Refining the Maryland YMCA's focus

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Mar 9, 2007 by Andy Rosen

When John K. Hoey talks about the future of the YMCA of Central Maryland, he does so with a flair for finance, in terminology that seems to come right out of the for-profit business world.

Using dynamic, sweeping hand motions, Hoey, 47, talks about the need to diversify the portfolio of the organization that he took over in May, decreasing reliance on federal grants and increasing revenue from memberships and charitable gifts.

"You think of it almost like an investment portfolio. We're overweighted in that area, so we want to reduce our exposure," he said. "We want our total portfolio to be bigger, but we want more of it to come from traditional consumer sources."

If Hoey sounds like a businessman, that's because he is one. Before he became the president and CEO of the YMCA, Hoey spent 11 years as an executive with Laureate Education Inc. and Educate Inc. Both of those companies were spinoffs of Sylvan Learning Systems Inc.

But the corporate world and the not-for-profit industry are not so different. In both cases, organizations have to grow and adapt to changing environments. All businesses continually strive to meet the needs they exist to serve.

The YMCA is expected to announce today a new strategy for organizational growth and change, which Hoey has been working on since he arrived. The nonprofit is looking to double its size over the next decade by raising awareness of the YMCA, expanding and streamlining its offerings, and growing its outside contributions.

The YMCA is refining its focus, Hoey said, to concentrate on three distinct "product segments": child care and family services, health and wellness, and sports and camping. By emphasizing its strength in those areas, he said the organization can claim a leadership role in what has become a competitive market.

Customers in the Greater Baltimore area can choose between a huge number of gyms and health clubs, most of which are for-profit companies. The YMCA differentiates itself from those programs with its wider focus on community and family activities, Hoey said.

The organization considers itself the largest private child care provider in the state and receives a large amount of its funding in federal Head Start money that pays for early education programming. Hoey said he envisions that program growing along with the rest of the organization, but would like to see other sources of funding expand faster.

Membership fees accounted for $8.6 million of the $40.3 million in revenue that the YMCA of Central Maryland reported last year, Hoey said. He wants to at least double the organization's membership - now about 35,000. In addition, the YMCA intends to double the 150,000 people who participate in its programs. The more money the organization gets from its members and operations, he said, the better-equipped it will be to provide services to people who cannot pay.

Hoey said he believes the YMCA will be able to position itself to attract more participation and philanthropic giving by showing that it is a focused, high-performing organization.

"YMCA" is a powerful brand name, said Hoey, one that is recognizable to a great number of people. However, the name has been around for a long time and may have connotations attached to it that are no longer accurate. For instance, some people might consider it "swims and gyms," or a place for young men to stay on the cheap.

Julie Mercer, chairwoman of the YMCA's board of directors, said it is important for the organization to show the community what it is, but it is also important to show what it is not.

"Fifty years ago, it was a different organization and it's different in different parts of the country," she said. "You may still think that it's young, it's men and it's Christian, which it isn't."

With that in mind, the organization is preparing to make a new push for brand awareness this year. That campaign will aim to educate residents about the resources available at the YMCA of Central Maryland, while clarifying that it is a community and family oriented organization.

As the YMCA begins to take a product-oriented approach, it is also changing its structure to make it less specific to geographic areas. Each of the organization's eight branches operates differently, but Hoey said he wants to make the customer experience more consistent.

He said a person who takes an aquatics class at one YMCA branch should expect the very same quality at another location.

The YMCA also intends to increase its presence in the area. It already has locations in Baltimore City, as well as Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County and Howard County, but the organization is looking to work with real estate developers to move into areas it considers underserved.

"Organizing around products means that we're organizing around our customers," he said. "And we're going to run things in a much more unified fashion."

H. Art Taylor, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance, which evaluates charities, said charities are rewarded when they are successful in communicating their goals and demonstrating their achievements.