Every ADR association board I’ve ever served on has struggled with this question:
Is there an affordable service for managing our website, member registration and database, communication and event registrations – that’s also easy to use by both the association and the members?
Too many of the solutions are cumbersome to learn, require a huge investment of time and energy that many volunteer board members just don’t have, or assume a level of geekery that’s just annoying. And some of them are ridiculously pricey for what they deliver and the energy it takes board members to make it work well.
Maybe there’s some hope on the horizon. I’ve been reading good things about Wild Apricot, an affordable web-based non-profit association- and event-management service. Its service includes:
- Easy-to-manage website
- An email newsletter tool, blogs and discussion forum
- Online application and event registration forms and management
- Secure web pages for members, board and volunteers
- A member database that can automate renewals (phew…I think this one eats a lot of time and energy for ADR boards)
Wild Apricot says this about their service:
Everything is integrated in one elegant program to save you money and hours of tedious copy-pasting from one program to another.
We designed Wild Apricot so that people comfortable with Microsoft Word can easily update website pages. Now your volunteers can pitch in to help!
And, yes, you can afford it – pricing starts at just $25 per month, with no setup or any other costs.
Their website is an impressive, usable set of resources to help you determine if Wild Apricot’s a good fit for your ADR association. It includes links to sites that use their service, a free member management guide, information on security and privacy, pricing plans, a blog, and an online tour.
Wild Apricot offers a free, 30-day trial if you’re interested in giving it a test run. If you think your state or region’s ADR association might be interested, feel free to forward this article to them.
Cheers,
Copyright © 2008 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.
I am reviewing Wild Apricot for our church youth sports leagues. Unfortunately, their Terms of Use is not workable. For instance,
4.1.4. You understand that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable.
2.1.1. You must be 18 years or older.
8.3 By uploading images and item description content to Service, you agree to allow other internet users to view them and you agree to allow us and our service providers to display and store them …
These terms must be a agreed upon by your members (i.e. the public). I have sent an email outline objections and am awaiting a response.