Josh Kraft Nicholas President and CEO
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Message from the CEO
Dear Friend of Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston,
Within just two weeks, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston will open seven summer camps including one at our newest Shared-Space Club. Camp Harbor View is adding a 9th week, and serving more campers each week throughout the summer. Across all of our summer camps, we will serve 2,500 children - we expect daily attendance of approximately 1,500 - and we employ approximately 200 teens. The cost for one child to attend one of our Club-based camps for the entire summer is $525, yet not all families can afford it. It's not too late to sponsor a child for summer camp.
Before we look too far ahead, I'd like to reflect on some of our biggest accomplishments from this past year. Despite continued financial constraints, we made a significant amount of progress against our strategic goals.
Franklin Hill Club: Our newest Club - opened in a public housing development last fall - was filled nearly to capacity within six months, allowing us to serve an additional 60 children in Dorchester where the need is great. The Club is preparing to host a seven-week summer program this year.
Yawkey Centennial: Our 15-month celebration of 100 years of service to the Roxbury community included 100 consecutive hours of programming and a golf tournament this month. The festivities will conclude with a gala on November 18.
YSPN name change: YSPN is now called YouthConnect. The name may have changed, but the program will continue to provide the same life-changing services to the most at-risk youth.
Volunteers: Last year we engaged more than 600 direct-service volunteers, who collectively served 5,000 hours. The value of their service to BGCB exceeded $100K.
University engagement: Multi-faceted relationships with Northeastern University, MIT, Harvard's Community Action Partners program; and BU's Center for Digital Imaging Arts are supporting our operations and reducing our bottom line.
Foundation support: The Red Sox, Yawkey, and Ludcke foundations approached BGCB about increasing or renewing their commitment. That says a lot about the value they see in our mission, their confidence in our fiscal management, and our standing in the community, even during challenging economic times. It also says a lot about their commitment to helping kids, and we are truly grateful for their support.
Youth service: Perhaps most importantly, we focused on our mission, serving a total of 13,874 young people, and increased the number of youth served at the impact threshold by 40% since 2006 when we developed our strategic plan.
We carefully managed expenses and successfully met our fundraising goals, with particularly strong support for events. We go into our new fiscal year cautiously optimistic, with a plan to reinvest in staffing to reverse cuts made in 2008, and to expand our revenue base to support our continued strategic growth.
We are incredibly proud to have accomplished all of this in any year, but to have done so during a year when budgets were scaled back is such a tribute to the generous support from our Board members, partners in the business and foundation communities, and individual donors, as well as the commitment of our staff.
Best wishes for a safe and fun summer,
Josh Kraft, Nicholas President and CEO
Follow @joshkraft on Twitter!
Set Sail with the South Boston Club
The Mary Binda Memorial Harbor Cruise will take off on Thursday, July 22. Hope you can join us for this annual celebration that benefits the South Boston Club summer programming.
Time: Board ship at 6:30 PM - ship returns at 10 PM
Location: Provincetown II at Commonwealth Pier, 200 Seaport Blvd
Tickets: $25.00 prior to event ($30.00 at the dock/day of) $20.00 senior price | $20.00 each for "group rates" (10 tickets or more)
Entertainment: DJ Jimmy LeBlanc, top deck | Karaoke, mid deck | Sounds of Sinatra, bottom deck
Tickets: Purchase tickets online.
Laugh for a Good Cause
Join the Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club for its 2nd annual Comedy Show to benefit Dorchester and Mattapan youth. Local comedians will provide the laughs!
Comedians: Lamont Price, Dave Russo, Kelly Macfarland and Joe Wong
Location: Showcase Live at Patriot Place, Foxboro MA
Date: September 30, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM- VIP Ticket (doors open at 6 PM)
8 PM - Standard Ticket (doors open at 7:30 PM)
Tickets: Luxury Booth $400/4 people (includes dinner) | Floor Seats $75/1 person (includes dinner) | Loge & stand room $20/1 person.
Contact: Cassandra Valentine for ticket information, 617-617-506-5391 or cvalentine@bgcb.org.
