City Year transforms the lives of two distinct sets of constituents — but it doesn’t stop there. Relying on powerful stories to engage them, it also transforms the lives of donors.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

The real challenge for City Year, Gordon says, lays in simply increasing brand awareness and standing out from the crowds of nonprofits operating in City Year site cities.

“I’m spoiled. I’m here in Boston. We were founded in Boston. So, I kind of thought that the whole world knew about City Year,” Gordon says, intimating that recent research on brand awareness suggests differently. “But City Year is entering Miami this year, entering a space that’s very competitive with lots of nonprofit organizations, with lots of nonprofits working with youth, working in the education space.