YMCA, JCC, and Community Center Industry Trends for October
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As nonprofit leaders navigating a season of uncertainty, you’re managing more than ever before. It’s helpful to know where you stand. How does your YMCA, JCC, or community center stack up against your peers?
That’s where we come in. You need trusted information to make smart decisions and tackle whatever may come next. Our monthly Insights andImpact report offers valuable insight into the state of the industry. From membership and registration trends to check-in and revenue tracking, we’ve got the information you need to propel your facility into a prosperous future.
October Overview
As we enter the last quarter of 2020, stabilization is the name of the game. Significant downturns and upticks in revenue, check-ins, membership, and registration have all but disappeared. Membership revenue has stabilized, check-ins continue to tick up to normal rates, and active membership remains nearly the same month over month.
Revenue
Revenue stabilized in October after a surge in early fall from an expected seasonal increase in childcare registrations.
Revenue continues to stabilize from where it was last month. September’s seasonal childcare registration surge has leveled off, and while registration is still high compared to October for 2019, the dip in month-over-month registrations has caused revenue to decrease 19%. Despite the slight drop, revenue is still at a healthy number for recovery.
Key Takeaways
YMCAs, JCCs, and community centers with $9-20M in revenue saw the greatest recovery back to normal, bringing in 90% of revenue inOctober compared to 2019. Membership revenue has been the most volatile over the past few months, but it has stabilized significantly in October with only a2% decrease from September to October. One area where revenue has continued an upward trajectory is in pledges. October saw a 4% increase in pledges. We hope and expect this number to increase in November with Giving Tuesday.
Check-Ins
Member check-ins continue to creep up with a 17% increase in October compared to September.
Check-ins are continuing to trend upward in October across all revenue segments. Check-ins also saw an increase in percent back to normal from 42% in September to 44% in October compared to 2019. Interestingly, virtual check-ins decreased for the first time, yielding a 4% decrease from September to October.
Key Takeaways.
The story for October check-ins remains the same as the last few months. YMCAs, JCCs, and other nonprofit organizations with $0-3M in revenue are continuing to see the second highest number of check-ins, just under those with $20M+ in revenue. They are also seeing the healthiest percent back to normal out of the four segments with 59% of check-ins compared to last year for October. While organizations with $20M+ in revenue are seeing the highest number of check-ins given their size, they are the furthest from back to normal with only 37% of check-ins inSeptember compared to 2019.
Membership
Active memberships saw another dip with a 2% decrease in October compare to September.
Active memberships decreased this month due to an 80% increase in terminations from September to October. Luckily, we don’t see a correlating dip in active membership. This is due to a 20% rise in new joins in October, as well as a 26% decrease in on-hold units.
Key Takeaways
Active memberships have continued to hold steady at around 77-78% back to normal over the last four months. Despite higher-than-usual termination rates, these numbers are encouraging and prove that you are continuing to serve the needs of your community because people are still joining.
Registrations
YMCAs, JCCs, and other nonprofit organizations continue to recover and serve their community through childcare and program offerings.
While childcare registrations did decrease 21% in October compared to September, registrations are still a major player in recovery with childcare numbers at 220% of 2019 and programs at 84% of 2019.
Key Takeaways
Registrations for childcare and programs have supported revenue numbers as organizations pivoted to expand their childcare offerings. While year-over-year numbers are encouraging, seasonality plays a big role in this drastic comparison since traditionally, most registrations happen for childcare prior to the new year starting.