Nobel Peace Prize laureates
1901: Henry Dunant, who co-founded the Geneva YMCA in 1852 and was one of the founders of the World YMCA, was awarded the first-ever Nobel Peace Prize for founding the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863, and inspiring the Geneva Conventions (Conventions de Genève). He shared the prize with Frédéric Passy, founder and president of the first French peace society.
1946: John R. Mott, US, president of the World YMCA, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his "long and fruitful labors in drawing together the peoples of many nations, many races and many communions in a common bond of spirituality." John R. Mott also played an important role in the founding of the World Student Christian Federation in 1895, the 1910 World Missionary Conference and the World Council of Churches in 1948.
Logo
In 1881, 26 years after its foundation, the official emblem of the World Alliance of YMCAs was adopted, at the Ninth International YMCA World Conference, in London. The circular emblem is made up of five segments, one for each continent. The segments are held together by small monograms of YMCA in different languages. As early as 1881, YMCA leaders believed the Movement could be truly international and united across borders. In the centre is a larger monogram of X and P, Chi and Rho, Christ's name, as used by early Christians. An open Bible sits on top of the monogram, showing John XVII, Verse 21, "that they all may be one". This was to remind YMCAs that Christ is at the centre of the Movement, a source of strength, hope and unity, binding them all together.[114]
In 1891, Luther Gulick, a physical education director at YMCA of the US, introduced a new emblem to represent YMCA, an inverted red triangle. According to Gulick the triangle represented 'the whole man', with the three different aspects: mind, body and spirit.[115] This logo became a familiar symbol of YMCA's work on the home front and around the world during WW1 and WW2, and remains in use.
In 2010, the YMCA of the USA changed its logo to "The Y" as part of a larger brand transformation.[116]
YMCA Vision 2030
At the 20th World Council in Aarhus, Denmark, the global YMCA Movement adopted its first collective strategy, YMCA Vision 2030, intended as a roadmap for every YMCA's strategic goals, closely aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As of June 2023, 75 YMCA Movements worldwide were in the process of implementing YMCA Vision 2030.