Check Out Our Campaign Coverage in the San Francisco Business Times

Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco’s Brighter Futures Campaign is the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the organization’s 117-year history.  Designed to position the organization for the next 30 years of service to the city, it seeks to raise $38 million to enhance facilities, expand programs and services, attract and retain the best non-profit staff possible, and provide long-term sustainability.  The campaign officially launched at the organization’s annual fundraising event on March 19, 2008. 

The Brighter Futures Campaign is designed to help address the growing challenges facing inner-city children and their families, including staggering high-school drop out rates, gangs, crime, drugs, and juvenile violence.  Campaign resources will go toward giving San Francisco youth the safest and best possible spaces to learn and grow – as well as the experiences, programs, and guidance to help prepare them for their futures.

“The Boys & Girls Club has proven itself.  The people are there.  The infrastructure is there.  The caring is there.  Please consider a contribution.  I have no hesitation in saying this is the best contribution you can make.” 

                                                                       U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein

Among the many important projects included in the campaign are:

• Opening the new state-of-the-art Willie Mays Boys & Girls Club at Hunters Point, which opened in June 2008 (see rendering below)

• Fully renovating the 80-year old Mission Clubhouse (see renderings below)

• Rebuilding or relocating the Ernest Ingold Clubhouse serving the Western Addition

• Making major improvements to Camp Mendocino, BGCSF’s 76-year-old residential summer camp in Mendocino County

• Implementing a new Education Initiative to deepen academic support services at the Club and ensure that all members graduate from high school

• Expanding behavioral health services to employ on-site therapists at five Clubhouses to address the rising epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among inner-city youth

• Launching a new Teen Campaign to improve offerings to teens and ensure they are college bound, job ready, or enrolled in a trade school when they graduate

• Bolstering sustainability to allow the organization to provide generations to come with profound opportunities

• Providing a compensation package that allows the organization to get and keep the best nonprofit staff possible  

 “All of our campaign projects coalesce to help develop a generation of young people who are educated and job-ready, with strong values and great social skills, who will build a healthy workforce and a strong community.”

                                                                           Rocky Fried, campaign co-chair 

                           Willie Mays Boys & Girls Club at Hunters Point rendering

     Mission Clubhouse rendering (exterior)              Mission Clubhouse rendering (interior)

“The early generous support of board members, individuals, foundations and government agencies is inspiring. It shows the value people and institutions are placing on the work we do and their understanding of the desperate situation that exists for many San Francisco youth.”

                                                                     Bob Emery, campaign co-chair

Several key campaign projects are already underway with substantial momentum.  The Willie Mays Boys & Girls Club at Hunters Point, our first clubhouse construction project, opened in June 2008.  To see photos from the event, click here.  Architectural designs for the renovation of the Mission Clubhouse at 901 Alabama are near complete, and construction is expected to begin sometime in the late fall.  Tremendous renovations have been made to Camp Mendocino, with more on the way, as part of an eight-year process of restoring the 76-year-old camp.  In addition, key advancements have been made in the programmatic areas of education, teen services and behavioral health.  

To support the Brighter Futures Campaign, please contact the office of Rob Connolly, BGCSF President at 415-445-5401. To arrange media interviews, contact Denise Cante, Sr. Director of Marketing and Public Relations, at 415-445-5410.

View Our Capital Campaign Video