Hi Friends,
Our studio-wide theme this month is balance. We’ve been thinking a lot about this word. Since March 2020, balance has felt really elusive. But hey, that’s why we practice yoga, and as always, trying to figure it out is the conversation we have in community with you all. In quiet chats in the lobby at the studios, after class over Zoom room hangouts, and when we casually run into members at City Market, or Jake’s, or (as of recently) Hula!
As a studio, we lean hard on our core values when we talk about balance. When we have to make decisions around serving our mission and meeting finances, balance feels really challenging. When we talk about resting even though we have a small administrative team, balance feels really challenging. A question we ask ourselves often is: What is our impact? How can we make the most impact, while also honoring our own needs to rest and recharge? How can we serve our mission of financial access, while also making sure we can pay teachers equitably and keep our doors open?
We opened Sangha with a desire to have our cake and eat it too, so to speak. We wanted a space where financial access to yoga was readily available, but also a place with a big, fun schedule with lots of teachers and ideas. The thing that helped us do that over the last 8 years has always been transparency and realness in what and how we share with our community. And that same thing we know is true today: transparency will always lead the path forward at Sangha.
And so the truth is: Right now, we are struggling to balance executing our mission with our current financial limitations, let alone our big goals for the future.
In mid-May, we were finally able to achieve a long-held goal of Choose Your Own Donation membership with a software change we made. This means folks can truly choose their membership amount and always have access to classes at a price they can afford.
Unfortunately with this software change, we also faced real challenges, specifically around the quality of our virtual studio. If you have taken a virtual class recently, you probably know this. Although we have recently made changes to fix this forward to return our classes to the high quality we want to put out, it doesn’t come without financial repercussions.
The return to in-studio classes over the past year has been slow - steady - but slow. It has taken more time to rebuild our membership and reconnect with our community partners than we hoped. Last fall, we (no one?) saw Omicron coming, and that really set us back. There are many days it feels like we take three steps forward, and two steps back. But regardless, the steps forward are the ones we are here for, and while we can promise to continue to get creative and pivot as we move through (likely) the next few years of re-balancing, we need help. Truly, it’s being reminded that even in this challenging time that our beliefs hold true - yoga is so much more than asana. Community is key. Without Sangha, I know my life wouldn’t be the same, and I think many of you feel the same way.
While I can promise that Sangha isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, we are also struggling to hit financial goals that are really important to not only furthering our mission and impact, but sustaining as we are now. In the next year, we want to:
To do all this, we need your help.
The single most impactful way to support the community and practice we’ve all come to love is through membership. We now have three membership options: Gold Glitter, Sustaining and Choose Your Own. All three greatly help us serve mission in an impactful way. As always, you can join anytime - and now - you can change your membership level too!
The second way is through a one-time to the studio through our DonorBox platform, linked here or scroll down this page for the donation form.
Fun fact: Today, September 1, 2022, is our 8-year anniversary of becoming a nonprofit and offering our very first donation-based class! In honor of this and as a way to help us move towards balance, our goal is to raise $8,888 by September 30 above and beyond our current monthly revenue to help us serve more humans through the end of the year.
Will you help us?
With deep gratitude,
Caitlin Pascucci
Our studio-wide theme this month is balance. We’ve been thinking a lot about this word. Since March 2020, balance has felt really elusive. But hey, that’s why we practice yoga, and as always, trying to figure it out is the conversation we have in community with you all. In quiet chats in the lobby at the studios, after class over Zoom room hangouts, and when we casually run into members at City Market, or Jake’s, or (as of recently) Hula!
As a studio, we lean hard on our core values when we talk about balance. When we have to make decisions around serving our mission and meeting finances, balance feels really challenging. When we talk about resting even though we have a small administrative team, balance feels really challenging. A question we ask ourselves often is: What is our impact? How can we make the most impact, while also honoring our own needs to rest and recharge? How can we serve our mission of financial access, while also making sure we can pay teachers equitably and keep our doors open?
We opened Sangha with a desire to have our cake and eat it too, so to speak. We wanted a space where financial access to yoga was readily available, but also a place with a big, fun schedule with lots of teachers and ideas. The thing that helped us do that over the last 8 years has always been transparency and realness in what and how we share with our community. And that same thing we know is true today: transparency will always lead the path forward at Sangha.
And so the truth is: Right now, we are struggling to balance executing our mission with our current financial limitations, let alone our big goals for the future.
In mid-May, we were finally able to achieve a long-held goal of Choose Your Own Donation membership with a software change we made. This means folks can truly choose their membership amount and always have access to classes at a price they can afford.
Unfortunately with this software change, we also faced real challenges, specifically around the quality of our virtual studio. If you have taken a virtual class recently, you probably know this. Although we have recently made changes to fix this forward to return our classes to the high quality we want to put out, it doesn’t come without financial repercussions.
The return to in-studio classes over the past year has been slow - steady - but slow. It has taken more time to rebuild our membership and reconnect with our community partners than we hoped. Last fall, we (no one?) saw Omicron coming, and that really set us back. There are many days it feels like we take three steps forward, and two steps back. But regardless, the steps forward are the ones we are here for, and while we can promise to continue to get creative and pivot as we move through (likely) the next few years of re-balancing, we need help. Truly, it’s being reminded that even in this challenging time that our beliefs hold true - yoga is so much more than asana. Community is key. Without Sangha, I know my life wouldn’t be the same, and I think many of you feel the same way.
While I can promise that Sangha isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, we are also struggling to hit financial goals that are really important to not only furthering our mission and impact, but sustaining as we are now. In the next year, we want to:
- Continue to offer continuing education scholarships to folks who have not historically been called into yoga spaces.
- Continue to equitably pay our teachers for all offerings at the studio regardless of what students can pay
- Continue to increase our impact with more affinity spaces, more accessible class options and more service programs for specific populations.
- Increase our number of Choose Your Own Donation memberships and serve more folks
- Open a new studio location to bring more financially accessible yoga to more people
To do all this, we need your help.
The single most impactful way to support the community and practice we’ve all come to love is through membership. We now have three membership options: Gold Glitter, Sustaining and Choose Your Own. All three greatly help us serve mission in an impactful way. As always, you can join anytime - and now - you can change your membership level too!
The second way is through a one-time to the studio through our DonorBox platform, linked here or scroll down this page for the donation form.
Fun fact: Today, September 1, 2022, is our 8-year anniversary of becoming a nonprofit and offering our very first donation-based class! In honor of this and as a way to help us move towards balance, our goal is to raise $8,888 by September 30 above and beyond our current monthly revenue to help us serve more humans through the end of the year.
Will you help us?
With deep gratitude,
Caitlin Pascucci
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