Background

Phoenix Gymnastics Club is a dynamic non-profit organization seeking to cultivate a passion for gymnastics in everyone from recreational pre-schoolers through teenagers training for world-class competitions. As word of their strengths spread, the Club’s membership skyrocketed. Their rapid expansion created a very specific problem: how can a non-profit implement an effective registration solution without incurring major financial and technological blows? After all, the only tumbles they want to experience are the ones that take place on the exercise floor.

Challenge

The biggest gymnastics club in British Columbia, Canada was growing by leaps and bounds, but their increase in membership also meant a rise in paperwork and the headaches that came with maintaining a climbing roster. “We were using Excel spreadsheets and Access databases,” recalls Registrar Hayley Gordon. “There was no continuity, no efficient way to track when a customer had registered, how they paid and what they had signed up for.”

Solution

Phoenix executives decided that it was time to make the technology leap, and began their research. After months of investigating different options, they chose ActiveNet from Active Network as their gymnastics software solution. The assuredness of their choice was reinforced almost immediately. “We don’t operate in a cut-and-dried kind of way,” explains Gordon. “There are lots of variables in terms of taking that information and making it fit. They accomplished that for us. Also, the training we received was excellent; I was provided with all the tools that I needed to learn.”

Of utmost importance to the Phoenix team was the ability to implement gymnastics software that would simplify their registration process – via point-of-purchase, telephone and also online – allowing parents the choice of signing up their children either at the venue or from the comfort of home. “Online registration has been really convenient,” affirms Gordon. “It will continue to become more and more important to our customers. I know that they also appreciate the option of being able to phone in and having us make two quick clicks on the computer to get to their file, telling them when and how they paid. Being able to email a receipt is also great; no more sifting through binders or file folders, it is all right there on the screen. This is so much easier.”

Another crucial point in Phoenix’s business development was the opening of a second facility, the Millennium Sport Center, a site that also serves as their new head office. According to Phoenix Gymnastics’ Director of Operations Joanne Dodge, the staff had a host of logistical issues throughout the transition; their registration software, however, was never a concern. “This new gym,” explains Dodge, “has been running about 130% -- as far as numbers go -- over what we anticipated. We aimed conservatively and registration has just gone through the roof. Add that to the numbers from our other gym and our membership has doubled to about 1200 kids per session. If we were still operating under our old system, it would be torture!”

The new building came with an additional revenue stream: the chance to rent out some of their beautiful rooms for weddings, seminars and gala events. Instead of that addition increasing their workload, ActiveNet’s Facility Reservation module took care of that task, effortlessly. “It amazes me every day,” says Gordon, “that I’m able to easily keep track of different groups who are renting our space, when they are coming in and to quickly print a calendar allowing staff to see what is available at a glance. To do that kind of work without this software would be somebody’s entire job. This way, I am able to do it all.”

She also adds that the software’s reporting capability is “worth its weight in gold. Rather than making sticky notes and attaching them to a file,” she explains, “you can track all 1200 kids and see exactly what happened and when it happened.” Gordon also loves the ability to create mass emailing campaigns from the gymnastics software system that alert members of new programs. “It is incredibly user-friendly and is so much easier than mailing notices or phoning. When it comes to notifying people about spring break camps, for example, in a matter of minutes we can let all of our members know that camp is approaching and that registration has begun.”

Results

At the end of the day, Gordon and Dodge can say with conviction that having Active’s gymnastics software allows them to focus on their most important asset: their members. “We have a club that went from 600 to 1200 kids pretty much overnight,” says Gordon. “It was a miracle how smoothly our sudden increase in membership went, thanks to the software!”

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