An enterprise initiative completed under the name Project FIRE (Future of Innovation, Revenue and Efficiency), the new, end-to-end software suite helps associations increase revenue, improve efficiency and digitally engage members. New solutions have been added and integrated throughout the previous eight months to complete the current project phase, and a second phase is expected to be completed within the next six months.

“Association leaders frequently ask how they can better address the needs of their members through technology,” said Jean-Paul (JP) Guilbault, President and CEO, Community Brands. “We’re collaborating closely with these associations to reinvent the member experience and help them attract, engage and retain increasingly diverse groups of members. This groundbreaking new suite is a blueprint for the future, and we’re eager to see a greater number of associations blaze a trail to increased operational effectiveness and more personalized experiences.”

The announced offering includes a complete set of integrated solutions that addresses membership management, professional education and certification, events and attendee experience, career centers and media sales, foundation fundraising, accounting and payment processing.

Integrated Software Feedback

Early-adopting associations have recently begun using the solutions and integrations available in the suite.

"The Community Brands technology is absolutely helping us grow. We're able to integrate the many things that our membership needed because of the level of technology and the integration of the technology. We can now communicate in real time and move across the platform, leveraging our website, events and activities, and use real-time ecommerce." William Rolack, CEO and National President, National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR)

"Moving to Community Brands was important to us because . . . we're a totally virtual office, so having everything cloud-based is critical for our staff and members, accessing everything from anywhere. The user experience is super simple. Our members are fast adopters and require the latest and greatest technology. They want technology to improve their own processes within their practices, so they can quickly create positive changes within their own organization." Christine Shupe, Executive Director, Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA)

Association Software Suite

The association software suite helps organizations earn more revenue and gain day-to-day efficiencies. With easy-to-use solutions, executive directors, membership managers, accountants, event planners and foundation leaders have access to configurable dashboards and reports that create clear visibility into organizational health.

Association Management

Associations engage members and strengthen loyalty with association management software (AMS) solutions, which are now integrated with the suite’s event management, professional development and payment solutions. The solutions address the various size, complexity and customization needs of an association: the Nimble AMS, one of the fastest-growing industry solutions for mid- to large-sized associations, built on the Salesforce platform; the affordable, all-in-one YourMembershipsolution with more than 24-million members for small to mid-sized associations; the feature-rich netFORUM solution with credentialing and fundraising capabilities; and the scalable Aptify developer platform, which is widely used by international associations and unions.

Learning Management

The development needs of members are addressed with learning management solutions (LMS) designed to foster engagement, deliver dynamic professional education and grow revenue: Freestone, the industry’s leading tool for live-event capture and interactive webinars, webcasts and on-demand streaming; and Crowd Wisdom™, an award-winning platform for online learning, which includes branded interfaces, tracking and certification, personalized learning paths, and assessment and testing. Each is integrated with each other and the AMS solutions in the suite.

Career Centers

In addition to member dues and revenue from learning and credentialing, associations can increase revenue and website traffic through YM Careers, the leader in career centers, with more than 3,000 associations using the solution for industry job postings, resumes, onsite and virtual career events, and recruitment ad media sales. The solution is integrated with each AMS, both learning management solutions, and external online community platforms.

Event Management

Increasingly, associations are looking to events and conferences as important sources of revenue and member engagement. The event management technology solutions Community Brands offers address these needs: Expo Logic, the association leader supporting millions of global event attendees each year, provides event registration, onsite registration and self-badging, facial recognition, attendee tracking and lead retrieval solutions, which are used in conjunction with the conference content video capture services of Freestone, already integrated with the company’s AMS solutions, and including more than 30 additional external integrations. The event management solutions also include the newly-unified GiveSmart mobile bidding and fundraising platform, used by more than 5,000 fundraising partners, and ideal for associations and foundations raising money during galas and silent auctions.

Accounting and Payments

The finance and accounting operations of an association or foundation are served by: MIP Fund Accounting, a comprehensive, configurable solution to better track, report and manage finances across the entire organization, inclusive of integrations with fundraising, payroll and donor management solutions, and recently awarded the highest five-star rating by CPA Practice Advisorfor its cloud capabilities. Payment processing needs are addressed with the recently announced BluePay Gateway, offered in partnership with First Data, connecting a feature-rich, PCI-certified payment gateway to the AMS solutions for payment and billing.

Association leaders and staff members can experience the new software suite August 18-21 at Community Brands booth #301 during the 2018 American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Annual Meeting and Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago.

To learn more about Community Brands and its Association Solutions, Nonprofit Solutions and K-12 Education Solutions, visit CommunityBrands.com.