“Budget Time: The Benefit of Leaders’ Club”

If you are reading this and are a YMCA Director, thank you for taking the time out of budget season to enjoy the Express.  Rest assured all your hard budget work and time invested in the young men and woman of your club will yield results for years to come. Successful Leaders’ programs require planning. Those plans are developed and put into action, just like that budget that is minimized on your screen at this very moment.

Let’s discuss the 2018 budget return on investment of a strong Leaders program.  Instead of budgeting two officials for soccer games in 2018, budget one official and invest the energy in training the Leaders’ Club members to officiate alongside the sports staff (Think: X number of Leaders doing X number of volunteer hours offsets X number of paid officials). The next step, especially for the new clubs trying to figure out how to fund a teen program is to invest a portion of the funds saved in sports to offset some the teen program costs.  The more the Leaders are able to help support the YMCA, the more the YMCA can support the Leaders.  The success of this model requires a commitment by the entire branch leadership as well as the teens.  The same departmental collaboration can take place between financial development and the teen departments.  The teens assisting in community outreach efforts can result in increases funds, which allows the branch to invest in the teen program. What an amazing story to be told to prospective donors.

Hopefully this break from the grind of budget season has resulted in a mental boost to go conquer the task at hand.   Knowing that each number on that spreadsheet represents someone we can impact at the YMCA is all the motivation needed.

In Spirit, Mind and Body,

Ryan Graham
ryan.graham@ymcacharlotte.org.