There are over 170 JCCs across North America, serving more than 1.5 million people every year, from toddlers in early learning programs to seniors in wellness classes and lifelong learning groups.
It’s a remarkable footprint and a reflection of the unique role JCCs play in their communities. Not just as fitness centers, but as cultural, educational, and community anchors.
That kind of multi-dimensional impact needs the right tools behind the scenes. Tools that can keep pace with your wide-ranging programs, support your members at every stage of life, and make day-to-day operations smoother for your team.
In this blog, you’ll find:
- The 5 most important features to look for when evaluating your options.
- How dedicated JCC software can support the full scope of what you offer, beyond just fitness.
- Tips to make sure your tech grows with you and keeps your team and members connected every step of the way.
Let’s dive in.
5 Key Features to Look For in Your JCC Software
1. Self-Service Options That Empower Members and Families
JCC members are managing busy lives: carpools, school drop-offs, work meetings, and volunteering. The more hurdles they face in registering for programs, the more likely they are to delay or drop out entirely.
That’s why self-service matters. With the right JCC software, you can enable your members to:
- Book and pay for events, classes, swim programs, and youth programs at their own convenience — anytime, anywhere via your JCC mobile app or website
- Families can create a single household account and easily add child profiles, including age, grade, allergies, and emergency contact info, making future registrations smoother and faster.
- Join waitlists and get automatically notified when a spot becomes available — no follow-ups with the front desk team needed.
- Benefit from real-time calendar syncing across all devices and platforms, ensuring schedules are always up to date – no more double bookings or missed events.
By making it easy for families to engage, you remove friction, and that helps deepen their relationship with your JCC.
2. Member Engagement & Communication
At the heart of every JCC is a sense of community, but in a world where people are pulled in a hundred directions, staying connected takes more than a bulletin board or mass email. Members expect timely, relevant updates that help them feel seen and included.
The right JCC software empowers your team to:
- Send timely reminders for upcoming classes, program changes, or registration deadlines via SMS, push notifications, or email, reaching members where they’re most likely to check.
- Send targeted messages based on member behavior and preferences, whether it’s a welcome email for new joiners, a re-engagement nudge for members who haven’t checked in lately, or a class-specific alert.
- Segment your audience with powerful filters — like age, membership tier, class history, or even goals — so you’re always speaking to the right people, at the right time.
- Create interest- or class-based groups where members and instructors can interact in a more casual, community-driven way. Instructors can share updates, celebrate milestones, or post helpful tips, and members can cheer each other on and stay engaged between sessions.
These touchpoints build trust and make your members feel like part of something more than a gym — a connected, responsive, and caring community.
3. Unlock Revenue with Flexible, Easy-to-Use Payment Tools
People want to support your mission. They want to enroll in classes, donate to your causes, and bring their families into your programs. But if the path to payment is confusing, clunky, or time-consuming, you’re missing opportunities.
The right JCC software should make payments feel effortless:
- Members and non-members should be able to make payments easily, whether they’re buying a clinic pass or registering for a membership. It should be quick, secure, and work seamlessly with saved payment methods.
- Your JCC software should connect with your existing billing setup or third-party payment providers like Stripe so every transaction is logged, tracked, and stress-free.
- Families should be able to book and pay for programs for their children without visiting the front desk. The JCC software should also support easy transfers, say, from Swim Level 1 to Level 2, and make refunds simple to process when needed.
- Families should be able to book and pay for programs for their children without visiting the front desk. The software should also support easy transfers — say, from Swim Level 1 to Level 2 — and make refunds simple to process when needed.
- Enable guest passes and public registration links, allowing non-members to purchase drop-in classes or event tickets, expanding your reach and revenue.
- Set different pricing tiers or early booking windows based on membership level. Reward loyalty and offer compelling upgrade paths.
- Your team should be able to promote offerings directly via email, push notifications, and in-app banners without going to another platform.
This helps increase enrollment, reduce late payments, and grow your revenue so you can invest more into the mission that brought everyone here in the first place.
4. Support Your Staff by Automating Time-Draining Tasks
From the front desk to program directors, your staff wear many hats. And when they’re buried in paperwork or chasing down missed payments, it limits their ability to serve your members with the warmth and attentiveness that defines your JCC.
A good JCC software solution should:
- Automate class rosters and waitlist management to prevent double bookings and scheduling conflicts. This way, no one needs to scramble last-minute to check who’s in.
- Enable instructors to mark attendance directly on their phones or tablets, no more paper check-ins or lost forms.
- Process payments automatically and reconcile them behind the scenes, reducing human error and hours of manual entry.
- Provide real-time insights into participation and performance so leadership can focus resources where they’re needed most.
Less admin work means more member interaction, deeper connections, and a stronger culture across your team.
5. Bring It All Together with an All-in-One Platform
Running a JCC means managing a lot…youth camps, swim lessons, cultural programming, fitness classes, early childhood education… the list goes on. Each department is vital, and they all deserve tools that help them work smoothly together. But when each team is using a different system, things get messy fast.
A truly all-in-one JCC software solution helps by:
- Housing every program from Pilates to kids camps under one roof, so members and staff don’t have to jump between different systems.
- Allowing families to register for multiple programs (across departments) in a single session, using one account and one payment method.
- Giving staff real-time visibility into enrollment, attendance, and revenue across all offerings from one dashboard.
- Making internal communication easier. No more double-booked rooms or guessing who has the latest schedule.
- Keeping data consistent across your entire organization: if a member updates their contact info, it updates everywhere.
This is about giving your community a seamless experience and your staff the clarity to focus on what really matters: the people walking through your doors.
How SHC’s JCC Software Supports Your Mission?
Our JCC software was purpose-built with your unique needs in mind, shaped by years of working closely with health clubs and community organizations like yours.
SHC’s JCC software is designed to bring it all together from program management to payments, member engagement to internal workflows, so your team has the tools to serve your community with less stress and more impact.
Here’s how SHC helps:
- One app for your entire community. Whether someone’s signing up for a swim class, paying for camp, or booking a spot in a class, everything happens in one easy-to-use Mobile and Web App that carries your JCC’s branding.
- Tools built for your team. Automate enrollment, booking, attendance, rosters, and waitlist management so staff can focus on people, not paperwork.
- Self-service. Members and families can register, pay, and manage schedules from anywhere, anytime, no more juggling phone calls or paper forms.
- Marketing and member engagement, made simple via Marketing Hub. Send push notifications, segment your audience, and share updates on upcoming events or programs, all from one place. Keep your community informed, connected, and excited to participate.
- Sales Hub for revenue growth. Offer fee-based classes, manage memberships, run promotions, and easily upsell programs — all while tracking it in one system that gives you the clarity to grow smarter.
- Support you can count on. A dedicated account manager, real-time help, and training resources mean you’re never figuring it out alone.
Ready to See It in Action?
Your JCC deserves software that works as hard as your team does — one that simplifies the day-to-day, brings your programs together, and gives your members an experience they’ll love coming back to.If you’re curious about how SHC can support your community, we’d love to show you what’s possible.
Book a discovery call with us today — no pressure, just a friendly conversation about your goals and how we can help you reach them.
Let’s build something great together.
