Success Story: Edina Country Club

“My number one goal for the election is ensuring a smooth process for my members – and myDirectVote® delivered.” ~ Kim Delaney, Director Business Operations & Finance, Edina Country Club

Client Profile:

Established in 1923, Edina Country Club (ECC) is a private country club located in Edina, MN. ECC’s mission is to be a premier country club providing diverse recreational opportunities for members and their families in a manner that is wholesome, enjoyable, family-oriented and of consistent high quality.

ECC strives to be a warm, welcoming place and a place where friendships are made for a lifetime. Membership is made up of 725 engaged and active families mostly from the surrounding neighborhood. ECC staff fluctuates from 100 during winter months to 230 during the summer.

Challenge:

As the Director of Business Operations and Finance at ECC, I am focused on managing the ever changing capital structure of ECC to ensure a premier club experience for members. I have a diverse role as I am responsible for all things related to financial and accounting as well as overseeing membership and all office activities.

In the past, an election committee made up of member volunteers ran and oversaw ECC’s election process. As this group of members got older, they passed the reigns over to my staff. The election process was then run internally with my staff printing, assembling, mailing and then tabulating the ballots when they were returned.

The challenge with the election was similar to what I think a lot of private clubs deal with; the amount of time and energy it takes to run a paper-based election process. Additionally, we were searching for a more efficient way for young and engaged members to connect with ECC through voting.

SBS Solution:

When the DIY Election Software was introduced as a solution, I was immediately interested. My staff and I had been looking for a way to rid ourselves of some of the general “monkey business,” so to speak, associated with a paper election: designing paper ballots, printing, stuffing the envelopes, mailing, calling in a group of members to act as an election committee, etc.

I have been pleased with the switch over to the online voting system. My number one goal for the election is ensuring a smooth process for my members – and myDirectVote delivered. Member participation was just as good if not better than in the past and the election ran smoothly. Members enjoyed the process and the overall experience exceeded my expectations.

We had a number of members comment that they enjoyed the rich features associated with the online biographies built into the ballot. These members felt that they got to know the candidates better by being able to see the name of the candidate, biographical info and picture all in the same spot. And that is what I want – continually improving the ECC experience for members and connecting with them through voting.