The Boys and Girls Clubs of Lebanon and Sweet Home last week announced plans to merge the two organizations’ corporate functions.
The unification would create one parent organization for the clubs and would involve sharing of resources.
“This unification will benefit all youth members, families and supporters of both organizations,” said Ron Moore, Sweet Home board president. “We have been collaborating with the Lebanon organization for several years, and this next step allows us to move forward as one strong, sustainable organization while retaining our local traditions and culture at the clubhouse.”
The next steps for the clubs will include recruiting a corporate board and deciding on a name for the organization, Moore said. Local clubhouse names will remain the same.
“For the kids, not much will change,” said Jason Yutzie, executive director of the Lebanon club. “We will be collaborating as a board and sharing resources. It will help with fund-raising by allowing us to leverage our combined membership numbers when writing grants as well as when making purchases. We are doing well, but we can do a better job of working together.”
“We share many of the same donors and are hearing of some donor fatigue,” said Eric Kirby, president of the Lebanon club Board of Directors. “In the short term, there will be many efficiencies; but longer term, there will be many growth opportunities to serve more kids with higher-quality programs.”