Posted: July 30, 2010

By Danielle Walker

danielle.walker@insidebiz.com

David Zobel, an attorney of 22 years with Huff, Poole and Mahoney PC, has taken a one-year leave of absence from the Virginia Beach firm to serve as the executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia in Norfolk.

After receiving the OK from his firm, Zobel stepped into his new role June 21.

Since 1992, Zobel has worked with the nonprofit, finishing a two-year term as president of the board of directors this June. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia has nine club locations including the Eastern Shore, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Franklin.

Zobel explained his plan of action for the new fiscal year, and why he decided to change his focus by leaving the firm.

When did you first become involved with the Boys and Girls Clubs?

The precursor to that is I worked with the Virginia Beach Jaycees from 1985 until 1991 and was the president of that organization from 1988 to 1989. We did a lot of community interest events, particularly for kids with disabilities.

[The Virginia Beach Jaycees] is a group for young people to get grounded in community service. When I aged out of that [position], I was nominated as board director of the Boys and Girls Club in 1992.

How has your work at the firm prepared you for your new role as the executive director of the organization?

The biggest area that I would say helped me prepare for this role is advocacy. As a lawyer, you have to take a lot of info and package it, so that you tell a compelling story.

Now, I'm advocating for the kids out in the community and [to those] who will take my call, to be supporters of the Boys & Girls Clubs. What [the kids] get more than anything else are adult mentors who shape their lives.

What do you plan to do to impact or enhance the organization during your time there?

Number one: Make sure we make enough money to keep the nine clubs open. That involves advocacy, public relations and marketing to make sure we communicate effectively with our donors.

How much does the organization need to keep all nine clubs open?

$1,738,242. We also need to raise another $200,000 in order to get to a balanced budget, but the good news is that [we've already raised] $16,500 in July.

We've got a multipiece puzzle in terms of funding. One of the things we want to make sure everyone knows is, we are a United Way agency. This July through June 30, the 2011 fiscal year, the United Way of Southampton Roads will provide us with $550,000 - the largest single source of our funding.

We also get money from the Southampton County/Franklin and Eastern Shore United Way, and from a variety of foundations like the Beazley Foundation in Portsmouth. [We've gotten] two grants of $47,500 funding per fiscal year as part of a government stimulus package and we do other [fundraising] events.

Are you concerned about what will happen to your client base at the firm, when it's time for you to go back?

What I know today is, I'm in the first month of a journey and I don't know where I will be in that journey when I get to month six or month eight. What I do know is, there is an urgency to this situation. There is an urgency to keeping nine Boys and Girls Clubs open - and to what is happening to the youth in our country today.

I don't say that the Boys and Girls Club will solve everything, but they are a piece to the puzzle. nib