YMCA OF NIAGARA- HEALTH, FITNESS, & ACQUATICS ("HFA") MODEL

While students are welcome to look at all aspects of our organization we see as the major issue the declining membership in our Health, Fitness, & Aquatics division. We are a non-profit organization but in HFA we do compete with for profit organizations. We have become vulnerable to these for profit competitors and believe this is a major contributing factor to our decline in membership. All YMCA's throughout the country are experiencing similar declines but the YMCA of Niagara is particularly sensitive to this as HFA's represents between 35 to 40% of our total revenue. In some comparisons we have conducted other Y's % of HFA to total revenue is about 20%. For the period 2014 to 2017 the organization responded to declining membership by reducing costs. For the last 2 years we have intentionally invested in HFA and have had some successes as membership revenue has increased but not at a pace sufficient to offset increasing costs. For example, as an employer of youth Bill 148, which increased minimum wage from $11.60 to $14.00, has had a significant impact on our costs. Despite this we are supportive of a living wage concept and have absorbed these costs as part of our operations. We believe we need to reassess our HFA model to be successful. Currently we have an all-inclusive price which allows members access to all our facilities such as fitness equipment, track, and pool. Our competitors are able to offer a lower price for those customers who may only be interested in the fitness aspect. We also offer flat pricing on family packages with no limits to the number of members in a family. With our current model it becomes difficult to assess the areas within our HFA programs that generate enough revenue to cover the costs. There are of course other factors contributing to the decline such as lack of general interest in fitness. We would like an assessment of the external environment including competitors, local governments and other parties. We would also like an assessment of our strengths and weaknesses and recommendations on how best to operate in HFA considering these factors. Having a successful HFA model would allow to continue to serve the community in our mission of promoting health, mind, and body. All information we have would be readily available which includes all financial and other records and some studies which have been conducted in the last few years.