With nearly 4,000 local affiliates as it celebrates its centennial, Boys and Girls Clubs of America still is learning how to keep everyone funded, happy and on the same page.

By Nicole Rollender

Part of the revamped communications strategy was to ensure all of BGCA’s clubs were communicating in the same way, from using uniform graphics and logos, to speaking the same language with donors. Aschermann, for example, is very serious about the so-called elevator speech.

“What you say in 20 seconds can impact the whole public perception of the national organization,” he says. “We’ve spent a lot of time hitting home to our clubs the elements of BGCA’s elevator speech: This is a building-centered program where paid, professional staff serve kids through affordable and available programs that work.”