Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Microsoft provides BGCA with technology, expertise, and resources to help young people achieve their dreams, and innovative and strategic technology-based solutions to run local clubs. Microsoft employees are very active at local Clubs as volunteers, board members, and mentors. At the national level, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division, serves as chair of the board of governors.

In June 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was given the BGCA "Champion of Youth" Award to recognize 10 years of partnership between the club and Microsoft.

Club Tech Program

Club Tech makes technology training available to 4.5 million children in more than 4,300 locations across the country and on U.S. military bases abroad. Club Tech teaches youth essential digital skills through fun, interactive lessons, available at www.myclubmylife.com. Club members are encouraged to apply their skills and create original digital media, such as Web sites, music, movies, and photography as part of Club Tech’s Digital Arts Festivals, which are held annually.

Club Tech provides children of all ages, and from all backgrounds, the resources and skills they need to showcase their creativity, perform better in school, and eventually take their technology know-how into the workplace. Many Microsoft employees are proud to be a part of the Club Tech program, volunteering their time, expertise, and energy to help Club Tech.

The annual Digital Arts Festival challenges young people from around the world, ranging in ages from 10 to 18-years-old, to use technology to create photo illustrations, usic, films, graphics, and Web sites based on an annual theme.

The winning projects are inspiring, and they showcase creativity and technical skills children learn through the club’s technology training services. These young people are future graphic designers, filmmakers, photographers, writers, Web developers, and musicians.

• Learn about the Digital Arts Festival

Technology Infrastructure at BGCA

According to John Goslin, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Boys & Girls Clubs, technology in general, and Microsoft support in particular, are important to BGCA's past, current, and future successes. These tools are mission critical in executing BGCA's strategic objectives as outlined in the Impact 2012 program: Impact with Growth, Stronger Organizations, Beyond Our Walls, and Public Trust.

Boys & Girls Clubs is "all" Microsoft in its technology—or about as close as any organization can practically be.

• The national organization uses Microsoft technology to support staff members at headquarters in Atlanta, a government relations office in Washington, and five regional offices.
• About 400 staff members are served with more than 500 laptop and desktop computers, and more than 100 servers.
• BGCA uses Windows operating systems; and Active Directory Domain Services manages user access and permissions.
• Business productivity tools powerfully enable BGCA’s staff to fulfill its mission.
• Exchange Hosted Services provides a vivid example of how business productivity works: in 2007, more than 42 million external e-mail messages were sent to Boys & Girls Club addresses. More than 95 percent were tagged as spam and filtered out. The remaining more than 2 million e-mail messages, along with another 6.5 million internally generated e-mail messages, were delivered to BGCA staff—productivity without distraction.
• BGCA's technical platform for application system development is highlighted by these Microsoft products:
  • Microsoft Visual Studio (development platform)
  • Microsoft .NET Framework (programming model)
  • Microsoft SQL Server (data management) for delivering relevant information where needed across movement, empowering all users with relevant reports, and managing and scaling any reporting workload
  • Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies for bringing people together, providing access, and sharing best practices—all through collaboration, content management, Web communities, and Web sites
  • The Boys & Girls Club of King County uses Microsoft Exchange Server to communicate and collaborate with their 30,000 members and to enhance the experience of children at clubs across the United States.

Few institutions can boast an alumni list that includes Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan, Brad Pitt, and Bill Clinton. There are even fewer that have positively affected the lives of young people for over 100 years. But that is exactly what Boys & Girls Clubs of America has been doing. BGCA challenges children to "Be Great," while providing a supportive environment that fosters learning and development for Club members, staff, and alumni. BGCA's incredible work is helping children across the United States and on U.S. military bases around the world reach their potential.