We’ve been talking a lot about the Open Y Drupal distribution over the past few months. And it’s no wonder: it’s won awards, made headlines, and even got a few shout-outs at DrupalCon Baltimore. But one of the reasons why we keep touting the accomplishments of the YMCA and the Open Y is because we know there’s lots that any organization can learn from it — not just YMCAs.

Join us, the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities, and Acquia on Thursday, June 01, at 11:00 AM EDT for an hour-long webinar on Building, Collaborating and Scaling Drupal Distributions for Federated Organizations. It will focus on lessons learned from the Open Y project, including:
 

• Leveraging open source software to foster sharing and collaboration.
• Developing a communication strategy focused on key benefits of Drupal and open source, such as cost and speed of innovation.
• Creating a sustainable model in a federated organization from small to large YMCAs.

We firmly believe that any organization struggling with an overabundance of digital tools and systems can learn, and find inspiration, from the Open Y project, which was about creating a solution that allowed YMCAs everywhere to unite their disparate digital platforms.

About the Open Y Project

The Open Y initiative won an Acquia Partner Site of the Year in 2016, and for good reason.  In the modern environment where customer experience often starts (and ends) online, the YMCA of Greater Twin Cities was constrained by its aging proprietary content management system (CMS). The system was difficult to use, cost prohibitive, and limited The Y’s ability to innovate digitally.

Faced with increased competition from boutique health and fitness providers, the YGTC set the goal of creating a digital platform that was cost effective, yet provided the best possible customer experience. They understood that they weren’t the only YMCA facing this situation, either, and decided to make their solution available to any other YMCA to use or improve upon by creating the Open Y movement.