Case Study

Building a Stronger Organization and Community

Client: Brevard County YMCA, Titusville, FL

Needed: Capital Campaign

Overview

In 1999, the Brevard County (Florida) YMCA stood at a crossroads. A small, independent branch with an aging facility, it was struggling to provide the programs and services to meet the needs of the families it served. The organization lacked the staffing, resources, and infrastructure to make the necessary facility and program improvements.

Today, the YMCA in Brevard County is thriving. In 2000, it launched a comprehensive planning process and capital campaign. The end result was an expanded facility and a merger with the Central Florida YMCA, a regional organization that is the fastest growing YMCA in the nation. The merger provided Brevard County with the infrastructure and the resources to provide more services to a much larger number of families.

The Brevard County YMCA in 1999

The Titusville Family Center was the only YMCA facility in Brevard County, a county of nearly 500,000 people located along a stretch of Florida's Atlantic Coast, also known as the Space Coast. The center's land and building had been donated in the mid-1960s, and the only improvement made to the facility over 34 years was the addition of a gymnasium building without air-conditioning. The organization had a good set of volunteers and had raised a limited amount of money, but not at the magnitude necessary. As a result, the Brevard County YMCA was struggling to fulfill its potential. Robin L. Fisher, the chairman of the Board of Directors, realized that something had to be done. The Board researched and interviewed several companies to assist them in their efforts. Advancement Partners was the clear-cut choice to build community support and raise funds for initiatives to improve the YMCA.

Moving Forward

After a comprehensive assessment of the existing facility and programs, followed by discussions with the community to help articulate the various needs and determine the resources available, plans were made for a $1.4 million campaign that would improve the wellness portion of the facility, air-condition the gymnasium, build a pool and aquatic center, and add an all purpose community room/space. But as plans began to move forward, the Board soon realized that there was a lack of professional leadership within the organization. "One of our challenges," states Robin Fisher, "is that we did not have the right person at the top representing us as a CEO. The Board decided to launch a national search to address the problem, but we needed an interim CEO."

Advancement Partners provided an immediate solution. In addition to managing the capital campaign, Jeff Strine, the partner working with the YMCA, would also provide leadership consulting and interim management. "Jeff knew the organization from top to bottom," notes Robin Fisher, "and agreed to step in as an interim CEO." Jeff and Robin worked together, strategizing on the best ways to improve the organization and achieve their goals. They quickly began raising money for the planned initiatives, overcoming some initial skepticism within the community. "When we first announced the $1.4 million goal," states Robin, "many people said that it couldn't be done." Before long, the campaign had raised $1.5 million. And they weren't finished.

Fulfilling the Promise

"After Jeff and I went out into the community," states Robin Fisher, "we realized that in order to deliver on the promise we were making through the campaign, we needed to make some fundamental changes to how the Brevard County YMCA operated. We didn't have the right people or infrastructure to make it work the way we envisioned. Being a small, independent YMCA wasn't working. Once the building was completed, we needed to make sure we had the people and resources in place to provide the programming, and we began looking at potential partnerships."

They didn't have to look long or far. The Central Florida YMCA, based in Orlando (about 35 miles from Titusville), was a regional organization that served five counties through a successful business model. "Central Florida had the infrastructure, people, talent, and financial resources to take Brevard to the next level," states Robin. "They could offer the resources we didn't have locally to deliver what our community needed and wanted."

The Board of the Brevard County YMCA and the Central Florida YMCA met, and both agreed that a merger made sense and was the logical next step. They moved forward quickly, and the Central Florida YMCA began investing money, time, energy and people into Brevard County and Titusville. The Central Florida YMCA committed $1 million to the campaign, in addition to the $1.5 million already raised, to fund improvements to the Titusville Family Center, resulting in a total investment of $2.5 million. Achieving Immediate, Tangible Results.

The commitment of many local individuals, organizations, and businesses, combined with the merger, resulted in an expanded and vastly improved Family Center in Titusville. The renovations and additions included an indoor pool and aquatic center, a wellness center, locker facilities, outdoor walking and jogging trails, outdoor game fields, and a new Community Health Room that serves as the site for health and wellness programs, free vision screenings, CPR training, osteoporosis seminars, childhood immunizations, and flu immunizations. The improvements made to the facility, and the resulting program growth, were just the beginning.

Additional Partnerships

The YMCA in Brevard County continued to build on the successes of the campaign, the expansion of the Titusville Family Center, and the merger. The YMCA partnered with local organizations to establish two additional Family Centers that provided a more county-wide presence and served an even larger number of the residents of Brevard County. When Brevard Community College in Cocoa considered discontinuing the use of some of its facilities, including a pool and a gymnasium, the YMCA worked with them to establish a Family Center on the college campus. And when Wuesthoff Health System, Brevard County's leading health care provider, decided to close its fitness center in Melbourne, the YMCA again stepped in to establish another Family Center, which would help serve the southern part of the county.

"The YMCA in Brevard," notes Robin Fisher, "went from one rundown facility serving about 50 members to three modern Family Centers serving several thousand." Backed by the infrastructure and additional resources of an established, regional YMCA organization, the YMCA in Brevard County has positioned itself and the communities it serves for a bright future.

A Bright Future

The growth of the YMCA in Brevard County has helped fuel the overall growth of the Central Florida YMCA, through both facilities and leadership. Robin Fisher, who served as Chairman of the Brevard County YMCA Board for five years and oversaw the campaign and the merger, assumed a key leadership role on the Central Florida YMCA Board. And in 2004, he was named the Chairman of that Board, a post normally held for just one year that he held for two one-year terms. Today, the Central Florida YMCA is serving six counties with a total of 24 Family Centers. It has experienced the fastest growth of YMCAs nationally by nearly every measurable standard - including membership, revenue, and kids served. The growth of the YMCA in Brevard County has been a big part of that. The YMCA continues to fulfill its mission of helping to build strong kids, strong families, and strong communities, but on a larger scale throughout Brevard County and Central Florida. Advancement Partners is proud to have played a role in their increased ability to fulfill that mission. "We saw an opportunity to help a value-based, mission-driven organization achieve its significant potential," adds Jeff Strine, "and worked to make it happen."