INTERACTING WITH The
SLIDING SCALE

Sliding scale is a community care-based fee payment structure that takes into consideration the variances of economic access and privilege that exist for all intersections of folks.

Sliding scale is not a sale or discount.

Our mandate is to create a social wellness collective for all bodies. We want to do a better job of including folks who may not experience economic privileges so that our team can truly be of service to a larger, more diverse community.

By introducing a sliding scale model, we are confident this will be possible.

As a small business, we can not operate on the same model as big box gyms, which oftentimes sell excess memberships with the expectation that they get under-utilized. We want to steer away from that method of capitalism and focus on this model of fee payment that is based around community care. 

Eventually, we will limit the amount of packages that can be purchased within each tier of the scale once we have a better understanding of our full class schedule and capacity so that folks can still easily access the classes we have on our schedule.

We will never ask you to validate your income with us, our sliding scale program works on the ‘Honour System’. To effectively participate in a sliding scale model it requires honesty, accountability, a desire to think outside of yourself and most importantly about community. Community truly thrives when the focus is on taking care of one another.

There are three price points within our sliding scale model:

• Financially Fluctuating

• Financially Stable

• Financially Affluent

When you pay the Financially Affluent price you are helping to make it so that others can access our space. You are also supporting the growth of Full Circle so we can continually do the work that we do. 

When you pay the Financially Stable price you are helping us cover the costs of running our business. 

When you pay the Financially Fluctuating price you are allowing your community to hold you and support you. 

When deciding where you sit on this scale one of the first things to consider is the difference between ‘sacrifice’ and ‘hardship’. Here is how we envision the difference: 

If paying for a membership with Full Circle would be difficult, but not detrimental, it qualifies as a sacrifice. You might have to cut back on other spending in your life (such as going out to dinner, buying coffee, or a new outfit), but this will not have a long term or harmful impact on your life. It is a sacrifice in order to invest in your own wellness. 

If, however, paying for a membership at Full Circle would lead to a harmful impact on your life, such as not being able to put food on the table, support your family, pay rent, or pay for your transportation to get to work, then you are dealing with hardship.

We know sliding scale models work in other spaces, and we hope that it can be successful at Full Circle as well.

To learn more about sliding scales, check out these blog posts:

• http://www.wortsandcunning.com/blog/sliding-scale

• http://www.wortsandcunning.com/blog/a-better-sliding-scale