A month into his new role as president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, Cameron Nicholson previewed some of the goals and focuses he has for the six branches he now oversees.

“There’s always a business side,” Nicholson, who took over the position on Dec. 4, said. “You have to take care of culture because when you don’t take care of culture, whatever strategies or plans that you put in place are going to be less likely to be successful. When we think about what our business goals are, related to membership growth, program efficacy, facilities management, of course the financials are really important, too. It’s been documented in the media – some of the financial challenges of our organization.”

The Ankeny Family YMCA closed its doors March 1, 2019, citing declining membership, financial struggles and a lack of a long-term facility. Less than six months later, the Boone County Family YMCA shut down due to financial issues.

The COVID-19 pandemic added more financial hurdles and a decline in membership rates.

In 2022, then-CEO of the YMCA of Greater Des Moines Leisha DeSmet told Polk County supervisors that her board was open to a complete sale of its Wellmark property in downtown Des Moines.

Keeping the Wellmark YMCA open
Nicholson said he believes, and thinks the board and staff believe, that the Wellmark YMCA “is vital to the vitality of the downtown market to the businesses down here, so we’re excited about staying here, being here and providing that place where folks who work, play and live downtown have a place to go as well.”

Nicholson added that he believes the YMCA is in a better place than it has been in over 10 years.

“That’s due to the support we’ve gotten from this community, from fundraising to debt management by my predecessor, Leisha DeSmet,” he said. “She did a lot of the heavy lifting of putting things in place that allowed us to get into a better financial situation. My role, really, is to continue to carry out those plans that we have related to our debt management and some of these other opportunities that are presented before us.”

Future of the South Suburban YMCA unknown
One of Nicholson’s tasks in his new role will involve deciding what to do with the South Suburban YMCA when Genesis Health Clubs moves out and gets its own facility at Southridge Mall.

“We’re in conversations with a couple of different investors, or people who have an interest in the property, so the options are whether we sell the property or we find a partner to go back in and continue to serve that community,” Nicholson said. “That’s to be determined.”

Returning membership improving, but more work to do
Another area of focus will be the Walnut Creek and Waukee locations, the two largest membership branches. Both are at about 85% membership compared to pre-pandemic levels, Nicholson said. “I think programs are back from youth sports to swimming programs, so we’re fortunate that folks are coming back to the YMCA for those services, but we have to continue to operate those in a very effective and manageable way.”

While membership has improved across all six locations, Nicholson said it’s not as strong as the organization would prefer.

“I think there’s some more work to do,” he said. “I think the big turn happened a year ago when we did a million-dollar increase year-over-year last fiscal year. And we’re poised to do about another $800,000 or $900,000 this year. The membership increased year-over-year but still not where we were at pre-pandemic. We’re close, we’re getting there, but there’s still more work to be done.

“We know that with Wells Fargo moving out, Nationwide downsizing, those things always impact us to some degree, although those places have some fitness centers. But having a vibrant downtown business community is important to our business. We still see our fitness classes offerings increasing downtown here at the Wellmark YMCA. Two years ago, we were offering probably 20 classes a month; now we’re up to 40. We’re seeing people come back, our programs are coming back downtown, but still not where we were before the pandemic. We see improvement, but it’s not where we were before the pandemic started.”

MidAmerican Energy Aquatic Center a bright spot
One bright spot Nicholson highlighted was the MidAmerican Energy Aquatic Center, where “we’re hosting some of the best meets in the country. Our competitive swim team is doing really well. We’ve got over 600 kids on our competitive swim team in Central Iowa, so I think from a youth development standpoint and from a competitive swim standpoint, we’re poised to continue to deliver high-quality programming for our young folks.”

In the end, Nicholson’s top priority is not about capturing the most members among the YMCA’s competitors.

“We have to confront the brutal reality,” he said. “Our brutal reality is this is the market. As a YMCA, we want to be there for people who have a need for living a healthy and active lifestyle. That’s our goal. … It’s the quality of the interactions and the impact that we have on individuals. If the market downtown is diminished, we just want that fair share of that market that we’ve had in the past, which I think we still do have.”

Read more about Nicholson and his new role in a Closer Look interview in this Friday’s Business Record.