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At Youth For Tomorrow, weathering the 'economic tsunami' is about more than money
Youth For Tomorrow in Bristow is no different than most American employers in that the state of the economy has directly impacted the organization's bottom line.But this company has a different risk to consider than just meeting quarterly revenue projections. Deciding who stays on staff and who goes can directly affect those the nonprofit company sets out to serve: at-risk children who, in many cases, have nowhere else to turn than YFT.
Late last month, Youth For Tomorrow CEO Gary Jones, sat down for a one-on-one interview to discuss how the national economy has affected his organization and what is being done to make sure the kids at the YFT campus still receive the services they need.
Jones said enrollment is down at YFT from a year ago as the campus serves 61 students compared to the 68-70 from last year. Those numbers are not nearly as bad as the 30- to 50-percent enrollment drops at similar facilities throughout the commonwealth.
It all comes at a time when the state government has been moving to place at-risk kids in community-based service groups instead of residential facilities like YFT.
The company's program budget for services directly related to the kids is $6 million to $6.5 million with an additional $1.3 million to $1.5 million for facility operations. That money comes from donations and fundraising, which took a 5 percent hit in October at the Country Fair and Auctions, but rebounded in February at the Sweetheart Ball with a 4 percent increase.
The real test, however, will be the Burgundy and Gold Banquet on April 15 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner. Jones explained that "We are being impacted with this Burgundy and Gold Banquet" as far as preliminary ticket sales go.
Unlike the last two major fundraising events, this one has not been isolated from the national recession.
"Frankly, the first organizations that feel a recession are charities because the first thing that drops out of a corporation's budget are charitable ... donations," Jones said.
"We have cut salaries. We have cut furloughs. We have increased staff contributions to health insurance premiums. We have stopped payments to the 401(k)s. So we have done several things to make sure that we have been able to maintain the quality of our program."
Staffing cuts of about 30 percent have been made to various sectors of the company, including residential staff, counseling and educational faculty. All this has been done, however, with an eye toward limiting the staff reductions with those who directly interact with the kids the most.
For instance, there were two teaching vacancies last summer that Jones simply opted not to fill instead of having to fire someone else.
"With a smaller enrollment, we didn't need quite as many people in residential," he said. "So we have kept the house parent structure here."
There have been reductions in campus operations staff.
"It's uncomfortable for any director of an organization to have to call upon the staff to make sacrifices, financial sacrifices. And yet you know that it must be done to protect the financial stability to the organization that we serve," said Jones.
Fortunately for Jones and YFT, the company's donors as a whole have prevented further cuts. Substantial donations are still coming in. One large donation from a group in Fairfax helped fund a recreation center for students so they can socialize in a non-residential setting.
"We know that it's difficult for our donors to continue to support us at the level they have been supporting us and yet we still have to ask them for continued support. We have been really blessed with a phalanx of faithful donors to Youth For Tomorrow over the years and they have stuck with us through this economic tsunami that we're experiencing," said Jones.
Further donations are also going to help implement new programs at YFT, such as New Mommy and Me, which focuses on supporting pregnant teenagers. Another program soon to launch will help girls who have given birth stay on the campus with their children.
Despite the tough economic climate, Jones ultimately expects YFT to weather the downturn.
"We are here to stay. We are financially strong and we have faithful donors and we have a strong reputation in the ... residential care industry that motivates people to send children here," he said.
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