Cornwall & Area Chamber of Commerce
Cost Comparison
How this project compared to other approaches.
LiFet Media
($) Undisclosed
Delivered in 7 weeks
Webflow (Previous Subscription)
$550/year
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Outseta (Previous Subscription)
$1,560/year
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Mailerlite (Previous Subscription)
$1,520/year
They previously paid $1,520/year for Mailerlite.
Google Sheet (Free Tool)
Google Sheet
One more disconnected tool in the stack.
Typeform (Previous Subscription)
$1,300/year
They previously paid $1,300/year for Typeform.
Project Snapshot
Timeline
Jun 2026 - Jul 2026
Delivery Time
7 weeks
Industry
Chamber of Commerce, Member Management, Community Business, Digital Infrastructure
Client
Cornwall & Area Chamber of Commerce
Platforms
What the App Does
This is a membership management platform built specifically for the Cornwall & Area Chamber of Commerce. It runs your public business directory, processes membership applications and renewals with payment collection, and manages event registration for workshops and networking sessions. Members log into a private portal to access exclusive resources, documents, and benefits, while administrators use a built-in CRM to track every business contact, send newsletters, and monitor engagement across the organization.
- A searchable public directory that lists and promotes all member businesses to the community
- Automated membership forms, invoicing, and payment processing for new sign-ups and annual renewals
- Event calendar with ticketing, RSVP collection, and attendance tracking for networking events and workshops
- Member-only login portal for accessing exclusive documents, benefits information, and member-to-member announcements like job postings or special offers
- Administrative dashboard with CRM tools to manage contacts, send targeted emails, track communication history, and issue certificates or documents
It serves as the complete digital infrastructure for running a local business membership organization.
The Challenge
The Cornwall & Area Chamber of Commerce was drowning in disconnected software tools that refused to talk to each other. Member data lived in separate silos across CRM systems, event platforms, email tools, and accounting software, forcing staff to manually export and import CSV files just to keep basic information in sync. The technical infrastructure was a mess of broken APIs, legacy databases without modern integration capabilities, and payment systems that wouldn't reconcile automatically with financial records.
- A single member business often existed with different IDs and conflicting information across billing, ticketing, and directory systems
- Staff wasted hours each week manually moving data between platforms because real-time integrations were missing or broken
- Payment gateways for events and membership dues failed to sync with accounting ledgers, creating tedious reconciliation work
- Multiple admin logins and security policies across unlinked vendor tools created authentication fatigue and management overhead
- No clear single source of truth meant conflicting member records and corrupted historical data across the organization
The result was expensive tool sprawl, endless manual workarounds, and a fragmented view of the very members these organizations existed to serve.
The Approach
The platform consolidates member data into a single PostgreSQL database with a unified member ID system that eliminates duplicate records across billing, events, and directory functions. Staff access everything through one admin interface built in Django, where member information updates propagate automatically to all connected modules without CSV exports. Stripe handles payment processing for both membership dues and event tickets, with webhooks triggering automatic invoice generation and accounting entries that removed manual reconciliation work.
- Built a custom CRM schema that maps business contacts, membership tiers, payment history, and event attendance to a single member record with audit logging for data changes
- Implemented Django authentication with role-based permissions so members and staff use the same login system with different access levels instead of multiple vendor accounts
- Connected Stripe payment intents directly to membership and event records, writing transaction data to the local database so financial reports pull from the same source as operational data
- Created API endpoints that let the public directory, member portal, and admin dashboard all query the same PostgreSQL tables in real time without data replication
- Added automated email workflows using Django's email backend that trigger on membership status changes, event registrations, and renewal deadlines based on database state
The result replaced at least 6 disconnected SaaS subscriptions with one codebase running on a single server that staff can actually modify when business processes change.
Key Features
Tech Stack
Ongoing Cost
$200/month
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