A board member of the Tacoma Tall Ships Organization will head a resource action committee that will raise funds to pay down the deficit from July’s festival and collect donations toward the 2011 event.

Already, one anonymous donor has stepped forward with a $100,000 pledge.

Mike McLeod, a commercial real estate developer, will work full time for the nonprofit organization over the next two months, board members said Tuesday.

Thirty-five creditors – mostly smaller companies and individuals – have been paid, with 63 still outstanding, board co-chairman Stan Selden said. The organization still owes about $450,000 on its $2.5 million budget – $50,000 less than the initial deficit organizers announced last month. In addition to the $100,000 donation, the nonprofit has received more payments and bills since then, Selden said.

McLeod was five weeks into a three-month vacation when he decided to return to Tacoma and work to pay down the deficit.

McLeod will approach sponsors from this year’s event and ask them to sign up early for 2011. One such deal he’s proposing is a four-year commitment: help toward the deficit this year, money toward organizational operations in 2009-10 and donations toward 2011, when the group hopes to attract the tall ship fleet on its next West Coast race.

The nonprofit has already received one large gift: An anonymous woman gave $100,000 earmarked for The Pollard Group, the Tacoma printing firm.

But, Selden said, the economy has many people hurting. About 300,000 people attended the July 3-7 event – less than half of what organizers forecast – and many of them didn’t spend any money while they were there. The festival sold about 54 percent of its available spaces on sailing trips.

“No one appreciates the complexity of this event,” Selden said. “It’s a tremendously complex thing, between waterside and shoreside. It blows people away once they get (involved) and realize how much is involved.”

The organization will also solicit donations from individuals. It has set up a post office box where people can send donations, and members are still answering e-mails. It raised about $3,000 from inventory sales and donations at this month’s Commencement Bay Maritime Fest. “The grass-roots support is obviously there,” McLeod said, “and we think it can be a major source for us. But we’re not ready for that yet.”

That’s because the organization is working with a company that sets up Web pages to allow supporters to donate online with credit cards but not pay large fees. (Similar companies such as PayPal take too large a commission, officials said.)

One creditor, executive director David Doxtater, has forgiven about $38,500 owed him and will continue to work in a volunteer advisory capacity past the expiration of his contract, set to end this month.

Board members are pleased with Doxtater’s work on the festival, McLeod and Selden said. McLeod seemed even more impressed with the Bainbridge Island resident’s post-event attitude.

“If there’s a mess, he’s not going to walk away from it,” he said. “He’s going to see it through.”

Meanwhile, the organization is already counting on a 2011 event.

The organization has moved into temporary offices but has plans for a full-time location, likely at the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum. And it’s working with the American Sail Training Association to plan the 2011 festival – an event, McLeod said, that will happen despite the financial woes from 2008.

“I won’t even consider failure,” he said. “This community wants it. The city’s leadership has indicated we need to start planning for it now. And we’ve got lots of people with lots of energy and lots of enthusiasm.”

Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758

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How to donate

The Tacoma Tall Ships Organization is accepting donations to help pay off its debt and fund a 2011 festival.

You can send a check to P.O. Box 2292, Tacoma, WA 98401 or e-mail info@tallshipstacoma.com for more information.