Rocky Mountain Court Systems

Impact Statement

Our two main goals related to our mission:
Short Term Goal: The Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire raised money for the following charities last year:
Colorado Fairness and Equality,
Rainbow Alley,
Pink Ribbon Campaign - Sense of Security,
Rocky Mountaineers,
GLBT Center of Denver,
Colorado Gay Rodeo Association,
Chesney Kline-John,
Leather Archives,
Rainbow Alley - Gaybutante Ball,
AIDS Walk Colorado,
SnowBall Charities,
CAP Food Bank,
CAP,
Gender Identity Center,
Medicine Horse Program,
Friends of Kids in Crisis,
Gullian-Barre Foundation,
Brandon House,
Horizon House,
Children's Hospital,
Colorado Climax

Long Term Goal: The White Rose Scholarship Foundation raised money for vocational, undergraduate, and graduate scholarships for Colorado residents.

Needs Statement

1) Increasing membership and volunteer participation, so we can expand our fundraising capability.
2) We are 1 year into our goal of raising $21,000 for the White Rose Endowment Fund, and currently only $3000 short of meeting that goal. We would like to complete this goal so we can begin giving an annual $1000 scholarship from this endowment fund.
3) Continue to increase our Corporate Sponsorship and underwriting.

Background Statement

In 1965, a “Court System” originated in San Francisco for “camp” fun. From that beginning, camp titles were derived, such as Emperor and Empress. Those positions served as co-presidents of the organization. The “Court System” was designed to be a social and community service organization.
Elected officers and representatives of the communities were tasked to achieve the following goals:1.) Further relationships with businesses and organizations within their communities. 2.) Hold functions for the enjoyment of the gay and lesbian community. 3.) Raise money for charitable organizations. 4.) Help those in their communities who were in need of assistance. Throughout the years, the “Court System” has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively to channel back into charitable, social, and political causes.

The Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire has been in existence since 1973, raised and given over 1 Million dollars to local charities. We are one of the oldest gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered organizations in the state of Colorado. In essence, we are a chapter in an international organization.

Coronation (a gala function held once yearly), is where voters from within the boundaries of our “realm,” which ranges from Castle Rock to the Wyoming Border, crown the newly elected Emperor and Empress. This is significant, as the community has a voice in selecting who they want to represent them in their organization's fund-raising capacity. Our members also attend Coronations throughout the United States and Canada representing the Northern Colorado area in an attempt to further relations with outside communities.

In 1997 ICRME expanded to offer The White Rose Scholarship Foundation, WRSF, with annual vocational, undergraduate, educational and graduate scholarships to Colorado Residents. The WRSF has raised over $155,000 for scholarships. The WRSF hosts a number of fundraisers each year, including the popular ICRME Decade Show, and White Rose Gala.

Not only do we seek to improve today but support the generations of the future.

Executive Director Statement

We are an all volunteer organization, and do not have an Executive Director

Board Chair/President Statement

Please join us, contribute and make a difference in the community in which we live. Here’s a little about us.

Last year, we completed a major revision to our all volunteer organization “Policies and Procedures” to reflect how we operate. Our Parliament Committee oversees the day to day business of the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire (ICRME), while the Board of Directors focuses on long-term issues and the White Rose Scholarship Foundation (WRSF). We are focused for this year on improving our community fundraisers by creating a group understanding of our long term goals, reviewing our revenue streams, and cost avoidance plans.

One of our biggest successes last year was the increased energy, community awareness, and fundraising around our White Rose Scholarship Program. We then partnered with the LMC Community Foundation to manage our White Rose Scholarship Endowment Fund named our Cressy-West Endowment Fund, allowing us to focus on the what we do best, which is fundraising. Our LMCCF partnership has been a blessing in many ways, including the area of investments management, holding regular continuing education seminars, grant programs such as GivingFirst, and increasing our community contact and networking capabilities.

Some of the challenges with a fundraising organization that has been in existence for 34 years is the updating of our fundraising formats, improving our Corporate Sponsorship levels, and increasing our Grant Writing capabilities. Our large fundraisers like “Coronation Ball” are seeing increased competition for out of town guests as the number of Imperial Courts increase from 12 to 70 across North America. We are working to rebuild our reputation for large entertaining destination events and again hosting over 1400 people. To that end, we have formed a Board Committee to prepare new ideas regarding our Coronation format and will focus our annual joint Board-Parliament Meeting on our fundraising "bottom-line", alternative revenue ideas, and cost reduction planning. We are still seeking additional leadership experience in the area of Grant Writing.

We have laid the groundwork and are determined to be even more successful this year with both our ICRME and WRSF programs that enable us to help our community through bigger and better fundraisers.