Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Economic Development Group finished in the black for the first time in six years in 2016, ending the year with $99,000 in net revenue, according to its recently released Form 990 for that year.
The IRS requires nonprofit organizations to file a Form 990 each year, which provides the public with financial information about the nonprofit.
SHEDG, which owns and operates the Oregon Jamboree, is in the process of completing its 2017 Form 990. Typically, SHEDG files for an extension and files the form late in the year, as it did last year.
SHEDG had $495,000 in gross revenues in 2016 with $396,000 in expenses, leaving a net revenue of $99,000. Proceeds from the Ore-gon Jamboree represent nearly all of the organization’s revenue. Its largest expense, $328,000, is for salaries and benefits.
The Jamboree cost $2.7 million to produce, with direct costs of $2.2 million in 2016. Jamboree expenses do not include employee expenses, which are instead tracked as a SHEDG expense.
At the same time, the nonprofit organization’s net assets went negative. SHEDG’s net assets peaked at more than $2 million in 2009. In 2016, SHEDG’s net assets were $-251,000, according to the Form 990.
Net assets are calculated by subtracting total liabilities from total assets. Net liabilities increased from $858,000 in 2015 to $1 million in 2016, while total assets fell from $900,000 to $760,000.
SHEDG has no debt, President Ron Moore said last week. Total liabilities are primarily presale tickets.
SHEDG uses The Oregon Jamboree, a three-day camping and country music festival created in 1992 and scheduled for Aug. 3-5 this year, as a fund-raising tool for economic development projects. The majority of SHEDG’s revenue and expenses are related to the Jamboree.
The Jamboree is managed by Festival Director Robert Shamek, whom Moore credited for turning around the revenue.
“Robert’s been doing a good job making some changes, working on our talent budget and other expenses,” Moore said. While revenue was up in 2016, last year wasn’t as successful as SHEDG officials hoped it would be.
The temperature reached three digits during last summer’s event, Moore said, and that kept people in their camps longer. The beer garden and vendors struggled as a result.
“(Numbers for 2017 are) going to be better than years past,” Moore said. He predicted that the totals will be a little under what SHEDG projected, but “we’re trending in the right direction. I think 2018’s going to turn the corner for us. I think we kind of turned things around in 2016.”
Moore noted that 2016 had its challenges. The SHEDG Board of Directors went through some major changes that year, with personnel turnover, and the Jamboree shared its date with another festival in the state. Headliner Merle Haggard died several months prior to the event.
SHEDG “kind of fixed things in 2017,” but the heat wave caused problems, he said. “We’re making some changes to hopefully counteract that.”
“There are some definite changes coming to the festival this year,” Shamek said he wasn’t ready to talk about those changes yet. After a planning process, the Jamboree will be able to announce the changes.
Among changes he can announce, the Thursday night kickoff party and free concert will be larger and open to everybody, Shamek said. Merchandise will be for sale that night for the first time.
“We’re hoping that will help our vendors,” Moore said. “As a board, we’re focusing on keeping the Jamboree successful – The objective was having people come to our community that wouldn’t normally come to our community and spend money even if it is just for one weekend. He’s (Shamek) working on continuing to come up with the talent that fits what we’d like to do – back to our roots.”
The shows will be good all day long, Moore said. Event officials are looking at the talent and making sure it’s diverse enough for the large variety of country music fans; and “in my opinion,” there will be more quality in the performances.
The Jamboree built a lot of its successes on bringing up-and-coming artists, many of whom became more popular between the announcement of the talent and the festival, Moore said. Those included acts like Carrie Underwood, Jake Owen and even Dierks Bentley.
The best example is Jake Owen, Moore said. “We had him right at the time he went off the charts.”
The plan is to keep “moving forward, keep adjusting things,” he said. The Jamboree has a lot to offer country music fans, from its green grass and shade to its family friendly environment. “We don’t have a lot of trouble at our event.”
The second stage, in the shade of Sankey Park, adds value, and the vendors are really good, Moore said. “We’re just looking forward to this year’s event. We’re excited about the talent.”