NM nonprofits receive checks from Children's Community Charity Golf Classic

Jul. 24—As the sun peeked over the Sandia Mountains early Monday morning, representatives from three New Mexico nonprofits gathered near the front entrance of the Mercedes-Benz of Albuquerque dealership in Northeast Albuquerque.

Face down on the ground near them were three giant, white checks. As they mingled among themselves, Mercedes, Porsche and Audi Managing Partner Tom Bohlman and President of the Community Charity Golf Classic Mark Ballard walked out and greeted the crowd.

This scene has been commonplace for both Bohlman and Ballard since they partnered in 2005 to form a charity golf tournament, raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetic Research Foundation. However, the pair decided to start their own nonprofit tournament in 2019 after realizing most of the money raised from the previous tournament was going out of state.

"The money we were raising was being used for (diabetes) research, which is good, but we wanted to have the money stay here in New Mexico," Ballard said. "So we started the Children's Community Charity Golf Classic and began working with nonprofits in New Mexico to help them get the funding they need and keep all the money in New Mexico."

The 2024 edition of the tournament was played on June 8 at Twin Warriors Golf Club at Santa Ana Pueblo and featured 36 teams playing a shotgun-start format.

The tournament typically partners with three state organizations and invites them to assist in selling entry fees, raffle ticket sales and fundraising for the event. The percentage of money that the nonprofit raises leading up to the tournament is then used to calculate how much of the total income generated from the classic each organization receives.

"For example, if someone raises 34% of the total amount of money, then they get 34% of the total net proceeds," Ballard said.

Between the money raised from team entry fees and the raffle ticket sales, the tournament grossed roughly $230,000, according to Ballard. After paying for expenses, the remaining $163,000 in net profits was divided among the three nonprofits. The nonprofits selected this year to work with the tournament were New Mexico Child First Network, Mandy's Farm and Community For Learning.

For their parts in helping raise funds, New Mexico Child First Network received $56,869, Mandy's Farm received $64,195 and Community For Learning received $42,775. Representatives from each of those nonprofits on Monday held up those giant checks with those amounts written on them and celebrated their newly awarded funds.

"(These funds) are going to help us actually partner with the Grief Center for a year's worth of programming to provide a monthly support group for foster parents with a licensed counselor," said Maralyn Beck, the founder and executive director of New Mexico Child First Network.

For Mandy's Farm, a local nonprofit that assists people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through a suite of programs that include housing assistance, job training and therapeutic activities, the funds will help them sustain these programs and expand their on-the-job training program to include paid internships for their clients, according to the nonprofit's executive director Melissa McCue.

"This (check) will go directly, dollar for dollar, into those paid internships at local businesses in the hope that (our clients) will get hired on after their internship is over," she said. "At a minimum, they will have meaningful employment experience to add to their portfolio."

Community For Learning plans on using its funds to offer more fully paid scholarships to the students at the 15 schools they currently offer before- and after-school tutoring and programming. This will allow more families to have access to this service, free of charge.

"We have about $50,000 in scholarships a year that we hand out, so if a parent can't afford the program for whatever reason, we can do a scholarship for that child," said Michael C de Baca, chief operations officer for Community For Learning. "We do not turn away any kids that need our services, so we'll figure out a way to get them into this program through a scholarship."

After handing out the checks on Monday morning and hearing how this money was going to be spent to benefit the lives of New Mexicans, Bohlman left with a huge smile on his face. When asked what it means to help these nonprofits, he said it is his and the tournament's duty to help those who need it.

"We've done what we're supposed to do, and that's change someone's life today," he said. "It's a good feeling."