One of the stranger habits in the YMCA world is treating price increases like a moral failing. Health and childcare are two of the most valuable services anyone can buy today, but many Ys continue to sell them like they’re running a clearance rack. That might feel virtuous, but it’s not sustainable.
Memberships. Not just opening the doors for a treadmill. Group classes, trainers, child watch, pool access with lifeguards – a community center rolled into one.
Childcare. Ask any parent what they pay elsewhere. The Y is often far cheaper, even while carrying the same payroll and compliance burdens.
Both are premium services. They should be priced accordingly.
When YMCAs do look at pricing, they often take the scenic route:
Market studies. A consultant charges $30,000 to tell you what you could find in an afternoon: your competitors’ rates, median wages, penetration.
Surveys. Asking members if they’d like to pay more is about as useful as asking if they’d like spinach for dessert. Predictably, they say no.
In reality, there’s only one reliable test of what the market will bear: try it. Raise the rate. If it works, keep it. If it doesn’t, adjust. Cheaper than a consultant, faster than a survey, and far more accurate.
Costs don’t freeze just because you’re a nonprofit.
Inflation moves, so your pricing must move. If inflation’s 8%, you go up 10%. A $100 family membership becomes $110, then you revisit it again next year.
Payroll ratchets upward. When you hire new teachers at $15 an hour minimum wage, your veterans at $17 won’t stay put. Everyone’s wages shift.
Scholarships exist for those who can’t pay, allowing you to fulfill your mission for any member.
Ignore these realities and your payroll-to-revenue ratio balloons until you’re losing money no matter how full the building looks.
The best time to reset pricing was post-COVID, when inflation gave you a ready-made story. Some Ys took the opportunity and are fine. Others waited, and now face steep hikes members won’t appreciate.
The lesson isn’t complicated: steady increases in a macro impacted climate are painless. Big catch-up jumps are brutal.
Raise annually, at least with inflation.
Don’t waste money on elaborate studies to avoid the obvious.
Price for the majority, scholarship the minority.
