Pay What You Can (PWYC) Grant
The AAC and The North Face believe that Pay What You Can (PWYC) programs, built into climbing gym infrastructure, are a financially viable and sustainable way to provide options for individuals and families who are otherwise unable to afford a gym’s day pass or membership at “standard” rates. We also understand that there can be an upfront cost to getting a PWYC program off the ground for your gym, and we have designed a grant to assist gyms with one-time costs associated with beginning a PWYC program.
Learn more about all the components and best practices of implementing a Pay What You Can program, and how you might leverage this grant to start your PWYC program, below.
Awards
Applicants for PWYC Grants are asked to submit a brief description of their PWYC program, along with an explanation of how the funds will be used to support PWYC programming. This may include (but is not limited to) increasing rental fleet capacity in order to offer free or reduced rentals to PWYC participants, upgrading gym software to better accommodate a variety of membership rates and data tracking capabilities, training staff to help with program design and implementation, or developing initial PWYC marketing to attract new members. PWYC Grant funds cannot be used to pay staff salaries, and cannot underwrite recurring costs of PWYC programs.
Awards will range from $1,000 - $4,000.
Application Period
Between July 13th and August 31st, 2024, the AAC and The North Face will be awarding a series of grants, ranging from $1,000 - $4,000, to gyms seeking to start their own PWYC program. Applications must be submitted via the online application no later than 11:59 p.m. MST on August 31.
How do PWYC Programs work? A PWYC Toolkit
At the AAC, we believe that addressing equity issues in climbing is not mutually exclusive from best business practices. That is why, in partnership with The North Face, we designed a Pay What You Can (PWYC) toolkit, a free resource for gyms who want to offer alternative payment models alongside—or in place of—traditional membership structures. Although much of our work at the AAC is outdoor-centric, we recognize that many climbers are introduced to the sport through a gym, and therefore a holistic approach to climbing access requires us to consider challenges across the climbing spectrum, including indoor climbing. Our hope is that with our toolkit, gyms can implement sustainable PWYC models that offer a product that is attainable for those in under-represented income brackets, with the added benefit of increasing these gyms’s memberships and maintaining a profitable business.
This toolkit includes:
The nine (9) components to designing a PWYC program, and their pros and cons
Key takeaways and best practices, based on research from 47 existing PWYC programs in climbing gyms
2 case studies
FAQs
A Peer-to-Peer Directory
Example Applications
