The Club

All About FSCC

Volunteer Board

Your Board of Directors is 100% volunteer. The Board donates their time, energy and love for the Club to make sure the facility continues to be the wonderful place it is for all Members to enjoy. If you would like to be a part of this dynamic organization, please let us know; we are always looking for volunteer Board Members. 

Club Structure & Membership

Many of our residents ask if the Fearrington Swim & Croquet Club might provide more flexible membership options such as drop-in memberships or month-to-month memberships for our Fearrington Village and Galloway Ridge residents. 

While we would love to entertain this option for our residents, it is not possible due to the structure of our organization. The Fearrington Swim & Croquet Club is a tax-exempt recreational Club, and therefore is restricted by the IRS from competing with for-profit entities offering similar services. If the Club were to offer a “drop in” or month-to-month membership rates, we would be in direct competition with local facilities for-profit facilities and could lose our tax-exemption. This would mean significantly higher membership rates for our members. To change Club structure would require software upgrades and hiring full-time, seasonal help to manage a more complex Club structure. Again, this increases costs significantly to our Members. 

The capital costs of maintaining the grounds, pools, and facilities remain fairly steady throughout the year.  Even when the pool is closed, FSCC incurs significant monthly costs to "keep the lights on", per se. Our Board plans for the off-season as well as the “on season” based on our membership and Club dues. A "drop in rate" is not as reliable a stream of income and would not allow the Club to maintain the facilities. We have all been to facilities where the membership is more transient, and  often it is evident that maintenance of the facility is not as nice as it is in our Club.  The Club has been in operation for more than 25 years under the current income model which is proven and reliable.

Interestingly, some facilities which offer similar services are supplementally supported by local County governments; we are not. Some facilities may be instrumentalities of the County where they can raise money via a bond offering; we are not. Some facilities may be supported by wealthy not-for-profit corporations with large endowments; we are not. We are a Village/community based Club, here only for our residents and Members.

Our pool “season” is approximately 4.5 months/18 weeks long. For a membership fee of approximately $300, this means each member pays $16 per week or $2.40 per day. 

Initiation Fees, Annual Dues & Credit Card/ACH fees

Our Bylaws limit our ability to raise the dues. Under banking  laws here in NC, a not-for-profit such as ours is not allowed to hide the credit card fees from our members by incorporating the credit card fees into the dues payments. This is why Members see the credit card fee of approximately 3% when purchasing a Membership. The ACH fee is 1.5%. 

The law requires the Club to disclose the credit card fee. When you use your credit card at a for proft business, the credit card fees are incorporated in the price you pay, so you don't "see" the credit card fees. For example, some businesses do not accept American Express because the fees are too high compared to Visa, Mastercard or Discover. 

The Board of Directors works hard to ensure that the Club is thoughtfully maintained for our members to enjoy year-round. 

We understand that many of you travel during the summer season and may be away for 2-3 weeks or more. We hope that each and every one of you sees (and experiences) the value and enjoyment of our beautiful facility.