The Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund is providing an unlimited match to donations raised Saturday evening during the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington’s fundraising event. In total, $2,030,180 was raised to support local Boys & Girls Clubs — all in “maybe 20 minutes,” said Elise Menashe, executive director.
Mark Matthias of Beaches Restaurant announced the match, which had never been done before.
“I think it shocked the whole room,” Menashe said. “I think there were very few people who knew. It was a total surprise to me.”
Matthias said the late Lynches’ dream was that only 10 percent of what was raised at fundraising events went to administrative costs. They appreciated the Boys & Girls Clubs’ efficient operations and wanted to start an administrative endowment fund to ensure the nonprofit’s future.
About 300 people attended Saturday’s event. What was raised by individuals went toward the nonprofit’s general fund as usual. The match, though, will establish a $900,450 administrative endowment fund to help pay for administrative positions, like Menashe’s.
“Ed would tell me that when a Boys & Girls Club was established in our community, it became a light of hope to so many young people within that area,” Jim Mains, the Lynches’ former neighbor and personal assistant, said in a news release. “Youth would find safety and healthy opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be available to them. Ed and Dollie both wanted this fund for the Boys & Girls Clubs because of Elise; they loved her and respected her and the work she did for this organization over the past 15 years.”
Menashe is retiring and said that the organization is wrapping up final interviews with candidates to replace her as executive director.
The nonprofit has six club sites, half of which are in schools, and serves nearly 3,000 children annually. For 17 years, it’s provided after-school and summer programs for youth. As the organization has grown, it’s opened more clubhouses and developed more specialized programs, such as college prep and on-site mental health support.
