Bob Thomas, the new president and executive director of the Winnetka Community House, said he hopes people think of the Lincoln Avenue center the same way they once thought of their favorite teen hangout.
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“You probably hung out in a friend’s basement after school. Why? Because your friend’s parents always made you feel welcome, with great snacks a comfy place to be with people you liked,” he said. “I want the Community House to be like that, to be the location of choice for when people want to have a birthday celebration, or want to learn something new. Let it be like your best friend’s house.”
That description meshes with the mission of the Community House, founded in 1911. According to the organization’s website, it offers North Shore residents educational, cultural, social and recreational programs and classes for children and adults; everything from children’s theater to art classes, fitness facilities, and space that can be rented for birthdays, weddings and other events.
Thomas has been busy since taking the reins of the North Shore institution in mid-July. He has met the Community House’s 15 full-time staff members, and the roughly 45 part-time staff and volunteers who keep the center running, he said, and he has also tried to become familiar with Winnetka.
“I’m trying to meet as many board members, donors, community members, families and people who can enlighten me about what the Community House means to them as possible,” he said. “I’m meeting our constituents because nothing happens while you’re sitting behind a desk.”
Thomas wouldn’t say what his new salary is, but he said his mission with the 106-year-old organization is clear: improving its physical plant (“It’s got wonderful bones, but we need to update them”), educating current and potential patrons about what it can offer them and asking them what they want from it. That includes overseeing programming, staffing and day-to-day operations, he said.
He said his success with each of those tasks depends on letting Community House patrons and fans know their support is crucial. Thomas said even some regular users don’t know how the center operates financially.
The Community House isn’t a village operation, nor is it part of the Winnetka Park District, Thomas said. It also doesn’t get money from the government or grant agency, he said. Donations and the fees patrons pay for center offerings are the sole revenue sources for its operating budget, which he said was $3.3 million for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Roughly one-third of that will come from fundraising, and the final two-thirds will come from program fees, he said.
“Everything we get is 100 percent out of the kindness of supporters,” he said.
Thomas said Aug. 28 he expects to hire a full-time fundraiser.
Carla Vorhees, who headed the search committee that chose Thomas, said committee members and the Winnetka Community House board of governors wanted someone at the helm who could preserve the organization’s legacy while being able to modernize it.
She said Thomas, a Lake Forest resident, familiar with the North Shore and comfortable with Winnetka’s community tradition.
When Community House officials announced Thomas’s appointment, they noted both his time as a senior level executive at Corning Incorporated and PepsiCo, and his runs in the past six years with nonprofits, including by leading the Chicago educational mentoring group Partnership to Educate and Advance Kids and Rainbows for All Children in Evanston.
“We wanted someone who could be quite a visionary,” Vorhees said. “He stood out. He had a not-for-profit and a for-profit background, he had financial strengths.”
Like Thomas, Vorhees, who is also vice-chair and incoming chair of the board of governors, believes the organization must educate patrons and the general public about its financial reality.
People don’t realize that the fees they pay to use the Community House fitness center, or to take courses offered there, comprise the majority of the center’s budget, she said.
“Our not-for-profit identity has gotten lost in the last 106 years,” Vorhees said.
Thomas was the candidate who offered organization members a concrete idea of what he would do as executive director, she said.
“He gave us a compelling ‘First 100 Days’ plan, he knew the names of many of the people in the community who he wanted to meet, and he was the one person who did that,” she said.
Asking users and area residents what they want from the Community House — Thomas plans to use a broad-based survey to do so — will help the organization stay at the heart of the community, Vorhees said.
“We touch thousand and thousands of people who walk through these doors every day, every month, every year, and we want to be sure we’re meeting their needs. Bob will help us do that,” she said.
Thomas himself has no difficulty describing how he wants people to think of the Winnetka Community House.
“It’s a warm welcoming house that has everything you want from a community center,” he said.
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To learn more about the Winnetka Community House, to donate, or volunteer with the organization, visit www.winnetkacommunityhouse.org/.