New YMCA strategies afloat in Manatee County

As Manatee County YMCA President and CEO Sean Allison headed into a fitness room at the Lakewood Ranch YMCA, he couldn’t stop smiling.

Orchestrating a photo of elementary-aged summer campers was providing him a treat as they bounced red, yellow and green exercise balls then gladly threw them into the air at his request.

“Here is the difference between everything else and the YMCA,” he said.

With the July 23 announcement that the Sarasota County YMCA would close its two fitness branches — Evalyn Sadlier Jones and Frank G. Berlin Sr. — because of years of operating at a financial loss, Allison said the Manatee County YMCA is in a good financial position and is keeping its focus of serving children and families front and center.

“It’s sad what’s happened in Sarasota, and our heart goes out to any Y that’s going through difficulty,” Allison said.

The Manatee County YMCA reported losses on its tax returns the past two years, but leaders have made changes to ensure the organization stays financially stable. YMCA Association Budget and Operations Executive Shawn Simmons said the Manatee County YMCA, which includes branches in Parrish, west Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch, has cut costs by $602,000 over the past 12 months.

Allison said those savings have been gained by measures including cutting staff salaries, eliminating or restructuring positions

and closing a Y-owned thrift store in February.

“In 2019, because we closed the thrift store, and we made other changes, we’re now operating through the first half of this year with about a $140,000 profit,” Allison said.

The organization’s 990 tax form shows the Y claimed $833,616 as a loss for tax purposes in 2018. However, operational losses were about $400,000, with half from the thrift store. Allison said the remainder was capital depreciation — such as the value of furniture, fixtures and equipment — and amortization.

Allison said he expects depreciation this year to be between $400,000 and $500,000, and the Y’s goal is to cover those losses through the changes it has made.

“We probably won’t be able to cover all our depreciation this year, but we’re on the right track,” he said.

The 990 tax form shows the Manatee County YMCA in 2017 operated at a $525,028 loss. Allison said $480,000 was from depreciation and amortization, operations at the thrift store and substantial scholarships given out at the Bradenton branch.

Allison said that to stay relevant, the Manatee County YMCA needs to keep its focus of serving children and families in need to continue to make adjustments to stay competitive in the market.

In the past two years, Manatee’s Lakewood Ranch Branch has added pickleball within its gymnasium, restructured its swim lessons, enhanced its personal training program, added athletic training, incorporated more academics into its summer camp program and added more services focused on senior citizens, including specialized exercise classes and a weekly Lunch and Learn.

“We have evolved, and we are evolving,” Allison said. “There’s no doubt about that. The core of who we serve is always going to be the family, so that’s never going to change.”

Although Allison does not consider gyms, such as Crunch Fitness or LA Fitness, to be true competitors when considering programming and offerings, he said the Y is competing against their advertised price points.

After the LA Fitness opened in The Green at Lakewood Ranch, just 1.5 miles away, the Lakewood Ranch YMCA saw a 15% decrease in membership. Allison said the organization has created new membership categories and lowered prices to stay competitive. Memberships for young adults up to age 27 cost $27 per month, and a family of two adults and children $75 per month.

Combined with the family atmosphere of the Y, those reductions are drawing members back, he said. He would not disclose the current number of members.

The organization’s tax forms show the shift. Although  membership-related revenue fell 29% from 2017 to 2018, the Y has grown revenue from other programs. That has held the  drop  in overall program service revenue to 3.1% during that time.

Lakewood Ranch resident Kelli Epps, who attends and teaches fitness classes at the Lakewood Ranch YMCA, said the closure of Sarasota’s YMCA is heartbreaking and that it causes her to worry the same thing could happen in Manatee. She said she has worked at other fitness facilities, and although they offer quality programming and are good fitness facilities, they are purely that — fitness centers.

She said the Y stands apart because of its youth focus. Her three children — 12-year-old Colin, 15-year-old Josie and 17-year-old MaryGrace — all come to the Y to exercise and be together.

“It is what sets [the Y] apart,” she said. “There is nowhere else I can take my entire family. Everybody’s got a gym and weights and classes. This is a community. I’m counting on the YMCA to help me give my kids a place to grow up.”

Allison said that’s the sentiment his organization is trying to create.

“I think for [parents], if you have kids, it’s the best place as far as service goes,” Allison said. “We’re not a fitness focused facility.”

As Manatee County talks about creating a regional park facility on land adjacent to the Premier Sports Campus over the next five years, Allison said he’s concerned about how such a facility could impact the Y. 

The addition of the county’s G.T. Bray Park in west Bradenton in 2009, combined with significant demographic changes in that area, have made it tough for the Y to operate successfully. There, 40% of members are on scholarship, and 70% of children in its summer camp programs are on scholarship — scholarships the county itself does not offer to families in need, he said.