Abstract
The Midwest Youth Rowing Club (MYR) case highlights a strategic decision situation with financial and business ethics implications. The club, while having just finished its third year in existence, has been very successful and grown dramatically. The club’s dilemma, as seen through the eyes of its Treasurer, is whether it should undertake the construction of a permanent boathouse at the lake where it operates its programs. In addition to functional space, a boathouse would provide a sense of permanence and may help ensure the club’s sustainability. The club’s growth and membership size suggest that the club can finance its portion of a boathouse through borrowing. However, the club’s transient-member nature as a youth sports organization means that there is a relatively short time commitment from youth members (and their parents). While this affects the form of financing (explained in the Boathouse section of the case), regardless of its form, financing a boathouse will increase member dues and fees, and if the club’s circumstances change unfavorably, it may have to increase dues and fees further, to a level that will price itself out of its market.