As part of North Highland’s philanthropic mission of economic empowerment, the Los Angeles office partnered with The Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) to produce a current state assessment with recommendations that enabled BGCA to consolidate its network of six to eight Clubs in the Los Angeles area.
These Clubs provide valuable youth services to some of the most economically challenged areas of Los Angeles County including: South Los Angeles, Watts, Bell Gardens and East Los Angeles. By consolidating these Clubs into a new 501© (3) organization and operating under a Metro Los Angeles banner, the Clubs could leverage its collective resources to provide better services and expand BGCA across Los Angeles County.
To help Metro Los Angeles realize its future vision, the North Highland team interviewed each Club executive director, staff members and conducted site visits to capture key information about physical infrastructure, member and facility technology, income generation opportunities and transportation assets.
The interviews with executive directors indicated a need for better board participation and engagement at the individual Club level. The team found that current board efforts were inconsistent and it recommended a local area advisory group for the new Metro Los Angeles organization.
These in-depth interviews and site visits also identified key themes for immediate Metro Los Angeles priorities that included building a board, securing financial resources and expanding staff and strategic planning. The visits also indicated all sites required Facility and Member Technology improvements. Member technology needed a STEM Center, WiFi, a computer lab and video conference upgrades. Facility technology needed integrated phones, finance/accounting, HR, IT, CRM, and visitor management systems.
North Highland also did an income generation analysis and found that only several Clubs had positive revenue for their respective fundraising events and were earning additional revenue through leasing, rental of property or utilizing existing Club property for private community events. This led the team to identify opportunities to help the Metro Los Angeles organization generate an additional annual revenue.
The team then produced a five-year budget plan to establish the new Metro Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club. It analyzed costs associated with future staffing, operations, infrastructure and technology improvements and transportation investments. The team also developed a future revenue model based on planned board structure, grants, fundraising events, individual giving, major gifts and asset monetization.
The team’s insights and recommendations informed the design and creation of the new Metro Los Angeles organization and how it integrates with the overall BGCA mission and objectives.