When Jim Haynes assumed his role as President of the National Continuing Care Residents Association (NaCCRA) they were struggling to find a new association management system. Some members of NaCCRA’s board were unhappy with their professional management and the Microsoft Access database system they were using.  They had previously hired a developer in Thailand to create a proprietary system for NaCCRA.  This new system was cobbled together with two websites.  After it experienced at least two hacks and several offline events, Jim knew it was time for a change.

NaCCRA has been advocating, collaborating and educating for residents and prospective residents of Continuing Care Retirement Life Plan communities (CCRCs) for more than 20 years. With only just over 1,000 active members from the over 2,000 CCRCs in the United States, these members only account for a tiny fraction of the 1 million potential members.

As a result of his concerns about the management system that was now controlled from Thailand, Jim, in early 2017, contacted ClubExpress.  He’d been regularly backing up their entire membership database to his personal computer while preparing to make a change. A ClubExpress account executive spent time talking with Jim and demonstrating their system. He sent him a proposal that hit all the major points Jim felt were necessary for NaCCRA. Unfortunately, at first the NaCCRA board wasn’t ready to make the transition.  Then nine months later, the developer of the new system suddenly resigned leaving the association without a management system.

“I knew I’d need help and wanted the ability to pick up the phone and speak to someone, not just work via chat and email.” 

Jim pulled out the ClubExpress proposal and presented it to his board. “We need to do this now,” he said. He was confident that ClubExpress was the match they were searching for among association management systems. Many of the other options on their short list were lacking in either features or support. “I knew I’d need help and wanted the ability to pick up the phone and speak to someone, not just work via chat and email.” Jim explained that questionable customer support was a deal breaker. His organization also used QuickBooks Online accounting software. QuickBooks integration was important, and ClubExpress was the only company with that capability.

Their old website had an outdated look and feel so Jim launched a re-branding effort. NaCCRA wanted their new site, the front door for members and non-members, and all their collateral material to have a more contemporary and constant look and feel.  ClubExpress, with the new “brand book” created for NaCCRA, developed their new website, which shows their new brand and their National image.

Since the transition to ClubExpress, Jim has been working with our success team on a database feature that will consolidate NaCCRA’s state affiliates with ClubExpress.  He believes this will supercharge NaCCRA, their affiliates and ClubExpress’s growth - thus a win win for everyone.