“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” – John 15:13
Last week, I received an email from Megan Sala [Executive Director, Lakewood Y] letting me know that one of Lakewood’s longtime donors and campaigners stopped into the center to pick up her campaign packet and affirm her commitment to campaign for the Y, a commitment she has kept for each of the years Lakewood has been open (29 years). What was particularly noteworthy about Margaret picking up her packet was it was her first time back to the Y since the beginning of the pandemic. Margaret has a strong commitment to the Y and she wanted to do her share to help; she knew the Y needed her now more than ever.
A couple of days after hearing the news about Margaret, Steve Triller [Executive Director, Tom Taylor Y] called me, excited to share that one of his donors just pledged $25,000 to the campaign. It was Stan’s second large contribution to the Y within a very short period. He has the means and he knew the Y needed his help. (For many years, Steve has been one of our Y’s strongest campaigners. He has built thousands of longstanding relationships with members, who are deeply committed to the Y because of the trust they have in Steve.)
The stories of Margaret and Stan stepping up to help the Y are just two of many examples of our members responding to the call to action, kicked off by the commencement of our annual campaign’s community phase. Since last Monday’s virtual kickoff event, Kristy Kunkle [Donor Database Manager] reported that contributions continue to pour in along with innumerable comments expressing love and support for the Y. Kristy also reported that many of the gifts have been increases from previous years. Toby Roberts [Director of Philanthropy] announced in Friday’s “Staying Connected” call that we have raised $859,000 to date, which is 53% of the April 30 community phase goal of $1.6 million (and just under 30% of the overall annual goal of $3 million).
Clearly, our current financial condition is pressing, magnifying the importance of raising dollars in our annual campaign, but underlying the dollars raised is the deep support expressed in each pledge made by our members. Over the years, we have captured many testimonials from our members telling the story of the impact the Y has on lives. It may not be easy to capture and measure the impact the Y has on a life, but contributed dollars and the success of the annual campaign can certainly be an indicator of the strength of a YMCA in a community. When we move a member along the continuum – from casual to connected to committed – we hope they have been inspired enough to give back so others can have that same experience for many years to come.
During our board of directors meeting earlier this month, the board adopted our new association goals. They do recognize that the pandemic has severely impacted our organization. They also understand it will require a concentrated effort, for the next few years, to rebuild our capacity so we can effectively serve our community. Rebuilding our Y is our primary focus; everything we do is focused on helping us achieve that goal, and raising $3 million in our annual campaign is an integral part of this effort. Toby and Carol Kowalski [Director of Planned Giving] have taken prominent roles to spearhead the organization-wide effort of the campaign, but in order for us to reach the $3 million goal, each of us must contribute in some manner. Some will directly ask members to contribute, some will identify prospective donors, and some will thank our donors; this effort will require all of us to play a role to achieve the goal. The importance of philanthropy is highlighted by the fact that it represents 20% of our individual performance score. Each of us will be asked to identify the role we will play in the 2021 campaign to take this important step to help rebuild our Y.
Under normal conditions, executive directors review the monthly financial results of their respective community centers. When the February financial statements were released, the focus was magnified with both Toko Thompson [Vice President and Chief Financial Officer] and Brian Flattum [Vice President and Chief Operating Officer] meeting with each executive director to understand each center’s plan to help our Y achieve our financial goals. In addition, each respective team will review their results and develop the necessary strategies to help them achieve their goals. It is important for our association to achieve $40 million in revenue so we will be able to generate a net that will enable us to comply with our bank commitments and begin to reinvest back into our facilities. Recently, the board established a facilities oversight committee, which includes Loren Johnson [Property Development and Facilities Management Director], Ed Bressette [Association Facilities Director], Toko, three board members, and me; this committee is responsible for reviewing our capital needs and the plans to address them. We all need to exert care and attention to address our current financial position. Each of us will incorporate a disciplined approach in our day-to-day work to help rebuild our Y. Financial accountability will comprise 35% of our overall performance score. (The board did emphasize that, though fiscal accountability is a critical aspect of the work of senior-level staff who have a direct influence on the finances of the organization, staff who do not have direct influence will not be evaluated as heavily in this category; nevertheless, fiscal accountability will be a part of everyone’s job).
For the past 12 years, our association goals have incorporated the language of member experience to reflect the importance of membership to our organization. Membership has been nearly 90% of our revenue, and its importance has always been reflected in the language of our goals. Though member service drives our organization’s economic engine, not every staff member directly serves members. In order to capture everyone’s performance equally and fairly, we have defined this goal as service excellence. In areas where service is directly linked to members, member experience will continue being evaluated. Our board still wants to see measures that reflect member satisfaction (HappyOrNot), member usage, program enrollments, and total membership. Service excellence, though, extends to quality service in all areas. We will determine measurements that allow each staff member to be fairly evaluated and acknowledged for contributions made to help rebuild our Y. The board also did not want to lose the importance of staff experience and the fact that a quality staff experience is critical to a successful Y. Though the board still requires us to conduct a staff engagement survey, we will no longer use that score to measure staff performance. Instead, staff experience will be measured by our contributions to the success of our teams and our association – it is necessary that we identify how we serve and support one another. Service excellence is critical to rebuilding our Y – by serving our members, our community, and each other. This component will comprise 45% of our overall performance score.
This past week saw the most significant progress our Y has made in over a year. With the announcement of our state moving into Phase 3, membership increased, producing $300,000 more in membership revenue than in February. In addition, Toko worked furiously to meet the application deadline for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan under the new Recovery Plan guidelines. Even after two rejections, Toko would not be denied and our application was finally accepted – and subsequently approved. The applied-for amount of $4 million will make a huge difference to our Y. Truly amazing work, Toko!
As schools begin to reopen and families find their footing in their new routines, childcare enrollment numbers have begun to increase as have the number of youth in our early learning programs. In addition, Jessie Palmer [Senior Association Development Director] represented our Y this past week, meeting with our key state and federal representatives to secure crucial recovery subsidies. It is incredible how long our team has been leaning in to rebuild our Y, and finally, it does appear that we are beginning to gain traction. This is great news, a tribute to your complete commitment and dedication. You are all amazing, and because of you, our Y will get through this. Thank you all for your sacrifice and unselfish devotion.
#StayStrong #StayWithUs