YMCA – An Extraordinary Global Brand – an unusual structure

In an age when an organisation’s success is often, at least in part, measured in terms of the global reach of its ‘brand’ or name, YMCA could be considered to be up there with the Coke, Nike and Heinze’s of this world. In fact, today around 45 million people are members of one of 14,000 associations, in one of 122 countries in the world - an astonishing number of people have been associated with or heard of YMCA. In modern business terms, that is probably pretty much where the global brand analogy ends! Unlike most mega-corporations, or even many international charities, local YMCAs do not have an HQ handing down strategies, guidelines, products, targets, customer service statements and the like – we don’t even share a logo! In fact, an expert on brands would probably say that if you wanted to go about setting up an international brand in the least ‘manageable’ way possible, you should have a good look at the Y!  This unusual structure, of the YMCA movement in England, actually ensures that lots of great and relevant work happens where it has the highest impact - locally. In England, each individual YMCA is an independent charity, focussing its energies and skills within its own communities and providing many examples of superb work. Y’s work in lots of different ways and each one you visit will probably be very different from any other. Together, accommodation, youth training, fitness qualifications and exercise facilities are probably the areas with which Ys are most readily associated. With regard to a national structure, autonomous YMCA associations affiliate to what is called the National Council of YMCAs -  also known as YMCA England. To see what they do, or to find accommodation go to www.ymca.org.uk

Currently, there are some 140 independent YMCAs affiliated to the National Council of YMCAs - for information on these go to our World Y'd Web section.

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