The Y's Future Impact

With the community context as a backdrop, we seek to increase our impact in the following areas, as defined by Whole Person Health, in the communities we serve, focused on BIPOC and other marginalized communities who need us most.

YMCA Fundamental Approach

Membership, programs, and services on the demographic seam: While many neighborhoods continue to be segregated by race, culture, religion, and economy, YGS creates safe, welcoming places that encourage “all people” to join, engage, and serve their community. The Y builds and strengthens the community by providing individuals with highly diverse backgrounds the opportunity to come together, creating a shared understanding and appreciation for each other’s commonalities as well as their differences. In a time when people and communities are feeling divided, it is more essential than ever for the Y to provide opportunities for building bridges and bringing people together to support each other.

Accessibility: YGS focuses on reaching children and families who “need us the most” because the Y is often the only affordable option. The economic integration of those who are able to pay the full price, with those who cannot is key to the Y’s strategy to “build community” and develop social capital.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity & Justice for All: Seattle and King County’s population is growing and becoming increasingly diverse. Over 50% of children in King County are non-White. YGS continues to expand its efforts to recruit and retain a workforce that is representative of the communities it serves. Providing culturally relevant programs, policies, and practices is critical to ensure that YGS is a friendly and welcoming place for all. The YGS and branch boards, staff, volunteers, and membership must be inclusive and successful in representing their community economically, culturally, and racially.

Innovation: In order to stay relevant to the communities it serves, YGS promotes a culture of innovation. The Y must be able to nimbly respond to the inevitable changes in the community; and will focus on testing new concepts for programs, services, and facilities as opportunities arise.

Key Capabilities

To achieve the mission goals established by Vision 2025, YGS has identified several strategic capabilities to be developed during this time period:

Staff Development and Engagement: Because the Y believes that staff are the most important contributors to its success, YGS will maximize team and individual capabilities to increase organizational capacity and effectiveness. The Y will foster and promote a diverse and inclusive environment that leverages the unique contributions of everyone so that it becomes an employer of choice and is a model to others in the community. We will build our capability across all staff to center equity and justice for all, towards becoming an anti-racist organization in everything we do. YGS will develop and implement a comprehensive, competitive total rewards package that enables staff to live and work in the community they serve.

Operational Capabilities: Because YGS’s growth and diverse lines of service place increased demands on the need for efficiency, flexibility, and accountability, the Y will improve existing and/or develop and implement new operational processes, systems, and metrics to ensure continued mission and financial sustainability.

Financial Capabilities: Achieving our goals requires successful financial management, measurable financial growth to fund increased program and capital requirements, and continued prudent stewardship of donor funds.

Marketing Capabilities: YGS will invest in the marketing systems and talent needed to build awareness, engagement, and demand generation. This investment will enable the Y to reach more community members who can benefit from its programs, support its cause, and contribute to a deeper sense of community.

Data Capabilities: YGS will build new capabilities to collect and interpret data in order to become intimately familiar with our members, program participants, and staff, and develop and deliver programs and services responsive to the communities we serve. New capabilities will include the ability to collect, disaggregate, analyze, and use data to support the continuous improvement of our work, as well as demonstrate our impact and contributions to the community. 

Volunteers & Donors: To build the financial capacity required to serve more people, YGS will implement more advanced strategies and systems that enable the organization to build deep, long-term relationships with a larger group of volunteers, reflective of the community we serve, and donors committed to the Y’s cause.