Sliding Scale Pricing

The question of who should pay what amount can bring up a lot of feelings. Class and financial privilege are loaded topics, especially in a society where wealth inequality is widening, and the cost of living is rising. Here are some resources that can help you think about your financial privilege.

We are borrowing from the work of Alexis of Worts & Cunning Apothecary who created and shared the following to visual tool to help folks assess their financial privilege. You can enlarge this graphic by clicking on it.

Sliding scale pricing means that the same service or product can be purchased at different price points. We choose to use this pricing model for several of our offerings because we believe in creating more equitable access to wellness services and spaces in a general sense. In this specific instance, we’re aiming to address financial inaccessibility. When we offer sliding scale, we usually use three levels. We call them:

• Standard Rate: this is the going rate, based on comparable offerings throughout the market, and it enables us to pay our teachers fairly and our staff a living wage.
• Low Income/ Subsidized Rate: this rate is for folks experiencing financial hardship & inaccessibility.
• Community Supporter Rate: this rate is for those with the means to help us offer the subsidized rate.

Please note: the Subsidized/Low Income Rate is not funded by a government program. It is funded by the generosity of our clients who choose the Community Supporter Rate and by our business. It often (but not always) balances out naturally, and we will continue to offer this as long as it remains sustainable for us as a business.

When you select a pricing level at The Branches, you are free to choose from the three rates at your own discretion. This means that you are not required to prove or explain your financial need to us. By offering the freedom to choose, we’re doing a few things:

• inviting everyone to reflecton the personal and collective responsibilities of sharing privilege
• empowering our community to meet their own needs
• counting on individuals to make choices with integrity.

We know that our students come from a wide spectrum of financial standings, whose financial position is influenced by their ability/disability status, career income, household or generational familial wealth, etc. Our desire is that folks from all financial positions access yoga classes side by side.

Through this reflection process, we aim to enter into a trusting and cooperative relationship with our community. When our larger student base practices generosity, this enables us to achieve the goal of financial accessibility. When individuals with some or plenty of financial privilege choose to pay the standard and supporter rates, as a business we then are sustainable enough to continue offering subsidized rates to individuals and families who are struggling.