Alternative Pricing
In order to make Birthsmarter truly inclusive and accessible to all families, we offer Pay-What-You-Can (PWYC) and Pay-It-Forward (PIF) pricing throughout our site. We also accept HSA/FSA cards at Check Out.
The PWYC program is simple: no one will be turned away from classes or support groups1 for lack of funds2. To receive a personalized discount code please read though this guide and fill out this form to indicate the classes you’d like to take and the dollar amount you can contribute. We'll send you a personalized code within one business day.
Determining how much to pay?
In true Birthsmarter fashion, we know that there is no right way to think about financial transactions. To help you figure out how much to pay, we’ve created three frameworks below that you can use as a springboard for making a personal decision on your financial situation and contribution. A few things we'd like for you to keep in mind when you're determining what price will best fit your capabilities
Foundational Thinking
- We know that personal finances are determined, as much if not more, by access to generational wealth, debt load, and cost of living more than income alone. So, determining sliding scale brackets is really, really challenging.
- We also know that we provide extraordinary value. If you are interested in joining our classes or support groups, the most important thing we ask in return is that you value the expertise, labor, and passion that we put into every single product we produce.
- We are a tiny, women-owned, primary-parent operated company with incredibly high standards for ourselves, our work, and workers-at-large. We are able to provide you with the highest quality education and support, by ensuring that our team is paid a living wage and sourcing the highest quality, like-minded subcontractors and services.
- We’re all humans. Trying our best. If you have thoughts, questions, or concerns please reach out to start a conversation.
#1 The Date Night Framework
- Consider paying full price if you're able to spend $100+ on semi-regular Date Nights.
- If you can’t drop $100+ on semi-regular Date Nights, we understand your interest in PWYC pricing.
#2 The Wealth Bracket Framework
- Pay 100% of listed price + consider paying it forward if you have disposable income and / or access to generational wealth.
- Pay 75% to 90% of the listed price if you are making ends meet and conservatively able to save, without access to generational wealth.
- Pay 50% to 75% of the listed price if you are living paycheck to paycheck and are not able to save, without access to generational wealth.
- Pay 25% to 50% of the listed price if it is challenging, at this time, to meet your basic needs.
#3 The Alternative Arrangement
While most people choose to compensate Birthsmarter financially, we acknowledge that there are other ways of reciprocating value including barter and trade. If you’d like to propose an alternative “payment” plan, we’re all ears!
And, re: Pay It Forward
To ensure we’re continually able to offer PWYC pricing, we ask families with access to disposable income to contribute to a community pool at check out.
Interested? Fill out this form.
[1] Our PWYC program applies to all On-Demand, Live-Online, and SLC, and PHX classes. Due to limited capacity and additional expenses we cannot typically offer PWYC pricing to In-Person classes in NYC.
[2] We have a typical base rate of $10 for classes that are 30 to 90 minutes and $25 for classes that are 90+ minutes in length. The base rate helps us cover administrative costs and encourages participation since we know people are more likely to commit to a product or service they’ve paid for. However, if this is inaccessible for any reason, please contact us directly.