Please note: this Investment Summary represents VPP's perspective at the time of the investment agreement, December 2006.
In February, 2005, VPP entered into an investment partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW), a multi-service youth organization providing after-school academic enrichment and athletic activities to 35,000 children annually throughout the National Capital area. BGCGW is the largest affiliate of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The Investment Agreement provides BGCGW with multi-year funding and strategic assistance to help BGCGW achieve their aspirations and the implementation of their three-year goals. Funding of up to $3,350,000 over a three-year period will be provided. Funding of up to $1,550,000 will be provided in the initial year of the investment; two subsequent capital amounts totaling up to an additional $1,800,000 will be provided, contingent upon BGCGW’s performance in achieving its milestones over the remaining term of the investment partnership.
OPPORTUNITY
BGCGW aspires to become the paramount point of entry for more than 20,000 area at-risk children into an established development path, through structured activity with positive role models. In the pursuit of taking the most at-risk kids to new heights, BGCGW will enhance its outreach efforts into underserved areas of the community through two new efforts. The first is a new club located in Washington, DC in the Shipley Terrace neighborhood east of the river that will open in April 2005. This club will be part of a group of organizations housed in one center (the Town Hall Education, Arts and Recreation Center or THEARC) to serve the community with programs from child and youth developmental activities to the arts to health care. The second effort in Herndon, Virginia focuses on expanding the number of Hispanic and Asian youth in the local clubs. There has been a recent boom of immigrants in the area, and a rapid growth of gangs. This effort is focused on providing safe and beneficial alternatives for the local children and youth.
BGCGW presents itself as “the positive place for kids”
and strives to help boys and girls of all backgrounds with an emphasis
on “at-risk” youth, to build confidence, develop character,
and acquire the needed skills to become productive, civic-minded,
and responsible adults. Already operating 25 clubs, it provides
a range of services in character and leadership development, education
and career development, the cultural arts, health and life skills,
and sports, fitness, and recreation. The Boys and Girls Clubs’
model has demonstrated its ability to achieve positive outcomes
to improve the lives of youth.
A report to the nation, Hardwired
to Connect: The New Scientific Advice for Authoritative Communities,
published September, 2003, by the Commission on Children At Risk,
confirms the importance of authoritative institutions, such as Boys
and Girls Clubs and YMCAs, as an important and vital means to counter
the crisis of disconnectedness in American childhood by fostering
relationships with other people and deep connections to moral and
spiritual meaning.
INVESTMENT RATIONALE
Key factors that provide the basis for an investment with BGCGW
include:
- BGCGW is one of the largest organizations serving youth in
the region. Affecting even a slight change in benefit and value
for children can provide a significant “social rate of return”
on VPP’s investment. It is realistic to assume that several
thousand lives will be improved with the support of VPP’s
investment. It’s reasonable to assume our investment could
have a positive impact on 5,000-10,000 children over the next
5-10 years as well as indirect benefit to others in the region
and the nation.
- Boys and Girls Clubs have an intervention and program model
that achieves positive outcomes for children. There is a history
of this demonstrated performance.
- An interesting opportunity is to leverage the BCGGW regional
facilities and infrastructure to provide a platform for other
VPP investment partners to regionalize delivery of their services.
SUCCESS FACTORS
The factors can be summed up in two points: the merger has created
a catalyst and urgency for change, and the organization possesses
the leadership, community standing, board support, and demonstrated
performance to take the organization to the next level.
- The merger of the BGCGW and the Metropolitan Police Boys and
Girls Clubs creates a catalyst and opportunity for change within
the organization. The merger has created an urgency to respond,
presented an opportunity to re-assess and build on its established
programs and organization, and appears to have stimulated a need
for accountability for achievement within the management and board.
- BGCGW appears to be one of the better-run nonprofit organizations
of its size in the National Capital Region. Although challenged
like any nonprofit organization, its financial composition and
sustainability is relatively strong. It has one of the strongest boards in
the region.
USE OF FUNDS
Through this investment partnership, VPP will provide up
to $450,000 in funding and strategic assistance to enable the organization to recruit a seasoned Chief Executive Officer, including one year’s salary and benefits, who will provide the sound leadership, strategic thinking and management expertise to enable the organization to achieve its aspiration. In addition, funds will support business planning refinement and implementation.
