CASE STUDY: YMCA

YMCA

The YMCA is the nation’s leading nonprofit committed to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Long a fixture in Oshkosh, the Y is one of about 2,700 separate local entities of the YMCA of the USA. The Oshkosh Community YMCA’s purpose is to enhance lives by providing quality programs and facilities which will develop and maintain Christian values and ideals. It believes that a strong community can only be achieved when it invests in its kids, its health and its neighbors.

The Oshkosh YMCA regularly calls upon Image 360 to not only promote its programs and facilities, but to visually create those messages that are intrinsic to people learning, growing and thriving.

BANNER PROGRAM

No person shall ever be denied the services of the YMCA for financial reasons, and financial aid to individuals is provided by YMCA contributors. Contributors —individuals and organizations from within the community—also subsidize much of the cost of the Y’s programs. Those contributors are recognized and rewarded with banners created that bear their names, which are then hung throughout its facilities. The YMCA needs a partner to produce the hundreds of these banners, and Image 360 is that partner.

With thousands of people each year walking through the Oshkosh Community YMCA facilities, what better way to show a commitment to the community than through the Y’s on-going banner program?

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

After several years of talk about the inadequacies of the downtown facility, the YMCA eventually decided on a 55,000 square foot addition to and a remodel of that location. In January 2016 the staff launched a Downtown Capitol Campaign with a goal of $15 million [of which 10.7 million had already been raised] with the construction project to begin that summer.

This was a major capital campaign for the city of Oshkosh, and again Image 360 was to play a part in the project’s eventual success. Since donors who pledged certain amounts had the opportunity to name rooms and areas of the building, dozens of signs, wall graphics, and visuals were produced to recognize them and their efforts. These items, created and installed by Image 360, can be seen throughout the now completed facility.

YOUTH SPORTS

A major part of the YMCA’s focus on youth are reflected in its youth sports programs. A look at the statistics for the year 2018 are astounding: 4,399 school-age kids participated in youth sports programs, 3,900 pre-schoolers attended sport and activity programs, over 500 youth took tennis lessons, 150 swim year-around on the Y team, and the list goes on! Here too, Image 360 plays a role, developing signs, posters and banners promoting their programs and events such as the annual Mud Run for Kids.

The Oshkosh YMCA has always invited people of all ages to come together to grow stronger and get connected to the community. The core values of all its staff are always evident—caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. As it continues to provide signs, graphics, displays, awards, and commemorative items to the Y, Image 360 believes it shares those same values in its community relationships.

“Working with Image360 has been an absolute pleasure and we cannot recommend Tim and his team highly enough. Not only do they produce amazing quality work, they also connect and communicate with us to make sure they are meeting, and most times exceeding, our needs. We are not another project to them, but a customer that they care about and that makes a world of difference. Now that Crown Trophy and Image360 are under one room – it’s even better! It’s a one-stop-shop for everything we need. As a non-profit here in Oshkosh we enjoy supporting our neighbors and local business here in town and Image360 is one of them!“

– Abbey Burlingham

Mission and Brand Enhancement Director, YMCA Oshkosh