How One Nonprofit Scaled Its Mission Without Losing Its Human Touch
In South Carolina, the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development (SCACED) has spent decades building a stronger, more inclusive economy. From supporting small businesses to equipping underrepresented entrepreneurs, SCACED’s work reaches far beyond dollars. It builds resilience, equity, and long-term opportunity in historically underserved communities.
The organization leads a statewide network of community development corporations, minority-owned businesses, and mission-driven nonprofits focused on economic justice. Its programs span affordable housing, climate resilience, microenterprise, and leadership development, with a focus on Black, Indigenous, and rural communities.
Through training, technical assistance, and access to capital, SCACED strengthens local capacity to close opportunity gaps and build long-term community wealth.
However, as programming grew, so did complexity. Managing events, member data, and communication with a small team and manual systems became increasingly unsustainable.
SCACED needed a platform that could scale with its mission.
The Challenge: Scaling Reach Without Sacrificing Relational Depth
Growth, while a welcome outcome, introduced friction across multiple operational layers. As membership surged, internal teams found themselves managing disparate systems, manual processes, and redundant workflows—often at the expense of member engagement and staff bandwidth.
“Larger events gave us more visibility and momentum,” said Bush Brunson of SCACED. “But they also made it harder to keep everything organized. Registrations, sponsorships, member outreach. We needed a better system.”
The organization needed to evolve its internal systems to match its external growth. But the transformation couldn’t come at the cost of member relationships or mission alignment.
“The onboarding was fast, and at first it felt a little rushed. But Glue Up’s knowledge portal helped us keep learning. And their support team has really grown. We now know exactly who to reach out to when we need help.”
The Solution: Operational Cohesion Through Platform Consolidation
SCACED adopted Glue Up as its central operating platform, consolidating membership management, event execution, and communications into a single, cloud-based solution. This move was not simply about digitization—it was about future-proofing the organization with scalable architecture.
The immediate outcomes:
- Membership increased from 140 to nearly 240 active members
- Member retention improved through real-time status tracking and engagement data
- Administrative overhead declined, allowing staff to prioritize strategic initiatives
“Being able to see in real time who is current on their membership has been a game changer,” Brunson shared. “That visibility helps us keep more people engaged and makes our growth more manageable.”
This visibility was not just tactical. It gave leadership the confidence to make data-backed decisions and invest resources more strategically.
The Turning Point: Executing Flagship Events with Enterprise-Level Efficiency
SCACED’s annual conference serves as both a brand-defining experience and a primary revenue driver. Yet as the event scaled, so did the friction. Coordinating sponsorships, managing registrations, and executing at scale using legacy methods introduced substantial operational risk.
Glue Up provided automation, self-service functionality, and end-to-end visibility.
- Record Sponsorship Acquisition: Sponsors could view, select, and complete purchases online, eliminating manual negotiation cycles
- Higher Participant Turnout: Mobile-optimized registration improved accessibility and conversion
- Streamlined Event Logistics: Payment processing, communications, and real-time analytics were integrated into one workflow
The shift from reactive coordination to proactive orchestration allowed SCACED’s team to focus on experience design, stakeholder relationship building, and long-term brand equity.
A Conference That Set New Benchmarks
SCACED’s annual conference has long been a cornerstone event, but with Glue Up, it reached new levels of scale and impact.
“We host a big annual conference every year—it’s our signature event. It’s really become what we’re known for. It’s our big fundraising tool for us in terms of sponsorships and whatnot,” said Bush Brunson. “This past year, we had a record number of sponsorships and a record number of attendees. Being on Glue Up made it easier for them to register, to pick out their tickets. If they wanted a sponsorship, they could initiate that process on Glue Up.”
The technology gave SCACED the infrastructure to simplify complex logistics and deliver a better experience for attendees, sponsors, and internal teams alike.
Why Glue Up Works for Nonprofits
For most nonprofits, every dollar matters. Hence, investing in software often means tough trade-offs between functionality, affordability, and ease of use. Many platforms on the market are either too expensive or so limited in scope that organizations end up stitching together multiple tools just to keep operations running.
SCACED needed something different—a single platform that could handle member management, events, and communication, without stretching their resources. Glue Up provided that balance, offering cost-effective technology designed to simplify the work while supporting long-term growth.
Looking Ahead: Building for the Future
SCACED’s story is not just about implementing software. It is about building a stronger foundation for continued growth. As the organization expands its reach and impact, it does so with the confidence that its systems can keep up.
“Glue Up helped us scale without sacrificing what matters most. Our relationships, our members, and our mission.”
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