WHAT'S NEW...IN CHILD AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Nonprofit makes big effort for kids
AARON CORVIN; The News Tribune
Published: September 14th, 2005
Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound is pursuing an ambitious campaign to raise $60 million to build and operate community centers serving kids.
The nonprofit wants to raise money to build four new clubs and relocate and rebuild two of its current clubs. Backers say that should double the 10,700 youths now served at six clubs and 15 outreach sites.
The idea is to expand beyond the traditional after-school programs and deliver more – and better – health, education and recreational services to kids and their families.
“It’s all for the kids,” said Gary Yazwa, president and CEO of the nonprofit. “If that isn’t the focal point, nobody would be involved in this.”
The financial scope of the campaign puts it among the largest ever by a social service organization in the Pacific Northwest, including a recent campaign by YWCA of Seattle. That organization raised more than $40 million in private money, said Stuart Grover, a former owner of The Collins Group, a fundraising consulting firm that has raised more than $700 million for capital, endowment and major gifts campaigns in the United States and Canada.
Grover said the success of any large fundraising campaign depends on how well it connects with the community and whether it’s able to show results.
A focus on achieving results is one of the things that distinguishes the campaign by the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound, said Rick Allen, president of United Way of Pierce County, which is supporting the $60 million campaign.
Allen said that focus comes from shifting away from a model of simply providing activities to kids before and after school. The new model works with other service providers “to provide a comprehensive set of services to families and children and to follow up with those families and children to eventually ensure their success.”
The other feature that sets the campaign apart from others, Allen said, is that it aims to build several new facilities in a number of places in the community with a lot of underserved children.
“It’s unusual to do three, four, five or six facilities through one campaign all at one time,” Allen said.
The campaign raised $20 million so far from core backers, members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound board of directors and staff, Yazwa said. Major contributors so far include the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the state Legislature.
The campaign will continue to focus on soliciting major gifts through next year. Though backers will publicly “kick off” the campaign with a Sept. 27 invitation-only luncheon at the Tacoma Dome, the community phase of the fundraising is slated for early 2007.
Here is how the $60 million would be spent: About $24 million would go toward building new facilities, $26 million would be used to operate them for up to seven years and about $10 million would be set aside as an endowment fund.
The nonprofit hopes to open two new facilities in 2007 in Lakewood and Gig Harbor. Plans also call for new community centers in Tacoma, the South Hill-Graham area, the Parkland-Spanaway area and in Kitsap and Mason counties.
The proposed buildings would be 25,000 to 31,000 square feet and would include conference rooms, a gym, a technology area, kitchen, game room, arts center, library, child-care room, classrooms and other services.
As the Boys & Girls Clubs eyes a new facility in Gig Harbor, the YMCA of Tacoma-Pierce County has plans to open its fifth facility there in the fall of 2007. Bob Ecklund, the nonprofit agency’s president and chief executive officer, said he views the Boys & Girls Clubs’ campaign as a complement, not competition, to his nonprofit’s plan to build a $17 million facility in Gig Harbor.
“People will make their choices in where they want to make investments in terms of a capital campaign, and it’s good to have different opportunities for people,” Ecklund said.
“It’s a very substantial goal,” he said of the Boys & Girls Clubs’ campaign. “One of the things I’ve heard from folks is the sustainability issue. It’s very bold, but if you don’t take risks, there’s few rewards. I wish them success.”
The United Way’s Allen said his nonprofit is backing the campaign because the plan is to measure whether children are improving as a result of the new services.
“No one is working on this kind of issue at this scale,” he said.
For more information or to contribute: Phone: 253-572-8840 Online: www.bg-clubs.com
