Growth for Greater Impact

I speak often of our efforts at continuous quality improvements that go into enhancing the daily experience at our Clubs and the impact it has on the youth and teens we serve every day.  However, we rarely discuss our work to improve the engagement with our incredible donors who make our efforts with the kids possible.

As the scope and complexity of our Clubhouse services has grown substantially over the last decade, we have worked to determine how best to inform and engage our current donors and connect with even more individuals and businesses who might be interested in the GREAT work being done at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Yellowstone County.  Like any growing business, we successfully identified several strategies that did not work like we wanted, but we kept working to identify an approach that met our expectations.

I am pleased to report that I believe we have found that approach and over the last year we have embarked upon an organizational realignment to increase both our donor engagement and our capacity to better serve those who need us most.  An approach that blends the experience and expertise of those who have been with us for years and the addition of two new professionals whose skills and passion will help us increase our capacity.

Focus on Major Gifts & Endowment Giving

With over 32 years of combined experience in our organization, Karrie Owen and I now spend much of our time engaging the Club’s incredible donors to increase their connection to the kids and help them realize their philanthropic goals.  I can speak for Karrie when I tell you how rewarding this work has been as we have already helped several wonderful donors make bigger impacts that will do incredible things for many years to come!

Spreading the GREAT News

Over the last several years, Nicoletta Flores has been an impact player for our donor engagement team and has worked behind the scenes coordinating all the logistics that made our various fundraisings efforts more successful.  However, we have underutilized her skills and moving forward, Nicoletta will also coordinate all public facing communication to better inform our donors and the community about the needs of our members and the impact their investment has on the kids.

New Talent

Paige Linse first joined our organization 5 years ago working directly with our members as a Program Coordinator. Now, she has signed on as our new Coordinator, Revenue & Donor Data.  In her new role, she will support our donor engagement work and ensure we properly record all donations and promptly recognize each donor.  Paige will graduate from MSU-Billings this December with a degree in accounting and I am thrilled to have her back with us supporting our team and our donors!

Bethany Taylor grew up at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Yellowstone County and is a walking, talking, testament to the impact our team and donors have on the young people we serve.  She recently graduated from Bushnell University in Eugene Oregon, where she also worked full-time as a Club Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Emerald Valley and helped them charter the new Bethel Clubhouse, which she led successfully.

In Bethany’s new role as Director, Campaigns & Events, she will assume a leadership role for Back-a-Kid, our signature special events and all third-party fundraisers.  We are excited to welcome Bethany home and to have her talent and passion on the team to help us engage more donors in support those who need us most!

I know I say it all the time, but it is an exciting time here at the Club with many changes helping us gain a strong foothold on an upward trajectory!  I am thrilled with where we are and would love to share more with each of you, so please do not hesitate to drop me a line and we can visit.

Sincerely,

Brian Dennis

President & CEO