Andrea Isita
Retain her part-time leadershipSupport the person leading YTC Mexico, coordinating partners and completing the nonprofit transition.
● Flagship center● University anchor● Active community● Emerging connection· Historical footprint
$50,000 operating campaign · $24,000 raised
Keep YTC working.
Put tools in students’ hands.
Students are teaching across borders, serving their communities and leading their own clubs. Help retain Andrea, cover the organization’s basic costs and equip students for robotics and computer refurbishment.
Keep the bridge open ↓The transition in front of us
The opportunity has outgrown our operating capacity.
YTC is moving from a founder- and volunteer-carried organization toward a durable backbone for youth-led learning. The next domestic step is to prove the approach at two Chicago flagship clubs while global partners continue to shape their own locally led programs.
Andrea Isita, our CEO and Executive Director in Mexico, is guiding YTC Mexico through the final stages of becoming a nonprofit there. She coordinates the schools, instructors and relationships that Dave and Mark cannot manage across a language barrier on their own. YTC can currently afford to pay her only part-time.
Without this campaign, current funds carry the organization only through February 2027. The $50,000 campaign will retain Andrea’s part-time leadership, cover insurance and bookkeeping, and buy the Arduino kits, hard drives and memory students need.
Invest in the person connecting the work
Keep the bridge open.
Invest in Andrea Isita.
Andrea Isita, YTC’s CEO and Executive Director in Mexico, turns relationships into working programs. She coordinates across languages, schools, schedules and borders—helping instructors, local facilitators and partners work together. She currently does this work part-time.
Andrea brings disciplined coordination, thoughtful leadership and a clear commitment to young people. Her work keeps schools, instructors and partners aligned while helping locally led programs grow with care and accountability.
The largest share of the operating campaign will sustain Andrea’s current part-time role. Making her role full-time is a future funding priority.
The 2026 YTC operating campaign
Raise $50,000.
Keep the programs working.
This campaign pays the people and basic costs that connect YTC’s two Chicago clubs with the locally led work in Mexico. It also puts robotics and computer-refurbishment tools directly into students’ hands.
Campaign progress
$24,000 raised$26,000 to go48% of the $50,000 goal
Gifts already committed
Thank you to the people and partners who started the campaign.
- H.B. Fuller
- $10,000
- David Finkel
- $10,000
- Two board members
- $4,000
What the campaign supports
The costs are specific.
Program insurance
Less than $6,000 a yearCoverage for the work across YTC programs.
Part-time bookkeeping
Up to $250 a monthBasic financial administration so volunteers can concentrate on programs and fundraising.
Robotics kits
$2,450 a yearSeventy Arduino kits at $35 each for hands-on student learning.
Computer refurbishment
$3,000 a yearHard drives and memory that let students return donated computers to useful life.
Any balance within the $50,000 goal provides a small operating cushion and supports student experiences and urgent program needs.
The commitment behind the work
Leadership has already built the foundation.
H.B. Fuller has contributed $10,000. Dave Finkel, YTC’s President and Founder, has contributed $10,000. Two board members have contributed $2,000 each. Together, those gifts put the campaign at $24,000 of its $50,000 goal.
Mark Lennon, our Executive Vice President, works full-time without pay and personally covers about $400 each month for the AI, design, media and other online services needed to build websites, develop materials and keep the organization moving.
Dave and Mark also volunteer their time. Since July, Mark has written YTC’s most recent major grant, built four connected websites without compensation and helped move the clubs toward a student portal that can become a shared global template.
That work demonstrates what YTC can build with limited resources. It is not a sustainable operating model. Your support moves necessary costs from personal contributions into a stable organizational budget and gives the team time to pursue grants and longer-term funding relationships.