- February 27, 2025
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When two Tampa Bay chapters of the Boys & Girls Club finalized a merger last November it was a decision that was a long time coming, somehow ahead of schedule and ultimately right on time.
Boys & Girls Club of Tampa Bay and Boys & Girls Club of the Suncoast were both staples of the communities each entity served, with the Tampa Bay chapter in the Tampa area in some form since 1926 and the Suncoast chapter in Pinellas County since 1975. Together, the organization is now one of the largest chapters in the country, serving 3,000 kids and teens daily at 42 sites across Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, with an operating budget of $23 million.
Freddy Williams, who grew from a scrappy student at another Florida chapter of the Boys & Girls Club to president and CEO of two branches and, led the charge. He notes this was not the first attempt at a merger; an agreement was drafted in 2000 but by the time everything was in place, a last minute decision was made to back out. The lessons from the merger misfire were used to guide the organization in the effort two decades later.
“A merger can't feel forced, where one organization feels as if one organization is winning or losing,” says Williams, also chairman of the national Boys & Girls Club board of directors. “There's an importance to make sure that there's trust that's built between both organizations and between both staff and board.”
He continues: “The third most important thing was having a North Star. And the North Star for us was, how do we serve more kids because there's a lot of kids that need services, and kind of 1B to that is that the kids that we are serving, how do we ensure they get increased programs and increased services?”
The second attempt at a merger’s genesis moment was a Regional Competitiveness Report that the Tampa Bay Partnership commissioned in 2019. It showed that Tampa Bay had a talent gap — with higher education attainment rates across the board performing below the national average. It was determined that a vulnerable population referred to as “disconnected youth” needed extra help. The demographic is young people ages 16-24 who aren’t working and not in school.
Recognizing the organization’s position to help, the two chapters hosted a community event to determine how to connect floundering young people with local businesses. “What we found was that Boys & Girls Clubs, even though we're two different organizations, we should come together to see how we can solve to create a stronger community in that regard. So we created a joint plan,” Williams says. The plan involved teaching young adults professional skills and creating paths to employment.
“While we started working together, we started developing a very strong working relationship. But also the boards of both organizations started developing a strong relationship,” Williams says.
The bonds of trust were beginning to form — elements that, when absent, can derail a merger.
During this time, the Suncoast chapter formed a partnership, which would become a finalized merger in October 2023, with Earn to Learn Florida, a Fort Myers-based nonprofit that taught financial literacy to the 16-24 age group.
Williams explains: “Recognizing that if Boys & Girls Club Suncoast has this strategic partnership with Earn to Learn, Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay is trying to partner with Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast, we said, ‘what would it mean, and what would it look like if we came together and potentially merged?’”
The next step was a shared services agreement, which became official in November 2023. Williams became the CEO of both chapters, with the Tampa Bay chapter’s interim CEO Larry Bevis transitioning back to the board. This started the merger “completely backwards,” according to Williams.
Immediately the rewards became obvious. Within the first year of bringing the clubs together, daily participation increased by 19%. Williams notes that a 5% year-over-year increase is usually considered commendable.
Originally the chapters had a one-three-five year plan in place for the shared services agreement. The first year would be the introduction of the shared CEO, years two and three would consolidate HR and finance, with years four and five reserved for combining programs and fundraising. After five years, the two groups would consider a merger.
“Because of the natural vacancies that we had, we were able to accelerate that one-three-five plan very organically. And it's interesting looking back, you know, you have these reminders from God, that you're doing the right things,” Williams reflects.
By June 2024, the chapters began the work of due diligence, an analysis of what the impacts of a merger would be for both groups from financial, legal and operational perspectives. “We couldn't find any reason why we should not merge. In fact, the longer we waited to merge, the more likely more kids would slip between the cracks,” Williams says.
While it isn’t uncommon for mergers to come with growing pains and cultural adjustment, Williams credits the board with a big assist. “Everything has exceeded our expectations in terms of the seamless nature, and a lot of that's because of the our talented board of directors," Williams says. "I mean, they just did an absolutely incredible job through not only the due diligence period, but also looking through our integration efforts.”
One example of a transition that could have gone awry but ultimately worked out smoothly was the handling of two qualified chief operating officers. Mandy Taylor held the role with the Suncoast chapter since March 2017, with decades of experience with other Boys & Girls Club chapters. Pat Ryan joined the Tampa Bay chapter in 2022 after serving in similar C-suite roles at nonprofits throughout his career.
The solution? Williams and Ryan collaborated to design a new role for Ryan, who now serves as chief partnerships and growth officer. As COO, his role was more day-to-day operations and managing staff, programming and transportation. Now, “ I'm responsible for all the strategic initiatives of the organization, new program planning,” Ryan says, “We collaborate with everybody. So I lead that, and basically just bring expanded outreach to our kids, so just really good things that our kids are exposed to that they wouldn't otherwise be.”
Ryan is also responsible for all the capital for facility planning and implementation, which includes renovations and new facilities.
It seems that the hardest part is over. The final step in the quest is figuring out a new name. Seeing the success of this merger, other Boys & Girls Clubs chapters are now coming knocking for advice, and Williams relishes the opportunity to dispense wisdom gleaned from the experience to not only them but any nonprofit leaders faced with similar decisions.
“We have that North Star as to how you can deliver on your mission better and more effectively and more efficiently. As you invariably go through the due diligence process and the merger process, you have to make tough decisions, but when you have that North Star on delivering on your mission, it makes those tough decisions easier and gives you clarity as to what the right decision should be,” Williams says.
Part of that involves putting the ego aside and remembering the bigger picture.
For Williams, that bigger picture, that North Star, is serving the youth. And churning out success stories. “I'm so excited to see what they're going to accomplish in our world and in society. They will change the world. I am 100% positive that they're going to change the world.”