The Boys and Girls Clubs of America are a national label, and are known globally for their outstanding consumer products in youth development. But many people ask, I don't see any BGCA products advertised though? I am only aware of the services they offer. A product can be both tangible and intangible, meaning services can be a company product as well. The BGCA earns most of it's income off of services they provide and events they host, and they receive help from sponsorships. A few recent events and services that gained a lot of hype were: the Money Matters Music Mogul contest (teaches youths how to manage money, along with showcases music talent), The "im" program with help from Micheal Phelps (teaches youths how to swim and support a healthy, active lifestyle), and the 45th Annual Keystone Conference (leadership program). All of those events and services are products of the BGCA and it's sponsors.
What many people do not know about each Boys and Girls Club facility is that they also sell an array of tangible specialty products. These products are very exclusive and limited, and are only found in the club store of each individual facility. Only a few club facilities sell their products online, and the products offered by those facilities derive from that individual club, not from the BGCA headquarters. Since I was a member of my local club in Bristol, Connecticut and the current Youth of the Year - I am very aware of BGCA products.
Here are a few pictures I took of some products I own:
As exclusive as these products are, they don't contribute much to profit (yes, non-profit organizations need profit to stay in business). The sales revenue earned off of products like these are just a small fraction of the quarterly income a club makes, compared to income from sponsors, donations, events, and services. The main reason why is because most of these items just don't sell, and many clubs don't invest money to market these products. Some of these products are even given away as prizes during contests, or put in goodie bags and handed out after events. If any of these products are sold, the little money that is earned is usually invested in small scale items like extra activities for the kids, new game equipment, or snacks before homework time. Customers and myself appreciate how each club focuses more on their services than their specialty products, because if they didn't, they wouldn't probably be out of business.
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