For most of its history, the Wisconsin Hoofers (including the Hoofer Sailing Club) operated like a University of Wisconsin-Madison student organization with the backing of the Wisconsin Union. It had its own employees, its own financial rules and procedures, paid rent to the Wisconsin Union for its space in the Memorial Union, et cetera.
Sadly, this situation did not last. In the early 1980's, the club argued successfully that its boats actually belonged to the University, and thus the State of Wisconsin, so that it could avoid paying boat registration fees to the Department of Natural Resources. In the 1990's, an audit of the Wisconsin Union found unacceptable financial practices at Hoofers, and the Union accounting office took on the duties of handling all Hoofer money. In 1998, Hoofers lost the ability to have its own employees, and now must work through the State of Wisconsin rules and must pay for employees not supervised by the clubs. The coup de grace came in 2001, when the University fully seized control of the Wisconsin Union and the Hoofers.
Now that Hoofers does not directly control its own money anymore, and must abide by State of Wisconsin rules on financial procedures, it has significantly less flexibility with purchasing, sales and fund-raising. To provide the opportunities lost in the state power grab, Jonathan Gapen and Michael Watson in January 2004 founded the Friends of UW Sailing Inc., a Wisconsin nonstock corporation.
(Michael wanted the name to sound like a sleazy political campaign group, and Jonathan wanted a future-proof name and to avoid potential legal unpleasantness over the Hoofer name, hence the name "Friends of UW Sailing, Inc.")