Boys & Girls Clubs of America: Taking Up a Board Challenge (No. 13)

By NICOLE LEWIS

How much it raised last year: $362.3-million

Its purpose: The 2,600 Boys & Girls Clubs serve 3.3 million young people ages 6 to 18

nationwide. The clubs are open after school and on weekends and provide recreational, creative, and academic activities, along with training in leadership skills.

Where contributions come from: Individuals, corporations, and other groups contributed 34 percent, and United Ways 25 percent. Another 18 percent came from bequests, trusts, and foundations. Special events accounted for 20 percent, and in-kind gifts 3 percent.

Most notable fund-raising effort of the decade: A push to increase individual giving, starting with the charity’s national board members and non-voting trustees. The most striking result of the effort: a pledge by Joel E. Smilow, a national board member and the former chairman of Playtex Apparel, in Stamford, Conn., to match any gift of up to $100,000 by a board member or trustee of the charity, provided the gift represents an increase from the previous year.

How it works: Mr. Smilow’s offer, made last year, covers board and trustee gifts through 2001. If all board members and trustees donate the maximum amount, he could wind up giving $17-million to Boys & Girls Clubs. That would be the largest gift made by an individual in the organization’s history.

Results: Mr. Smilow’s challenge has already raised $2-million.Two other board members donated a total of $2.8-million, spread over three years.

Where the money goes: Mr. Smilow’s pledge is designed to pay for new clubs, which cost an average of $150,000 to open. The $2.8-million in donations is paying for efforts to pursue state-government grants for local clubs and for the hiring of regional fund raisers who will help local clubs increase their private support.

The future: Boys & Girls Clubs is hoping to expand gifts from individuals to reach its goal of opening 1,400 new clubs, serving an additional 1.7 million kids, by its 100th anniversary in 2006. Mr. Smilow and other national board members are participating in a new Boys & Girls Club speakers’ bureau through which they talk to local club boards about why they give and encourage board members to increase their giving.