Young Mens Christian Association - Essay Example

YMCA YMCA Case analysis Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) is an international federation of autonomousnot-for profit community service organizations that are committed to meeting the human services and health needs of men, women and children in communities. It was founded in England, London in 1844 by George Williams in response to the unhealthy conditions created by the industrial revolution. YMCAs worldwide share a committed of growth in mind and body, spirit, community social change and passion for the youth. YMCA, London was a member of YMCA Canada that oversaw the development of the member association and was governed by board of directors and board members nominated by the associations. YMCA Canada strong position profile is that YMCAs must demonstrate impact on individuals’ spirits, minds, and bodies while ensuring strong kids, families and communities. YMCAs must be valued contributor to communities and influence community relative to its strategic priorities. The YMCAs must has programs that enable members attain their personal goals and assist people to participate in the YMCA and demonstrate growth in participation over time. The YMCA has a culture of member involvement and has identified the audiences and has communication plans to address each audience. The YMCA of London It was founded in 1856 with the mission of providing personal growth opportunities in spirit, mind and bodies to people of all backgrounds, beliefs and abilities. The principles of the YMCA are caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. The association served about 28,000 children annually through childcare and camping at 16 childcare locations, 2 residential camps, summer day camps and after school programs (MacDonald, 2013, p 72). It provided 13,025 heath, fitness and recreation (HFR) memberships for adults and children in 5 branches. It made 2,994 assisted HFR memberships and 1,100 assisted camperships and also assisted 310 children in child care. In 2004, childcare contributed 38 percent of revenues, HFR contributed 27 percent and camping services contributed 16 percent. 90 percent of revenues was contributed by participation fees and programs. Programs contracts contributed 7 percent, ancillary 4 percent, United Way 1 percent, and annual donations 2 percent. There are plans for all senior managers to sign performance contracts on program quality and financial performance. Partnerships have been a critical strategy for long-term success in the attainment of participation of 102,000 individuals by 2010 (MacDonald, 2013, p 79). Major dilemmas facing each of the core service areas Health, fitness and recreation (HFR) The service is offered in five branches that include London Centre YMCA (CBY), Bob Hayward (BHY), East London (ELY) Strathroy-Caradoc Family YMCA (SCY) and YMCA of Woodstock and District (WDY). The youth programs are costly and generate lower fees and children’s programs often run at a loss. There is a challenge in attracting full-fee adult members and potential of market growth is limited. There is high competition from private providers such as Good Life clubs (37 percent market share) and Athletic Club (22 percent market share) and new entrants such as Premier/Mademoiselle have increased competition. The HFR facilities are ageing and need refurbishment, wheelchairs and maintenance to maintain modern standards. There is lack of pool services in some HFR locations and standardisation of the services due to numerous service units that have duplicated the operating costs (MacDonald, 2013, p 79). Childcare services The service is the largest source of revenue, but most are the services take place in leased premises (MacDonald, 2013, p 81). Lease expenses consume most of the revenues. The infants are costly to serve due to numerous regulation and laws on staff-to-children ratios by age, food preparation and physical space design. There is competition from London Children’s Connection and London Bridge. Low staff wages is a challenge and lack of coordination among the centres due to non-standardisation of some operational procedures (MacDonald, 2013, p 82). Camping and outdoor education The YMCA is experiencing inability to attract campers from low-income families contrary to its core mission and principles of caring for the poor. There is a high cost of leasing Parks Canada’s Camp Queen Elizabeth. There is low demand of camping services among older youths. The community school program is funded by Unity Way and may not be sustainable if the funding is withdrawn (MacDonald, 2013, p 82). There is controversy over the management of Children’s Safety Village site that has reduced the brand awareness and reputation of the YMCA. The promotional and sale activities are not integrated thus leading to inconsistencies in accounting and service quality. Action that Elliot needs to take to grow YMCA In HFR programs, Elliot should partner with City of Woodstock to develop new modern facility and partner with City of London to develop new facilities in London North and West ends. The development of new facilities will improve the retention ratios. The HFR programs should be diversified other value-based programs such as weight loss, and cardiac rehabilitation in order to attract new members (MacDonald, 2013, p 80). The service will need to higher new qualified staff and increase the number of permanent employees. Accordingly, there is a need of centralization of the operational functions such as hiring, program development and purchasing in order to ensure uniformity of the quality of services across all HFR program locations and minimise the operating costs. Elliot must provide additional incentives in order to retain the qualified staff and implement YMCAs Canada staff hiring and training standards. Elliot will have to provide pool services in Strathroy and support the improvement of services (MacDonald, 2013, p 81). In childcare services, YMCA, London should continue offering the High Scope curriculum and HFR membership for full-time child, discounted summer day camps, parent advisory and HFR family memberships (MacDonald, 2013, p 81). Elliot should consider expanding the unexploited rural communities and improvement of the staff wages. The YMCA need to explore partnership opportunities and constantly monitor changes in government policies ion order to attract subsidies from the various government agencies (MacDonald, 2013, p 82). In camping and Outdoor Education, Elliot must ensure the governance of Children’s safety Village is transferred to the YMCA in order to improve YMCA brand image (MacDonald, 2013, p 83). Elliot will have to diversify to the programs in order to cater for the older youths. Elliot should not sell CQE Outpost site, but must instead invest in own facility that will ensure any future increase in demand in services is catered. In addition, Camp Queen Elizabeth must be renovated (MacDonald, 2013, p 84). The board of directors has unequal representation across all service segments and Elliot must increase the representation of directors from the Childcare services and camping and outdoor education. Elliot must concentrate on strategic management issues and delegate the business develop,ent and operational issues to the unit managers. In this case, some senior management from HFR will have to be retrenched in order to control the costs. Elliot should explain his vision to the affected senior managers in order to ensure the acceptance of change. The changes should be incremental. Conclusion Strategic partnerships, enhancement of staff skills, better remuneration and alignment of the business units and operational functions will cut down operating costs, increase staff satisfaction and retention and increase the membership. The YMCA will be able to increase its revenues from differentiated services and service quality consistency. New business streams are needed in order to ensure higher usage and retention of the members. Reference: MacDonald, P. (2013). YMCA of London, Ontario. In W.G. Rowe and M.C. Dato-On (Eds.), Introduction to Nonprofit Management: Text and Cases (pp. 70-85). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Read More