Meet The Man On A Mission To Create A Sense Of Achievement, Belonging, And Friendship For Youth
Michael Rinner remembers the moment it clicked for him that technology could bridge the gap between operations, media, and mission at the YMCA. As a former marketing lead and now Director of Technology & Business Intelligence at YMCA of Snohomish County, Michael has seen firsthand how telling the right stories can amplify a nonprofit’s impact. In an organization where 90% of staff work directly with children and families (and only 10% are in support roles, such as IT or marketing), keeping the focus on those real frontline stories is paramount.
“It’s so important for our support roles to recognize that what we do in our branches is what this whole thing’s about,” Michael says – underscoring that tools should empower staff on the ground to share their experiences.
One story in particular drives Michael’s passion for mission-first storytelling. During the COVID shutdowns, a long-time YMCA member with a degenerative muscle condition lost her only outlet for exercise when the Y’s pool closed. When the facility finally reopened six months later, she was the first person to return to the water. “Life-saving” is how she described being able to return to the pool, a testament to the vital role the Y’s services play in the community. Stories like these fuel Michael’s determination to capture authentic moments and share them with the world.
Fortunately, the YMCA of Snohomish County is filled with such inspiring stories. The Y is a cause-driven nonprofit supporting youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. They serve communities through six membership branches, dozens of childcare sites, various youth programs, and an affiliate partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Snohomish County.
Michael’s team supports these programs behind the scenes, and his belief in mission-first media, ensuring that media serves the mission, directly influenced his search for the right tool to manage their growing collection of photos and videos. That search led him to Playbook.
Together with Playbook, Michael and his team have achieved some impressive wins:
- 5–10 hours saved per week during the busy summer camp season.
- A drastic reduction in stock photo use, as the team now taps into a rich archive of real local images.
- Streamlined media permissions for youth photos, virtually eliminating privacy compliance risks by clearly separating what can be shared internally vs. publicly.
How did they get there? Michael’s journey unfolded in four chapters: a daunting challenge, an innovative solution, tangible results, and some powerful takeaways.
Too Many Photos And Nowhere To Put Them
Like many organizations, the YMCA of Snohomish County was drowning in media before Playbook entered the picture.
“We had SD cards with pictures. We had an on-prem server that our teams could inconsistently access... We had SharePoint sites, but those tap out at 100 gigabytes. That wasn’t working. We had stuff spread across our graphic designer’s local storage, my laptop, our marketing team – in short, it really was just everywhere,”
Michael recalls the pre-Playbook days. Photos and videos from events were living in a chaotic patchwork of devices and drives. The team would snap amazing pictures during summer camps or youth programs and post a few to social media, but afterward, those files often languished unseen in random folders. There was no single source of truth for the Y’s media assets, and certainly no easy way to find and reuse them for future campaigns.
More often than not, they’d default to generic stock images rather than spend hours digging around. The storytelling gap was real: despite thousands of photos on file, the YMCA’s true impact wasn’t always shining through in marketing materials, simply because the real photos were too hard to find.
Worse, there was no reliable system in place to respect photo permission levels at scale – a significant issue, given the YMCA’s emphasis on child safety and privacy.
Michael explains that parents can choose one of three media permission tiers for their kids:
- No photos at all.
- Photos OK, but only share them privately with our family.
- Full permission to use photos publicly.
Keeping track of these preferences across hundreds of camp pictures was a logistical nightmare.
“For a long time, it was really difficult to keep those three tiers organized.”
Camp staff might diligently avoid snapping pics of children with no-photo status, but once the images reached marketing, how could anyone be sure which photos were cleared for public use? There was a constant fear of inadvertently using a photo without the proper release – a mistake with serious ethical and legal implications.
The Breaking Point
One flagship project exposed just how unsustainable this process had become. Each year, the Y produces a large camp brochure featuring smiling campers and triumphant outdoor adventure shots. But without a clear system, creating this brochure was “hugely inefficient”.
“The old process would be: we’d design a big camp brochure, a huge spread, and we would use pictures. Then we’d have a couple rounds of reviews where our camp directors would have to say, ‘Oh, actually, we don’t have that kid’s permission,’ or ‘I can’t remember this kid’s name’,”
It was an embarrassing and time-consuming scramble that could delay projects for weeks. Multiply that headache across every event and program, and it’s easy to see why Michael and his colleagues were desperate for a better way.
In short, the YMCA had too many photos and nowhere to put them – no centralized, accessible hub to organize their media or to enforce those all-important usage permissions. Something had to change, and it had to change fast.
Solving The Camp Media Problem Once And For All
Faced with mounting media chaos, Michael went looking for a solution that could tame the mess and give his team some peace of mind. As a tech-savvy leader (with a self-professed picky streak when it comes to software), he evaluated all the usual suspects in digital asset management (DAM). None quite fit the bill.
That’s when Playbook caught his eye. From the first trial run, it was clear this wasn’t like the clunky, overly corporate platforms they’d seen before.
“We tried all the big products and felt like Playbook was absolutely the best value and the most modern user experience for our team. It didn’t take very long after signing up and uploading a couple of photos to know, OK, this feels like a 2024, 2025 product,”
In other words, Playbook was built for the modern era; clean, fast, and intuitive – and it instantly resonated with the YMCA team.
The platform’s clean interface and simple, visual organization meant even non-designers felt at home quickly. Playbook also offered flexibility: the marketing team established a top-level folder structure (so everyone knows where to put and find things), but beyond that, individuals were free to use tags, comments, and even Playbook’s AI-powered search however it suited their workflow.
This balance fit the YMCA’s culture perfectly. Most importantly, Playbook gave the Y a single, central home for all their media.
“It’s been a lot simpler now that we can say, hey, this is our one place. This is the place that media belongs,”
The first thing the team did was upload their existing asset libraries into the new system. From that point on, whenever staff at an event snapped new pictures, they knew exactly what to do: add them to Playbook. Even staff and volunteers without Playbook accounts could contribute thanks to a handy feature: upload links. That was a game changer.
“Prior to that, we’d get some staff emailing photos, some sharing a OneDrive link, some sending files via Microsoft Teams… It was all over the place. Playbook’s upload links have really streamlined a pain point for us,”
Now, no more hunting through emails or chat threads for stray images, everything flows into one accessible hub.
Camp Media Made Easy
Nowhere did Playbook’s impact shine more brightly than with the YMCA’s summer camp media workflow. Camp photos went from perennial headache to polished system.
Here’s how it works: for each week-long camp session, the camp staff creates two boards in Playbook.
One is a private, password-protected board for camp families, where they upload all the photos that are approved for sharing with parents. At the end of the week, families receive the link and password to the board, allowing them to browse and download wonderful, candid snapshots of their kids canoeing, climbing, and crafting - all those camp memories that parents cherish.
Because the camp counselors upload photos to Playbook throughout the week, by Friday, not only are parents’ photos ready, but marketing’s photos are also ready. The counselors simply tag or copy any images that have full public permission into a second board designated for the marketing team.
In this “marketing-approved” board, the YMCA’s marketers can instantly see the curated subset of photos that they know are cleared for public use. There’s no ambiguity: if it’s on the marketing board, it’s fair game for Facebook posts, brochures, flyers, and so on. Playbook has essentially built permission compliance into the workflow.
This new system didn’t just make life easier for the marketing department; it also empowered the frontline camp staff. Instead of dumping a memory card on someone’s desk and hoping the right photos get used, the counselors themselves now play an active role in the storytelling process. “The thing I hear most from our staff is about how Playbook has really solved camp pictures for us.”
With Playbook, those counselors can upload and organize photos in real time, correctly slotting each image into the appropriate board. By putting a user-friendly tool directly in the hands of the people closest to the action, the YMCA removed bottlenecks and ensured greater accuracy. The marketing team no longer has to play detective to figure out a photo’s backstory. The people who took the photo have already handled that, thanks to Playbook.
From scrambling with assets to seamless camp photo ops
With Playbook in place, the YMCA’s media operations have transformed from a scramble to a smooth engine. The tangible improvements were felt almost immediately. During the summer camp season, Michael estimates his team now saves “easily 5 to 10 hours a week” that would have otherwise been spent wrangling photos and chasing permissions.
Throughout a busy camp summer, that adds up to dozens of hours saved, time that staff can now devote to higher-value tasks like engaging with the community or creating new content, instead of clicking through files and sending reminder emails.
Projects that used to drag on (remember that camp brochure?) are now delivered faster and with far fewer hiccups. Hours of tedious back-and-forth have been eliminated simply because everyone knows exactly where to find the assets they need and which images are approved to use.
Another dramatic change has been the near-elimination of stock photo usage. In the past, when the team couldn’t quickly locate a suitable YMCA photo, they’d begrudgingly turn to stock photography to fill in the gaps. Not anymore.
“We actually don’t really use stock photos anymore,”
Michael says, noting that an organized library of real YMCA moments means there’s almost always an authentic image available for any given need. In fact, he’s noticed a qualitative difference in their outreach:
“The data shows that when we use pictures of people from our community and families from our community and spaces in our community, they perform much better,”
Engagement is higher when the visuals are recognizably the Y. By investing a little time upfront to organize and tag their media, the team has made it effortless to find those impactful photos later. Michael can scroll through the Y’s recent social media posts and see the shift – fewer generic placeholders, more real faces. It’s not just a cosmetic improvement; it’s helping the YMCA tell a more genuine story, which in turn resonates more strongly with their audience.
Internally, the day-to-day workflow across departments has also improved. What was once a major hurdle – media, assets, and brand materials scattered in ten places – has now become an engine for productivity and creativity. Designers can quickly locate, resize, and repurpose graphics or photos without having to dig through network drives. The marketing team no longer fields constant requests for “Can you send me the logo? Do you have a photo of last year’s fun run?”.
Now, other staff can self-serve by hopping into Playbook (via a share link or view access) and grabbing what they need, confident it’s the up-to-date version. Branch leaders, as mentioned, receive curated collections of photos to use in their local newsletters and social media, empowering them to engage their communities with relevant content.
Emotionally, the staff feel the difference too. Instead of seeing their hard-captured photos disappear into a black hole, they now see those images celebrated and widely shared. A camp counselor might photograph a shy child on Monday overcoming their fear on the high ropes course; by Friday, that photo is not only in the parents’ hands as a treasured memory, but maybe it’s also headlining the YMCA’s fall program flyer or lighting up Instagram with a success story.
The mission shines through every image. As Michael observed, those genuine moments of achievement, belonging, and friendship are finally front and center, doing the work they were always meant to do – inspiring the community and showcasing the YMCA’s impact. Media has become “an engine instead of a hurdle” for the organization’s various teams, propelling their marketing and communications to new heights.
It’s worth noting that the YMCA’s use of Playbook continues to evolve in inspiring ways. In 2023, the organization ran its first full season of Camp Casey, a historic YMCA camp facility with military roots that has been given new life serving the community. Michael’s team used Playbook to document the site’s transformation, capturing before-and-after photos, ongoing renovations, and the smiles of campers experiencing Camp Casey’s “new chapter” for the first time.
These images aren’t just useful for immediate marketing; they are being saved as part of the YMCA’s visual history. It’s evidence that Playbook isn’t just solving today’s problems – it’s helping build a living archive for the future. In Michael’s words, “Playbook is, without a doubt, a long-term archival and storytelling platform.” By transforming what was once a jumble of files into an organized treasure trove, the YMCA is actively building a visual legacy for the next generation.
Building a visual legacy
For Michael Rinner, adopting Playbook was about more than just tech for tech’s sake. It was a strategic move to strengthen the bridge between media and mission. He has learned that a well-organized media library can have a significant impact on a nonprofit’s ability to tell its story and rally support.
In other words, investing effort in organizing and managing media isn’t a distraction from the mission; it’s an enabler of the mission.
“When we take the time to organize our content, we get better at storytelling, which advances the mission... It’s a virtuous cycle of telling the story, impacting people, and getting more people in our programs.”
Michael’s experience has also shifted his perspective on technology leadership. He advocates for tools that democratize content creation and sharing, rather than ones that only silo control within the IT or marketing departments. In fact, his advice to other nonprofit leaders is straightforward: empower the frontline.
The people who are actually running summer camps, teaching swim lessons, or organizing community events are witnessing the magic moments first-hand. By providing those people with an easy way to upload and share media (rather than expecting them to hand everything over to a specialist), you ensure that the best stories are collected at the source. This philosophy is exactly what Playbook’s user-friendly design enabled at the YMCA; it shifted power outward to the edges of the organization, where the mission is actually carried out every day.
Ultimately, what Michael and the YMCA have built is a robust, people-powered content engine that balances both operational efficiency and the heart of their mission. By solving the concrete problems of media chaos and permission tracking, they unlocked new potential to celebrate their community’s stories. It’s a solution that feels, as Michael put it, very much “2025” – modern, clever, and human-centric.
Ready to Start Your Own Visual Legacy? The YMCA’s journey is a compelling example of what’s possible when the right tool meets a passionate team. Start building your organization’s visual legacy today – book a free demo of Playbook to see how it can empower your team to capture and share the powerful stories that need to be told, so your mission reaches more people, more effectively.