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

That could mean anything from personal thank-you phone calls from corps members to even low-value donors, to attendance at local galas, to membership on local-site boards, to personalized City Year service programs that put supporters on the ground and in the heart of the organization’s mission.

City Year is a single 501(c)(3) organization with 18 sites in 20 communities across the country (plus one in South Africa). Each site has its own executive director (or co-executive directors) and development team, and relies on a combination of self-generated funding and trickle-down from national headquarters. The sites recruit young people ages 17 to 24 (corps members) and set them up as tutors and mentors in local public schools, working alongside teachers in classrooms and after-school programs, as well as in other out-of-the-classroom, community-service projects.