What Our Members Told Us: 2026 Survey Highlights
Every year, BGC Clubs across the country ask the same question of the kids who walk through their doors: Is this place actually making a difference in your life? The answers come from the members themselves, in their own words, on the BGC Member Survey.
This year, 154 young people across our six Greater Halifax sites took the time to tell us what the Club has meant to them. That’s the highest number of responses we’ve ever had, nearly double what we collected back in 2022. We’re grateful that so many of our members showed up to share their honest experience.
Here’s what they told us.
Friendships and belonging keep showing up at the top
The single highest number on the whole survey is one we’re especially proud of: 96% of members say that, because of the Club, they have more people they like to spend time with.
Four out of five also told us they feel more comfortable being themselves, feel like they matter to more people, and are more aware of how others around them are feeling. For a lot of our members, the Club is the first place outside of home and school where they’ve built friendships that stick. Seeing it reflected back to us this clearly never gets old.
Kids are moving more, and they know it
91% of members say they are more physically active because of the Club. That number has stayed strong every single year since we started running the survey in 2022, which tells us something important: getting kids moving is not a campaign or a quarter’s focus for us. It’s part of how every site operates, every day.
Members also told us the Club is helping them in less visible ways: 88% feel they’re making better choices for themselves, 86% feel better able to bounce back after a hard time, and 79% feel more confident about their future.
Leadership is where we saw the biggest gains
Our Inspired Leaders impact area had the strongest year-over-year jump, rebounding to its highest score since 2024. The standouts:
- 93% say they’re better at helping out when it is needed
- 91% work better with others
- 89% have a more positive influence on the people around them
- 84% are more comfortable leading
When you remember that more than two-thirds of our respondents are between the ages of 8 and 10, those numbers carry real weight. We are watching the early shape of confident, kind, community-minded young people, and our staff and volunteers deserve a big share of the credit.
Where we want to do better
A good survey is one where you get an honest read, not a flattering one. A few areas told us we have more work to do.
The lowest-scoring item on the survey was about being better prepared for schoolwork, and it has been our lowest-scoring item four years running. Healthy eating knowledge has also stayed flat. These are areas where we know our members and their families count on us, and we’re going to take a close look at how we’re delivering on them.
We also saw a meaningful difference between sites, Dartmouth North scored highest by a wide margin, and we want to understand what’s working there so we can share it. And we noticed that boys are reporting a smaller impact than girls across several questions. We don’t have a tidy answer for that yet, but it’s something we will be paying attention to over the coming year.
Thank you to our members
To every young person who filled out a survey: thank you. You told us where we’re getting it right and where we can do better, and we’re listening. None of these numbers would exist without you showing up at the Club, day after day, and giving us a chance to be part of your story.
And to our staff, volunteers, donors, and partners: this is what your time and support look like in the lives of 154 kids. That number will be bigger next year. We can’t wait to keep going.