2025 Year-End Highlights

YMCA PRIORITIES

MORE 2024 HIGHLIGHTS

NUMBERS AT-A-GLANCE

2024 Year-End Highlights YMCA of the USA

SUPPORTING YMCAs

Through the CEO Survey and other feedback mechanisms, YMCA leaders communicated the key areas where they want the national office to focus its efforts and resources. Y-USA heard this direction and responded by prioritizing these four areas:

Thank you to the YMCA staff and volunteers who engaged with Y-USA to communicate the top needs of YMCAs, solve problems, and work collaboratively to move the organization forward in 2024. There is much more work to be done, and Y-USA looks forward to building on this progress and delivering even greater results in 2025.

Y-USA regularly updates its strategic plan and other project progress on the Accountability Portal on Link. Here, you’ll also find key organizational data about Y-USA, including budget information, our organizational architecture and staff list.

Send any questions about this data to support.center@ymca.net.

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ALL CONTENT IS AS OF JAN. 1, 2025.

In 2024, Y-USA was deeply focused on advancing the priorities that YMCA leaders have said are most critical to the sustainability and success of their YMCAs. The national office also made significant progress on its 2023-2025 strategic plan goals and commitments—in some cases surpassing them. Explore the information below to learn more about some of Y-USA’s biggest accomplishments in support of YMCAs last year.

Increase Financial Resources for YMCAs

Rebuild the Learning and Leadership Development System

Improve Services and Support for YMCAs

Engage Y Leaders to Shape a Shared Future

YMCA PRIORITIES

INCREASE FINANCIAL RESOURCES FOR YMCAs

Y-USA raised $91 million through national partnerships and grants, more than doubling its $40 million goal for the year.

The total includes a transformative $30 million investment by Lilly Endowment Inc. for an enhanced relaunch of the Character Development Learning Initiative.

Click through the box to the right to see a breakdown of grants by the three major YMCA affiliate networks.

Y-USA delivered third-party payor opportunities by supporting direct contract agreements with Medicaid Managed Care companies in seven states, benefiting 136 Y associations. Contracts pay for Y memberships and in some cases additional services like evidence-based health programs, child care and swim lessons. Another 10 contracts are in process. Y-USA also assisted with multiple aggregator (Tivity, ASH, Optum, FitOn) negotiations, supporting more than 10 Alliances and 20 associations.

REBUILD THE LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM

YMCA PRIORITIES

Y-USA relaunched core leadership development programs reimagined for the Y today, including:

Y-USA facilitated the completion of more than 269,500 courses and certifications by YMCA staff and volunteers, including:

Informed by feedback from YMCA leaders, Y-USA partnered with Y associations and Alliances to establish and integrate 11 Learning Centers into the service delivery system. Learning Centers are designed to support Ys across the nation by offering in-person and remote training opportunities, responding to local requests, and providing one-on-one consultations. Y-USA operates a twelfth, virtual Learning Center.

IMPROVE SERVICES AND SUPPORT FOR YMCAs

YMCA PRIORITIES

Collectively, the service delivery system completed more than 2,780 projects and consultations for YMCAs.

Y-USA adopted a streamlined framework for delivering leading practices to support Ys through a continuum of services available through the service delivery system. The framework demonstrates that YMCA staff can access resources and support from the service delivery system in whichever way(s) best meet their needs.

Leading Practice Highlights:

Y-USA enhanced more than 20 Leading Practice areas to help equip YMCAs with proven ways of working that support excellence in both programmatic and operational areas.

ENGAGE Y LEADERS TO SHAPE A SHARED FUTURE

YMCA PRIORITIES

Y-USA facilitated new and existing forums for gathering critical feedback from YMCA leaders, including:

During Association Assemblies, Y-USA President and CEO Suzanne McCormick announced plans to explore how the Y could unite around intentionally addressing the epidemic of social isolation and loneliness affecting communities.

Through intentional engagement of Y leaders throughout the year and a data-driven exploration of a future bold, shared vision, Y-USA learned that Y leaders want:

THRIVING Ys

Community Impact Fund: Y-USA allocated funds totaling $750,000 to support 36 YMCAs with sustainability efforts through collaborative strategies such as strategic realignments, management agreements, and community needs assessments.

Organizational Health Assessment Tool: In partnership with YMCAs and Network Partners, Y-USA began developing a new tool to provide leaders with a high-level but comprehensive summary of the organizational health of their YMCAs. The tool will include key performance indicators in both operations and finance and is expected to be available in 2025.

$700 million increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant.

Advocated to increase or maintain funding in Fiscal Year 2024 spending bills, passed in March 2024, including:

ADVOCACY

Y-USA successfully advocated for policy and regulatory changes and funding for YMCAs across the country. Highlights include:

$300 million increase for Head Start.

Level funding at the CDC for chronic disease programming (diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis) and drowning prevention.

Increased funding for homeless assistance grants and level funding for the Community Development Block Grant, AmeriCorps and civics.

$94 million in funding for 77 YMCA earmark projects.

EMAILS, PHONE CALLS AND APPLICATION REQUESTS MANAGED BY Y-USA’S CONTACT CENTER

35,394

122

LOCAL YMCA CRISIS SITUATIONS SUPPORTED VIA CEO HOTLINE

YMCA CEO SEARCHES SUPPORTED AND COMPLETED

VISITORS TO YMCA.ORG, WITH 2.5 MILLION REDIRECTED TO A LOCAL YMCA WEBSITE TO VISIT, JOIN OR GIVE

7.4MILLION

FILES VIEWED ON LINK’S MARKETING COMMUNITY

154,474

IMAGES

130,995

DOWNLOADED FROM THE BRAND RESOURCE CENTER:

MARKETING ASSETS

90,906

Y-USA regranted more than $40 million through 2,970 awards.

583 Y associations, or 77 percent of associations, received at least one award. In addition, $1.7 million of the total was awarded to Alliances and other partner organizations.

of Y associations received a grant

Regranted in 2024

Y associations received a grant

SMALL AND MID-SIZE

MID-MAJOR

YNAN

71%

$20.8 MILLION

455

SMALL AND MID-SIZE

97%

$6.1 MILLION

100%

$11.5 MILLION

MID-MAJOR

YNAN

FUNDRAISING

CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION

MEMBERSHIP

TEENS

MENTAL HEALTH

AQUATICS

SPORTS

MEMBERSHIP

FUNDRAISING

SPORTS

AQUATICS

MENTAL HEALTH

TEENS

CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION

Engaged Triangle2 to support development of:

a national price zoning strategy, framework and toolkit that utilizes local data, and

a national business model strategy, framework and toolkit that assists YMCAs with making data-informed decisions about what to offer, to whom, and for how much.

Launched a new Membership Marketing Guide with marketing toolkits for YMCAs and the Membership Insights Report to help Y leaders leverage data and insights to help propel membership growth.

If you haven’t yet, register your association for a future accreditation cohort.

121 were registered to join a future accreditation cohort.

109 were engaged in the accreditation process.

Another 100 YMCAs began the Praesidium Accreditation process. By the end of the year,

73 associations were accredited.

Renewed a partnership with Success Bound to rebuild and relaunch the Achievers curriculum.

Launched the Mental Health Community Care Model and hosted multiple trainings to help upskill trainers across the Movement.

Launched the updated YMCA Lifeguard V7 program, training hundreds of lifeguard trainers across the country.

Organized the first Regional Pickleball Tournament and multiple Directors Trainings.

Created three Donor Engagement Toolkits: Send a Kid to Camp, Back to School and Year End Campaign.

Hosted Annual Giving and Major Gift Academies, with more than 230 Y associations and 1,000 YMCA staff.

Updated and launched pilots of the Annual Giving and Fundamental of Fundraising trainings to incorporate modern-day practices with tried-and-true techniques.

LEADERSHIP CERTIFICATIONS COMPLETED

152%

4,953

INCREASE FROM 2023

64%

COURSES COMPLETED

171,196

LINKEDIN LEARNING COURSES AND VIDEOS COMPLETED

93,387

PRINCIPLES & PRACTICES: EXPLORING MY WHY

CEO PREPARATORY INSTITUTE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR INSTITUTE

NEW CEO INSTITUTE

Fifteen Thought Leader Cohorts with 224 local YMCA leaders

More than 115 CEOs and their staff teams participated in the new Foundations of Leading Practices course.

MORE THAN 800 YMCA staff registered for the first Leading Practice Showcase. A post-event poll indicated staff were feeling “excited, inspired, motivated, hopeful and intrigued” about activating leading practices at their YMCAs.

Y-USA’s practice leaders began refining leading practices and building tools to support YMCAs with adoption and implementation. Y-USA is allocating a majority of its resources to practices that YMCAs have identified as priorities, including Membership, Child Protection and Risk Management, Finance, and Out-of-School Time.

Practice leaders engaged YMCA staff through:

Nineteen recurring National Peer Community Calls, drawing more than 8,900 registrations

Eighteen Activation Cohorts in nine different leading practice areas

OF YNAN YS USED THE SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM

98%

OF MIDMAJORS USED THE SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM

90%

To collectively build on YMCAs’ already active and effective efforts to address loneliness in communities.

Y-USA to focus on operational support for core services and national fundraising.

To unite around a shared focus, but they prefer frameworks to prescriptive directives.

In 2025, a project cohort will launch to refine a community change framework for Ys that supports social connectedness, and learning cohorts will assist Ys in building skills in social connectedness.

In preparation, Y-USA is performing an environmental scan to understand the landscape of social connectedness at Ys and across the country.

Increasing social connectedness is anticipated to be the focus of Y-USA’s next strategic plan beginning in 2026.

Y-USA’s National Board of Directors welcomed leaders of the three Y CEOs who chair the primary affiliate networks—YNAN, Mid-Majors and Small/Mid-Size YMCAs—to participate in National Board meetings as non-voting members in 2024.

Three virtual town hall style calls with Y association CEOs and Alliance Executives, hosted by Suzanne McCormick.

Conversations with the three primary CEO affiliate groups to review and dive deeper into results of the annual CEO Survey.

A virtual Association Assemblies in September attended by more than 500 association CEOs and Board Volunteers.

Two Y-USA Advisory Summits, bringing together more than 30 Y CEOs to discuss priorities and opportunities for increased collaboration between Y-USA and YMCAs.

SCROLL DOWN

Supported proposed regulatory changes to streamline the federal grant process and increase payments for direct and indirect costs and ultimately achieve greater nonprofit engagement. As a result, new rules took effect in October that directly benefit YMCAs.

Ensured Ys affected by recent natural disasters were eligible to access funding made available in the federal disaster relief package passed by Congress.

Assisted YMCAs with a new, more limited earmark process. Twenty Ys are positioned to secure $43 million in funding when FY 2025 funding concludes.

With State Alliances, helped secure bi-partisan support and introduction of the Youth Sports Facilities Act. This would allow nonprofits to apply for Economic Development Administration funding to build or renovate sports facilities.

Supported inclusion of the Investing in Rural America Act in both parties’ Farm Bill drafts. The provision is expected to remain as the Farm Bill moves forward in 2025.

(GOAL)

$40

(ACTUAL)

$91

100 MILLION

80 MILLION

60 MILLION

40 MILLION

20 MILLION

MILLION

of SMYsused the service delivery system.

71%

Service Delivery System Usage by Y size:

of Mid-Major Ys used the service delivery system.

99%

of YNAN Ys used the service delivery system.

98%