro City Councilman Mike Barber and First Tee of the Triad we learn that not only did First Tee only contribute 7% of what it takes in to the actual charity but First Tee is also subsidized by the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department in the form of free green fees and free equipment fees.
Now some folks will argue that First Tee is a non profit and that it is for a good cause but if your church or community group wants to use Gillespie Golf Course or other City owned parks your group will have to pay. And your church and community group is also a non profit and a good cause. So if we're not going to charge First Tee of the Triad which happens to be run by a city councilman then we have to stop charging all non profits.
Otherwise it appears as if Mike Barber is getting political favors.
We found it interesting that after Mike Barber made the claim that First Tee of the Triad receives no subsidies from the City of Greensboro that the Federal Form 990 which Mr Barber claims to have filled out for himself shows no expense for the use of golf courses. Does First Tee have it's own golf course? No, Mike's e-mail to myself and others indicated they use Gillespie Park Golf Course in Greensboro-- a city owned course.
But to verify I contacted the City of Greensboro:
Now let's be generous and assume these young golfers only play 9 holes while walking at the discounted rates of $9 per golfer for golf after 4:00 PM. It's called the Twilight Walking Special and it's the cheapest rate offered by Gillespie Golf Course.
I attempted to find out from the City of Greensboro how many kids First Tee works with. The City was unable to answer my question but referred me to this web page where I found the following video you'll want to watch.
Hundreds of kids each week, Children from elementary school to high school-- a multi-year program, 20,000 participants... This isn't the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, this is future marketing for the game of golf. No, it's not all in Greensboro and not all of it at the expense of Greensboro-- other cities pay too-- but if someone were to do the math, Greensboro is subsidizing First Tee of the Triad to the tune of 10s of thousands of dollars each year.
And while "scholarships" are available the program is not 100% free to all participants. This is Mike Barber's business operating under the guise of a non profit.
The City of Greensboro suggested I contact First Tee of the Triad to get the exact number of students they bring to City owned parks each year. At this point I'll leave it up to the Greensboro City Council to decide if they want to start showing us some real transparency before I go one to expose Councilman Barber even further.It's really their call.
but I been to Oklahoma... too
