The Sun Is Shining Somewhere

2009 was a great year for the YMCA in Seattle, and nationally. The Seattle chapter raised $40 million in its capital campaign, including $2 million in matching grants from the Kresge Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is difficult to do, very difficult. What might be of greater interest, since all this talk about other people's money is making me sad and envious, is the news that the YMCA of the USA has the nations's most valuable nonprofit brand, worth $6.4 billion. This according to a survey that uses brand image, 2007 revenue and potential for future growth to calculate value.

It's Not All Dreaming

It's a thrill always having something to do, whether it be creative private, creative public or creative relationship. They're all intertwined. The question is, for the outsider looking in, where is it going? Lately, it's been going straight ahead. Stunning, Stimulating and Satisfying. But it's coming off a fallow period where all the work felt like it was for me alone and it was a drag, with no way out. Now I see a positive way to move, and it's not all dreaming.