(soft music) - Welcome to Business Forward.

I'm your host, Matt George joining me tonight Tony Morstatter Tony is the CEO of Boys and Girls Club on Bloomington-Normal.

Welcome Tony.

- Thank you Matt, thank you for having me.

- Well, I appreciate you coming on.

Always have loved the Boys and Girls Clubs and so many great success stories over the years and you'll see those on commercials and PSA's but we're gonna kind of get down to Boys & Girls Club of central Illinois here, Bloomington-Normal, what you do but let's start off talking about you.

You've been in the nonprofit game a while and, what continues that drive inside you to wanna stay in a business like this?

- Yeah, absolutely, I'll tell ya.

Every day we come in and we have the ability to be able to have an impact on somebody's life and to see the laughter and the joy and the energy that our kids bring to the club.

That's what drives and that's what motivates us to do what we do.

- I never talk about what I really do on this show, but running children's home like I do, I have a saying to all of our employees cause it's hard to describe what people do in the nonprofit world.

And so I have a saying that we change lives and save lives every day.

- Absolutely.

- And so you're not just a work in janitorial or a cook or therapist or frontline, you change lives and that's meaningful and that's what you guys do.

- Absolutely, and we do all those other things as well.

- That's right.

And it's needed - Yes - Yeah it's needed.

So most people, when they think of the Boys and Girls Club the first thing that comes to mind obviously is the kids.

- Right.

- And maybe after the kids afterschool programs but really what you do is a whole lot more than that, isn't it?

- Absolutely.

- So talk about some of the things that you do.

- Yeah, I appreciate you saying, we change lives.

really what we do is that laughter and that joy that the kids bring to the club, we want encourage them to continue that, throughout their lives not just at the Boys and Girls Club, what we do as far as program wise is really to provide those opportunities and experiences for the kids.

Many of our kids have a dream, a dream to be a police officer, a dream to be a dentist or a professional athlete.

And if there's only one dream that they strive to accomplish and that isn't successful for them, then what's next?

So providing them with the various opportunities and experiences, whether that be college visits visit to the local trades, laborers.

So that way it gives them those other ideas that they could pursue in their life.

And what we do as a team is we help them develop that confidence and give them that hope that they can accomplish those dreams.

- Yeah, you talked about the confidence a lot of times that is what drives many things, not talking that we understand there's homeless youth.

We understand poverty, we understand home life situations but it's all of these things together.

Confidence is a big one I'm glad you brought that up.

How many kids flow through your agency each year?

- Yeah, we'll talk about a normal year, right?

2020 has presented challenges for all of us.

But in 2019, 2018, we had over a thousand kids that came to the Boys and Girls Club throughout the year.

Now on an average day, 220 to 240 kids come through the doors of the club.

- Yeah, and again go back to the changing lives and saving lives it really does that.

- Yes.

- So when you look at, no matter who's on your team I always say that titles mean nothing in nonprofits to me - Right - But it is about dreams.

- It is.

- And it is your job, my job, it's our, all of our jobs to be able to give these kids a dream and show them that there's something out there for them - Right.

- Now, you touched on something that I found interesting because a lot of times people will talk about, why we prepare the kids for school or higher education but it's not just about higher education, is it?

- Right yes, there are all kinds of opportunities in our world that many of those opportunities we aren't even aware of yet.

So just giving them that skillset, where if they encounter a problem, they can overcome that problem.

Or if they encounter a conflict, they have the skills necessary to resolve conflict.

Not all of our kids believe that college is the next step for them or that continued education.

And if that's the case, we wanna give them those opportunities as well to find what else is out there.

- Yeah, and right now There's not only with COVID happening and there's not only businesses that are closing there's many new businesses coming in.

And so it's our job to prepare these kids for those next steps.

Trades is a huge one.

- Absolutely.

- Healthcare now in middle Illinois has taken over manufacturing and so that becomes a focus, right?

- Yes - So you have your staff and we all know how much we appreciate our team.

- Right.

- But then there's that next level because you can't do it with just staff or team.

- Right.

- You have to have volunteers.

How do you go in a COVID time like this?

How do you capture volunteers?

- Right, it's been a challenge.

Volunteer opportunities are very limited today.

There has to be definitely that level of trust and responsibility with our volunteers because they're entering into an environment where our number one priority is the safety of our kids.

And to allow volunteers in during this time, it's challenging not only for us but for our volunteers as well.

- And the team - Yes, in a normal year.

We have over 400 volunteers that come into the club to support, to build those positive supportive relationships with our kids.

And it has presented additional challenges for us over the past year.

- And so have you just put volunteer programs on hold right now?

If I want to volunteer for you right now What are you telling me?

- It would depend, right?

There are certain things that we can do volunteer opportunities, we do still allow a limited number of volunteers into the club.

All of our learning pods are nine to one staff to member ratio.

So we have to be cognizant of that.

We don't want the groups to become too large.

- Right.

- So really it would have to be give me a call, we'll have a conversation and determine whether today is a good day or if we maybe postponed for a few months.

- Okay, but you're still, just so everybody that's watching you're still in need of volunteers.

You need them in the queue, so to speak.

So when it's go live time, it's go live time.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah, so please go out and volunteer.

No matter what community you're in.

- Yes - I think all nonprofits right now, schools, I just got asked to read virtually to a classroom and it's needed.

- Yes, absolutely.

- So you have a small team.

- Right.

- But it's a mighty team.

- They are.

- Have you during COVID times what have you done to keep morale up?

- Yeah, as I mentioned, the life, the energy of the kids is what drives us.

It's been a challenge.

We see the impact of COVID affecting our kids and our families, but it also affects us as well.

So there's been a number of different things that we've done as a team to keep that morale up, a holiday party.

And we shut the club down late at night our team got together and we were able to celebrate the holidays, additional time off.

I think that mental health for our staff is important too.

- Yeah - If our staff aren't a hundred percent they can't give our kids a hundred percent.

So just that mental health, that safety around that bringing other partners into the club to provide those trainings for our team on Monday, it's a President's day.

We have a member of the Prevent Child Abuse-Illinois coming in to talk to our staff about secondary trauma.

And just to give them some tools and some resources that we can use when we really feel the impact of what our kids bring to the club.

- Yeah, and what's interesting too is in jobs like yours, you usually wake up in the morning and you're ready to fight.

- Right.

- And the reason why is because you fight for people that need help in that fight.

But then when you get to work COVID has brought a whole new bit of compassion to this, to work, and so I think that is it's changed the way I think we all manage - Right.

No matter what business it is, I've had a lot of people sit in that seat that I've talked to but the theme has been the same.

And it's, you need to have, keep the passion for your job, but the compassion for each other.

- Absolutely I love that statement.

- Yeah - We use empathy and grace a lot - Empathy and grace.

Well, I'm gonna steal that oh man, okay, so I like to think, and I want you to kind of piggyback on this and tell me your thought.

I've always thought this past 10 months during COVID that healthcare workers, fire police unit.

They have all done an unbelievable job.

And we hear about that all the time but really the nonprofit sector they're heroes too.

And so I've done three or four interviews as of late to talk about that people don't get into nonprofit work for the pat on the back or the money.

- Right.

- But right now people deserve it.

- I would agree with you.

- Well, your team's listening so you better.

- Yes, they are strong and their strength has allowed us an opportunity to continue to do what we do every day.

And without them, without their compassion for our kids, with their empathy and grace for everything that we're going on through or going through currently, it would be difficult for us to continue.

And I do, I look at them every day as equal as law enforcement, the fire department as the first responders, healthcare workers.

So absolutely yeah.

- And I do too, and I respect all of the above.

I like you do, but it just kind of puts things in perspective.

- Yeah.

- It's humbling.

- Absolutely.

- I read a stat that is very very unnerving when I read the number and I want you to tell me the status right.

- Okay.

- But in afterschool programs, in the state of Illinois there's 430 plus thousand kids that are running through the state, not running through the state that's a bad statement, but that really are looking for something to do, stay out of trouble, be safe.

You use the word safe, let's use that word.

It's a great word, to stay safe until it's time to go home.

Is that correct?

- That number, I think the last time I heard the number was around 455,000.

So we're right on the same number, over the past three and a half years, we've seen it locally.

We've had a waiting list, for kids that wanna be part of the club for families who need that additional support after school.

- Well I can't stand hearing a waiting list.

- I know.

- Because that just means there's not enough resources out there, are not enough but resources don't always mean money, does it?

- No, absolutely not.

- We're talking about true collaboration.

I think a lot of nonprofits do a very average job.

I'm being nice - Yes - Of true collaboration because I think there's a lot more that we can do.

- Absolutely, we pride ourselves in what we do.

- Yeah.

- And we also know that we can't be experts and we can't be the best at everything but there are other nonprofits, there are other agencies corporations out there that do things really well.

And to be able to partner and collaborate with them.

- Yeah.

- That's what our volunteer networks about.

That's why we bring others into our club to provide that expertise that we don't have.

- I think utilization of boards, boards of volunteers.

- Absolutely.

- And so utilizing your board correctly not just as a pocketbook and that takes a talent.

So I think there's a lot of things that we can do and collaboration, so for all nonprofits out there, I think we both agree that it is time when COVID starts going away that we need to re-look at the way we do business.

- Absolutely.

- All right we're on the same page there.

Well, maybe we can do something together.

- That sounds great.

- All right, so community impact 2021, I'm kind of sick of talking about the past 10 months - I would agree with you.

- Okay, so let's look forward 2021 and beyond one of your strategic goals for 21 is inspire empower youth to achieve success.

- Right.

- Did you write that?

- I did not.

We talked about volunteers.

- Right - We have an amazing board that supports us, our team, the collaboration, the collaborative efforts between our board and our team, really helped us put that together.

- And I think teams key here.

So did you look when we started this back in March, when did you realize you had to reset?

- Well March - Okay.

- March really, March allowed us an opportunity.

We had to step back, with all the uncertainty, the unknowns we aligned with the schools, the school districts they're great strategic partners.

And so what we did is we aligned with the schools but at that point we knew that we couldn't just allow our kids, leave them out without having a place to be.

So what we did is we started a weekly food distribution daily so our kids and our families could come in and they could have that warm meal.

We put together activity kits for the kids to take home and keep them occupied during the day a monthly food baskets for all of our families.

So it wasn't just shutting our doors and then hoping that we'll be able to open soon.

We moved forward and continue to help meet our kids and our family's needs during that time.

- And so when you had this pause so to speak and you had to pivot and you change some things the way you did, but as a leader or the leader because really the buck stops with you, quality of programs become something that you have to look into.

And if you have 10 programs, as an example I've always thought to myself, why is one program ranked 10?

- Right?

- How can we do that?

- Yes, absolutely.

- Did you do that?

- We have, that's something that we've implemented throughout every aspect of our business is not only on the programmatic level, but as it on the administrative side as well, we have curriculum, we have programs, but we wanna inspire our team as well, to be innovative, put a twist on it.

- Right.

- Do something that's gonna relate with our kids.

It doesn't have to be ABC out of this curriculum.

- Right.

- So really that's, and then not only be innovative, but let's step back and let's evaluate what happened.

How can we improve upon what we just did?

Or how can we change things up to really make sure that the kids are engaged - Have outcomes.

- Absolutely.

- I mean, you have to look at outcomes in this day and age, it's competitive money out there whether it's donor dollars, corporate dollars, whatever it may be.

But I think outcomes are going to be the shining light of great nonprofits as we move forward even more so than what we have.

- Right.

- So you talked about a waiting list and I go back to saying that drives me nuts, but they're everywhere.

How can you reach more youth than you already do?

- Right, so we've started that process.

We know that there's many barriers in our family's lives and one of our major barriers is transportation.

So, looking at schools, looking at churches to build those collaborative partnerships to utilize some space.

So we have the opportunity to work out at three additional locations outside of our main club ones within a school, Bloomington Junior High School.

We also have partnerships with two churches in the community Second Presbyterian Church, and First Christian Church.

So as we get back to full swing of things and we have that opportunity to serve more kids in addition to that, we're in a building it was built in the sixties.

There are certain things that we try to do.

We talk about quality of programs there's limitations - Yes.

- There's capacity limitations as well.

So we're in the process of launching a capital campaign to build a bigger building to build a more adequate building for - Efficient - Yes efficient is a great term.

- Yeah.

So that's gonna be, one of the primary focuses of mine throughout 2021 we're looking to grow our program and we could potentially double it by the time we get into that building.

- Yeah, I think what's cool about that is, you're doing it at a time where some people are stepping back and saying you know what, it's not the right time.

I disagree, I'm like you right now, now is the time - Right.

Behavioral mental health issues are happening, so how do we build more partnerships?

- Right.

- Right.

You need more space - Absolutely - You need more partnerships.

And then you you've got counseling programs that you do things with.

And then the schools if you're collaborating with the schools, right?

- Right.

- So you need a new building.

- Yes and I agree with you that the time is now, if there's things that keep me up at night, one is the waiting list, that keeps us all up at night.

The other thing is, we are in a pandemic and I think that, our community is very supportive of one another.

And so getting through the pandemic, that's the easy part.

It's what's after the pandemic, what's the impact that this is having on our kids - Yea - On our families, on the economy.

And now is the time to prepare for that after effect.

- Very refreshing thing to hear right now, coming from a nonprofit leader like you, I mean, you really have to look at data right now, right?

And there is a lot of data out there about the social emotional needs or lack of some of the issues out there that are happening.

And these kids now are starting to go back to school.

- Right.

- And my kids that are working or doing school virtual learning, they're driving themselves nuts.

- Yes - And, but not all kids have that opportunity too.

- Correct.

- And so, I applaud you for doing that.

So you kind of let's switch gears now and just totally talk money for a minute.

- Okay.

- Okay, so do you write grants?

- We do.

- Okay, so you write grants, that's a revenue stream - It's - You get whether it's capital campaign or fundraising do you get dollars from national Boys and Girls Club - There's some pass through dollars through national, yes - Pass through - And then United Way - United Way is a community partner, they have restrategized, redirected their efforts but we still work very well with our United Way.

- And then so what other revenue streams do you typically have coming in?

- Yeah, so, looking at the whole picture about 40 to 50% and right now it's probably more like 30 to 40% of our funding comes from State and federal grants.

- Okay.

- 60% of our funding comes from individuals in our community that believe in what we do that support the future leaders of our community.

And then another 10, 15% is corporate donations, corporate sponsorships.

- Grant reporting is tough.

- It is.

- That's a tough subject, but I think, if anybody's out there listening, this is the time that nonprofits, especially small nonprofits they need help.

- Yes.

- And this is one area that we need help overall if the outcomes are good for the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal, then do we really have to have three times the work and reporting that on a quarterly basis?

- Right, well, not only that, but you know, a grant, you never know what's gonna happen with a grant or when that funding is gonna be allocated elsewhere.

We are blessed to be in the Bloomington-Normal community.

And we have over the past five years really made a strong effort in moving away from relying on our grant funding.

- Yeah, so whenever you talk raising dollars, I mean you're talking about a case, you're making a case for this capital campaign.

You have strong community partners.

And I think that is what middle Illinois is all about.

- Absolutely.

- So let's talk about your philosophy with your team or your philosophy on leadership.

- Okay - What do you do when you go into a an average day in the work?

What's your mental health of yourself like?

- Well, every day we have the opportunity to be a leader and this is the same message I share with my kids or the kids at the club, my kids at home we can choose to be a positive leader or we can choose to be a leader that takes others in a different direction.

And so my mental attitude, my mental mindset coming into the office has to be positive if somebody comes in and wants to have a conversation.

And I act as though I don't have the time or I'm not interested, then what mindset does that put them in their mind?

- Right.

- And then to think of how they're gonna go and how they're gonna interact with guests, visitors, volunteers, our kids.

So every day I come in, I have to be positive.

I have to build them up.

And really it's all about listening.

- Yeah.

- Listen to what they need listen to what they have to say and then just provide that guidance and that support.

- Well, and I think when we hear some of the things that we hear, that empathy piece grace and empathy is your term.

Someone may have a death in the family from COVID or whatever it may be, or they're battling themselves.

I think being that compassionate person has really I've taken another growth step, personally.

I know you have to, just by talking to you in the short amount of time you have to go in, even when you're struggling.

- Right.

- You have to go in and kind of reset.

- Yeah.

- Well, the capital campaign is a big one.

And I applaud you for that.

- Thank you.

- The Bloomington-Normal community is very, very special.

- It is.

- Very similar to Pure in a way you've got, a couple of big companies, Corporate 500 and, two great communities.

So I want you to keep up the good work.

- Well, thank you.

- I want you to get off that wait list, right?

And as you continue with your team and as you continue if you need any help from other areas of Middle Illinois I'm a true believer that all non-profits really have to get together and collaborate a little more.

So we appreciate what you do.

Keep caring about our community.

Thank you, Tony Morstatter, Boys and Girls Club Bloomington-Normal.

I'm Matt George.

And this is another episode of Business Forward.

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