Partners
SGA has been in business for over 30 years, but the software Ys enjoy today was born in 2001 when a consortium of six YMCAs implemented SGA Accounting. SGA's innovative budgeting and reporting tools were developed using ideas produced in focus groups from within those first six YMCAs. Since then, SGA Accounting has grown organically, with features added almost daily with ideas from our partner Ys. The strength of our partnerships has allowed us to grow to serve well over 100 Ys of all sizes across the country and to launch the SGA Pulse member management platform in 2016. And, those original six Ys are still with us!
Read Success Stories
YMCA of South Hampton Roads, Chesapeake, VA
Amelia Scott, CMO
When we opened 2020, we began contract renewals with our former operations software provider. As the pandemic ensued and as our future became less certain, we felt it necessary to pursue other avenues. There were pain points present with our prior service and frankly, our organization needed a different level of features and support. Our Y had been a long-standing customer of SGA using accounting software for more than 10 years. We had watched and followed their progress over the last 4 years as they developed a sales software that matured into a robust platform. Many Ys will tell you that we just do things differently than the rest of businesses and there is truth to that. Ys have unique business practices and SGA has invested the time and talent to develop their team and product in a way that truly supports Y needs. We loved the opportunity to sign on with SGA and collaborate with them on possible future features, but also to work closely on customizing our SGA Pulse experience to match what our Y needs. Internal conversations surrounding our decision making to shift operations softwares was rooted in which provider could serve us for our future. The SGA and YMCA teams were presented with an unprecedented (2020 buzzword) challenge. We needed to implement a new software, work intimately with the core Y and SGA teams, train our staff – all remotely, all without any in-person interaction. Both teams were up for the challenge. It didn't come without bumps in the road or things that would have been just plain easier to do in-person, but that's to be expected. A colleague gave me some advice before we started this process. Beware of the trough of disillusionment – the moment you question why you're doing this and what the heck were you thinking. Every software conversion will have that moment and we had plenty of those times when workload was overwhelming and everyone was learning something new, together. Both SGA and our Y were presented with challenges neither team had experienced before and together were able to push through. Every staff member in our organization is learning a new software. We were with our prior provider for 18 years and it had been a while for some and a new experience for most to have this level of disruption to a core operations software used daily by our staff. Our staff teams were and remain excited to learn the new system. Our front line training was reduced by 75% from 8 hours to 2 hours – direct savings for our Y. The system is easier for our part time staff to learn and understand. That alone is a huge benefit for all Ys, always but especially now. The customization available in the system to match business practices is refreshing and exciting. We have a lot to learn. We have many features to explore. We know SGA will continue to be there with us to have thoughtful conversations to support our growth and recovery. The dedication to system improvements is commendable. We can't wait to see what's next.
YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City, OK
The Granite YMCA
Manchester, NH
YMCA of Greater Houston
Houston, TX
Boys & Girls Club of Metro Richmond
Richmond, VA
Central Coast YMCA
Monterey, CA
Central Coast YMCA, Monterey, CA
Scott Kurteff, Chief Financial & Administrative Officer
Our relationship with the SGA Pulse team began with rejection. Twice. If we were dealing with anyone else, that would've been the end. Our experience with SGA Accounting was so profoundly wonderful that we asked SGA about a conversion to SGA Pulse. At the time, SGA Pulse had been rolled out to a select few YMCAs. SGA explained that ensuring premier functionality and customer service took precedence over growth. They were not ready to take us on and compromise the ability to deliver. For this unwavering commitment to paramount standards, I only have the deepest respect. A couple years later, we desperately needed to switch our Sales & Membership system within an extremely short timeframe. This was during the holiday season to boot. For the second time, SGA rejected us – with grace and compassion of course. In this case, the obstacle pertained to their success in lining up continuous customer implementations over an extended period. We had checked with SGA's competition too, only to be told this rapid conversion was "impossible." Unbeknownst to us, the SGA Pulse team reconvened, to see if even the most unconventional and narrow path was achievable. They brainstormed creative solutions, considered what they knew of us as a customer, and called the day after we had reached out. Forget the impossible: SGA said they could make it happen. What followed was perhaps the most impressive, successful, and unthinkably fun experience of my 25+ year career. SGA's technical prowess and capacity for smooth implementation is unrivaled. The system's ease of use, time-saving automation, flexibility (crucial during disruptive events such as Covid), and SGA's stellar customer support are dazzling. Yet, the powerful core of our relationship with SGA is their heart, optimism, caring manner, and a sense of being a part of their spirited family. Rejection has never felt so good.
Central Connecticut Coast YMCA
New Haven, CT
Cleveland County YMCA
Shelby, NC
Crossroads YMCA
Crown Point, IN
Edwardsville YMCA
Edwardsville, IL
Gateway Regional YMCA
St. Louis, MO
Great Miami Valley YMCA
Hamilton, OH
Greater Lowell Family YMCA
Lowell, MA
Hanover Area YMCA
Hanover, PA
Meadowlands Area YMCA
East Rutherford, NJ
Metro West YMCA
Framingham, MA
Metro YMCAs of the Oranges
Livingston, NJ
Northwestern Connecticut YMCA
Torrington, CT
Old Colony YMCA
Brockton, MA
Peninsula Metropolitan YMCA
Newport News, VA
River Valley Regional YMCA
Williamsport, PA
Shasta Family YMCA
Redding, CA
South Shore YMCA
Quincy, MA
St. Anne's Episcopal School
Middletown, DE
Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA
Tampa, FL
The Family YMCA
Augusta, GA
The Whole Person
Kansas City, MO
Treasure Valley YMCA, Boise, ID
Tom O'Neil, CFO
Our YMCA switched to SGA in 2010 from Y-Vision. We had hopes that it would be an upgrade, but had no idea how much of an upgrade! The program is very efficient and our staff love it. The best testimonial we received was from a youth director who is better with kids than with technology, when he said "I can really understand our accounting program for once!" The ease of use of the program has made it possible to have our staff enter their own budgets and track their own financials each month. The staff love the different budget templates for membership, programs, and payroll, and don't even need to know that they were very easy for the accounting office to set up. Our favorite feature is one that we didn't even notice during the sales evaluation – the drill-down feature. Branch managers love the ability to see the financial statement for the entire branch, and then just right-click to see category details by department or program. As CFO, I love the ability to analyze the entire Association in this way. Our payroll data also easily imports in from ADP. This is one of the reasons we chose SGA. The support team at SGA is also top-notch. Most organizations brag about their support, but SGA follows through on their claims. We almost always get same-day solutions to any question or problem we have. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend SGA to another Y. I think anyone that chose SGA would be pleasantly surprised with the functionality and productivity gains they experience. Have them call me if they want more reasons to choose SGA!
Valparaiso Family YMCA
Valparaiso, IN
Volusia Flagler Family YMCA
Deland, FL
West Suburban YMCA
Newton, MA
YMCA of Greater Hartford
Hartford, CT
YMCA Coast Carolina SC
Myrtle Beach, SC
YMCA Eastern Delaware County
Lansdowne, PA
YMCA Frederick County MD
Frederick, MD
YMCA of Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI
YMCA of Austin
Austin, TX
YMCA of Central Maryland
Towson, MD
YMCA of Central Massachusetts
Worcester, MA
YMCA of Central New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
YMCA of Central Ohio
Columbus, OH
YMCA of Columbia
Lexington, SC
YMCA of Delaware
Wilmington, DE
YMCA of Erie PA
Erie, PA
YMCA of Florida's First Coast
Jacksonville, FL
YMCA of Greater Boston
Boston, MA
YMCA of Greater Brandywine
West Chester, PA
YMCA of Greater Cleveland
Cleveland, OH
YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN
Beth McConn, Program Director
As the CFO of the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne, I had been thinking of and on about replacing our general ledger, accounts payable, and budgeting software. As many people do nowadays, I did an internet search and came across SGA. After looking at the list of YMCA clients, I decided to contact a few of them. Amazingly, not one of them had anything negative to say about the people at SGA or the product. After making the decision to go with SGA, the conversion process couldn't have been easier. They had us up and running in about 1 month. All of our data came over from our old system without a problem. I initially had some hesitancy since I made the decision later in the year knowing that budget season and end of the year reporting was fast approaching. The software is very user friendly. The functionality of the software is impressive, from the drill down capabilities of the Online Financial Report, to the report writer features, and to the budgeting features. All of the staff has been very happy with the change. Equally important has been the great customer support we get from them. Contrary to what sometimes happens after the sales has been made, there has been no drop off in the availability of help or timely response to any of our questions. If you are seriously looking at making a change to something better, I would highly recommend you give this a look.
YMCA of Greater Kansas City
Overland Park, KS
YMCA of Greater Louisville
Louisville, KY
YMCA of Greater Montgomery
Montgomery, AL
YMCA of Greater Nashua
Nashua, NH
YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
YMCA of Greater Richmond
Richmond, VA
YMCA of Greater Rochester
Rochester, NY
YMCA of Greater St Petersburg
St. Petersburg, FL
YMCA of Greater Tulsa
Tulsa, OK
YMCA of Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Renee Yost, President/CEO
I was expecting the conversion to follow suit with other conversions: time consuming and filled with trial and error, but it was nothing like that. It was very streamlined, and very little was required on our part which was nice. It didn't require a ton of training, and it was just a super-smooth process. I can't say enough good about it. Both my staff and I are very pleased with the end result. We had several things we wanted to implement in the new system in terms of paying some of our vendors though ACH, importing data, and several other things. They have all worked really smoothly. We are able to easily get things set up, and SGA was very helpful. We were able to check several of those things off our list that we had been talking about for a very long time. We're all very excited, and we're seeing a lot of things now that we both can do to streamline our processes and just make more efficient use of our time. I actually think that in real life, what we're getting from SGA is even better than what was presented to us before we signed on. I didn't need much training; SGA is laid out very well, and I think it just intuitively makes sense to finance/accounting types of people. It's simplistic and yet very powerful. The combination of those two things is just wonderful. There is probably more power and functionality there than we even realize. The thing that I have loved about SGA is that the customer service is just fabulous. I call. They answer the phone. We get to talk to somebody. We get our answers fixed. You just don't always get that with other software companies. I just love the personal service we get. SGA's willingness to help us transition was also just very helpful. I cannot say enough good things about SGA. I have become a very big fan of SGA Accounting.
YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South
Cordova, TN
YMCA of Metro Detroit
Detroit, MI
YMCA of Metro North
Peabody, MA
YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas
Coppell, TX
YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Jaye Helm, CFO
Before we had SGA, our association was managing finances 4-6 weeks behind. We would distribute financial information about a month - two weeks into the following month. Our reaction time to trends and problems was way too long. SGA allowed managers at our branches to access up-to-date financial information during the month as we posted payroll, invoices and revenue 2-3 times weekly. In budgeting, branch managers used to put budget information into Excel and send to the corporate office to be entered. Now, budgets can be entered by the branch staff responsible for them. More calculations and information lines can be used to backup budgeted numbers. We have used the budget components and the forecasting tools to enhance the financial management of our association. Also, unlike before, a new employee can go into SGA and see the rationale and justification behind the budgeted numbers. SGA's customer service has been very beneficial. I can talk directly to the people that wrote the software when I have a problem. I would definitely recommend SGA to YMCA's and any other small to medium-sized business.
YMCA of Metropolitan Washington
Washington, DC
YMCA of Northwest Louisiana
Shreveport, LA
YMCA of Snohomish County
Everett, WA
YMCA of Southwest Florida
Venice, FL
YMCA of Southwestern Indiana
Evansville, IN
YMCA of the Capital Area
Baton Rouge, LA
YMCA of the North Shore, Inc.
Beverly, MA
YMCA of the Suncoast
Clearwater, FL
YMCA of Virginia's Blue Ridge
Roanoke, VA
YMCA of Virginia's Blue Ridge, Roanoke, VA
Kendra Ermel, Operations Software Specialist
When I call SGA, it's always a live person that picks up the phone. That's huge. Someone is going to answer who seems to always ask about my day, and then is going to do whatever it takes to solve my issue. And I like that it's always the same people; the support team is small enough that we get to know them, and they get to know us. It feels like family. Working with a smaller company has been an absolute positive. They're big enough to get it done for everyone, but small enough to give individual attention. My suggestions, requests, and problems get immediate attention. There's no red tape. There's no bureaucracy. It's the same core group of people making decisions. And they're making good decisions. Before we transitioned to SGA, our accounting system and all of the financials were completely centralized in the finance director's office. In order for any branch staff, program director, or membership director to get financial information, it had to be given to them by the finance director. It was a single sheet of paper. When we put in SGA it was a complete paradigm shift for the staff. I cannot tell you how much they appreciate the transparency. They never had access to their own numbers before. Now they do, and having access to all of this underlying transaction information has completely changed the way they manage their financials. I can't think of anything that I haven't been able to solve with the Detail Report Writer. I've been able to get every single report I've ever needed. I've been able to build it, either by myself or with the help of SGA's support staff. The software is beyond functional. It's great software as it is. I'd continue to use it for 6 months or even two years from now if SGA were to go out of business tomorrow. I feel like even if SGA went away, I'd be ok. Having the SGA accounting platform has literally changed my day-in and day-out routine. It's made my actual accounting and finance work easy enough that it gives me more time to focus on strategy and how to move my Y forward, as opposed to spending my time figuring out how to run reports for example. As a finance director, I can focus on the big picture things that need my attention as opposed to the daily things that can be so beyond time consuming when you have inefficient software. Working with SGA feels like a true partnership, not at all like the normal vendor/client relationship. Having SGA means feeling like you have someone in your corner.
Altoona Water Authority
Altoona, PA
Boston Bar Association
Boston, MA
Elk County, Pennsylvania
Ridgway, PA
Delaware Nature Society
Hockessin, DE