Happy New Year to all of you;
I certainly hope that you have had a wonderful Christmas Season, and that you are looking forward to a most prosperous New Year. Here at the YMCA we have been so fortunate to count you as a member of our Y Family.
Over the past year we have seen several improvements to the YMCA. We have added classes, partnered with community organizations to improve programming, upgraded facility features, and finished our first full year operating the Ann W. Wickman Child Development Center. But most of all we have built wonderful relationships with our members and continue to find ways to serve each of you to make the Y everything that our community needs it to be.
As most of you know, this past November cyber thieves electronically stole approximately $54,000 from the Y. We have a $5000 insurance policy and $4,000 has been returned so far. There is a potential to have about $13,000 returned, but there are no guarantees. Worst case scenario the Y will be out $45,000 and best case scenario we will be out $32,000. Either way, it is a very large amount to lose; and a very large blow to a non-profit organization that is trying to serve the community. At the close of the year many individuals, organizations, and businesses find themselves in a good financial position and are able to make end of the year gifts to charitable organizations like the Y to get themselves a tax advantage. If you find yourself in that position, your Y is certainly a not-for-profit that could use an end of the year boost with any charitable
contribution you may see fit. We understand that not everyone is in a good economic position right now, but if you find yourself there and would like to help, please see your financial advisor in these last couple of days before the end of the year and discuss how a gift might benefit your tax position and your Y.
In other major news we want to inform our community and our Y members about an exciting new membership promotion campaign that will be starting in January and running for several weeks. Back in October the YMCA Board of Directors signed a member promotion agreement with IMember Group to help call, tour, and if appropriate, sign up new members. The IMember Group is a company that works exclusively with YMCAs across the country in building up their membership base. They are professionals at marketing, contacting, touring, and presenting the YMCA opportunity to everyone with a home or cell phone.
Starting the first week in January IMember Group will be housed in our facility making telephone calls to all phone numbers in the local phone book as well as to all cell phone numbers available in our area. In celebration of our 8thanniversary in the new facility they will be offering a free tour and two week trial to anyone who is not already a member. We know that there are hundreds of people who still have not set foot in our beautiful YMCA building and do not know what they are missing. This is our attempt at getting everyone within a reasonable driving distance a chance to experience what you already know is a great opportunity.
What this does mean to our members is that you will most likely get a call even though you are a member. We understand that this may be one more call that you don't necessarily need, however, a simple statement letting the appointment setters know that you are already a member is all you need to give. You could also use this time to refer someone you know who might be looking at joining or someone you think could really benefit from being a part of the Y family. Our job as Y board members and staff is to make the Y available to as many people as possible. This keeps the cost per member as affordable as possible for everyone. We hope that you will have patience with us as we attempt to contact every phone number (cell number and home) in our area and understand that our goal is to attract as many members as possible to our Y family. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as we work to build YMCA membership.
As a follow-up to the above paragraph, the IMember Group/Y will soon be advertising for appointment setters. If you are good on the phone and have a passion for the Y we would ask you to respond to the ad that will appear soon in the Atlantic News Telegraph. They will be looking for 6-10 workers and the position could last up to 8 weeks.
In closing, I would again like to thank you for your membership, support, and participation in everything the Y does. This is your Y and we appreciate being able to serve you as Y staff and volunteer board members. Your membership is very important to the organization and each of you make it that much stronger. Have a very wonderful January.
Dan
Andrew Sharpling
