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	Space Camp Foundation Seeks to Stem Tide of Red Ink By Kenneth Silber Staff Writer posted: 05:25 pm ET 03 November 1999

spacecamp_foundation

U.S. Space Camp Foundation's finances will be "fine" despite recent difficulties, the foundation's executive director, Ralph Gipson, told space.com in an interview on Wednesday.

Gipson said the Huntsville, Alabama-based foundation, which oversees Space Camp programs in Florida, California and several foreign countries, had six-figure losses in each of the past two fiscal years. He said the net loss for fiscal 1998 (the year ending late September 1998) was $338,089, and that the fiscal 1999 net loss may be as high as $800,000.

"Our cash flow was tight in the month of October," Gipson acknowledged. But he said the foundation had not missed any payments to creditors and would be receiving $1.3 million in earnings from a California-based camp program on November 15. "So our finances will be fine," he said.

U.S. Space Camp Foundation is a nonprofit organization set up to oversee Space Camp programs outside Alabama. Space Camp programs inside Alabama are run by the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission, a government agency that's legally constrained from operating businesses outside the state.

On October 29, space.com announced a "memorandum of understanding" with the foundation and the Alabama commission to "work together to promote education and space exploration." According to the announcement, space.com "may become the official commercial space website for U.S. Space Camp and host Space Camp chat sessions."

Several press reports have called attention to the foundation's finances in recent days. On October 31, a Huntsville Times article stated that the foundation's tax returns show it is "slipping toward insolvency."

Gipson said the foundation expected a net gain in fiscal 2000 of $186,000, due to cost reductions, the growth of its business in California, and changes in its direct-mail strategy. He said the foundation had "a slow start in California, but we're getting close to figuring out how to correct that."

He added: "Obviously we want to break even, but we want to be a quality product for young people. Making profits is not our goal."

The Huntsville Times article stated that "the foundation's deteriorating finances haven't stopped staff and board members from spending lavishly on travel." The article cited travel expenses of $277,112 in 1995, $295,662 in 1996, and $190,000 in 1997.

In the space.com interview, Gipson confirmed the accuracy of these figures but emphasized that the foundation's officers "travel coach" and stay at "moderately priced hotels." He cited travel expenses adding up to $152,505 in fiscal 1999, a decline from the earlier years, and noted that the past year's expenses included sending staffers to accompany Detroit children to Space Camp in California.