The message of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area (BGCAA) is an important one – the city’s leading youth development agency provides over 12,000 kids each year with hope and opportunity and yet thousands more still need their help. Getting the organization’s voice out into the community effectively has been left to volunteer all-star Mike Coffin for more than 14 years, and over that time Mike has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of his own time – outside of his successful day job – developing a captivating and award-winning message which is now looked at as an example for all Austin nonprofits.

Mike spent the first fifteen years of his career with legendary ad agencies Leo Burnett and GSD&M before launching his own firm in 2001. Shortly after, he attended a fundraiser for BGCAA and before long had joined the board serving as the VP of Marketing. Crafting key messages for every constituency, developing and expanding the BGCAA brand through “out-of-this-world” creative campaigns – Mike’s boundless dedication has resulted in national recognition from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for the areas of advertising and digital marketing.

Over his 14 years of volunteer service (and counting) with the organization, BGCAA CEO Mark Kiester describes Mike as “one of those key volunteers that never misses a committee or board meeting, and is always ready to serve in any capacity. In my estimation, Mike has been one of the single most important factors in our growth from 3 clubs to 26, and from a budget of 1.2 million to 7 million. He’s a brilliantly creative man, an avid advocate who has shared his network with us at every opportunity, and a humble volunteer.” The praise continues from other BGCAA staff, as Julie Barschow says, “The combination of having someone of Mike’s caliber in marketing combined with his passion for helping kids have a better future has been the ultimate blessing for BGCAA. NPOs, especially in Austin (with 6,300+ registered nonprofits), are challenged day in and day out with standing out – because of Mike’s amazing creative ability, we’ve has seen enormous success with building and maintaining an incredibly strong, powerful brand.”