Free Climbing at Your Gym?
Most of us want to make climbing more affordable. Most of us also have payroll, insurance, and a hold budget to manage. At the CWA Canadian Industry Conference and Certification Summit in Montreal, Khaled and Kenneth from Crag X Climbing Centre in Victoria, BC, showed how they do both, and more.
Their session, Free Climbing At Your Gym?, covered two programs: a New Climber Sponsorship built with local nonprofits and a Sliding Scale Membership for individuals. Below are four short clips. CWA members can watch the full 42-minute session, Q&A included, free in the Community Hub.
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Start With the Staff, Not the Climber
Crag X offers a free belay lesson to a few staff or social workers at a partner nonprofit. Those staff bring in the people they already work with, who trust them and often share their language. Once a few climbers are hooked, the nonprofit applies for a grant and Crag X matches it to fund lessons, gear, and a shared punch pass pool.
The climbers who show up the most move on to a full membership partially paid for by other members.
Members add 25% to 100% of a membership to their own monthly bill. At 25%, that's $21 a month. Crag X matches sponsor contributions, so a member covering 100% puts two climbers on the wall.
Crag X paid for every sponsorship itself for the first three years before inviting members in. More than 100 climbers have come through the program, and there are now more willing sponsors than climbers.
Let People Pick Their Own Price
The Sliding Scale Membership is for individuals who aren't connected to a partner organization. Applicants read a short set of questions, answer them for themselves, and pick one of four rates below regular price. Crag X doesn't ask for proof of income.
One tier is $54 a month. The lowest is one hour of a Crag X employee's average wage, per month. It's never free, on purpose.
It runs on EFT, and it's the same membership everyone else has. As for people gaming the system, Crag X sees one or two out of a hundred and doesn't waste time worrying about them.
What It Looks Like on the Wall
Zabi didn't like climbing the first time he came to an open day. His little sister did, so he learned to belay for her. Two years later he won one of Crag X's competitions and found a job through a gym member.
Iman and Janja met at another open day and have climbed together for three years. Their photo in the clip is from the Totally Together Collective's Film 4 Film series.
Does It Cost You Money?
This was the question in the room. Crag X's answer is no. A couple more climbers in a gym that's already open doesn't change staffing, and sliding scale dues are money that was never coming in otherwise. Sponsors paying extra add even more revenue on top of Crag X's commitments.
Watch the Full Session
In the Community Hub you'll see the full session. That covers tracking sponsors in a spreadsheet, setting up your point-of-sale software, running open days for 40 to 50 people, and where to start if you don' know how to staff an initiative like this. Pro tip, find a champion inside your business and start with whatever that person wants to do first.
For questions about the Community Hub, membership, or other CWA programs and services, contact hello@cwapro.org.