technology for associations: a case study on association...

Promoting Excellence and Innovation in Science Teaching and Learning for All

Technology for Associations: A Case Study on Association Management Systems

2012 National Congress on Science Education

Friday, July 13, 2012, Albuquerque, NM

Kelly Price, GSTA Executive Director &Teshia Birts, CAE, NSTA Senior Manager, Chapter and Associated Group Relations


Technology is the making, usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or serve some purpose.

Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology


“It’s too hard” VS. “Whew, that’s a breeze”

Or what’s the purpose of the presentation?

• We want you working smarter, not harder. That time-savings helps you:• Focus on organization’s mission and

vision• Look at ways to improve (operations,

programming, etc.)• Provide sure footing for future leaders

• BE STRATEGIC!


Why?

More polished, professional image

Make it easy for members and other stakeholders to

join and be engaged in your organization


Why? (Driving the point home…)

If leaders are completely

focused on all of the

administrative duties…

…You won’t have time to focus on:

Strategic planning for your organizationDeveloping strategies for member acquisition and retentionDeveloping superior content-rich PDDeveloping effective leadersMentoring future leaders


This presentation will cover three major areas:

Association Management/Member Management Systems – Case Study with

GSTA

Share-a-thon of other Systems

Social Media and Associations


Three quick surveys…

Number of members in your organization?• 0-100?• 101-500?• 501-1500?• 1501+

Who manages “day-to-day” functions?• Executive Director (with

staff)• Executive Director/Paid

Staff (one person)• Main Association Contact

(Volunteer leader or member and may receive stipend) – supported by other leaders

• “Managed by committee”; leaders sharing the load

• Other


• Accepting printed applications/hardcopy filing system

• Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 or similar spreadsheet application

• Access, FoxPro or similar relational database system

• NetForum/Avectra, Memberclicks or similar web-based association management system

What type of system is

your organization

using?


Association Management/Member Management Systems

Benefits of using a management system as part of your operations

Even the cheapest management systems (with some training for leaders or staff) will:

Make it easier for members to join, renew and update

contact information

Ease the meeting registration process for attendees

Allow leaders and/or staff to

track information and

demographics

Pull data/reports to use for strategic

decision-making

All of this housed within one system that is web-based!


Association Management/Member Management Systems

Okay, so what types of practices are out there in managing

member data?

• Poor: Printed application/filing system• Fair: Spreadsheet application (such as

Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Apple Numbers)• Good/Moderate: Relational database

management systems (Access, FoxPro, SQL Server, etc.)

• Best Practice: Association Management System which include membership, event, donor management as well as interface to web (with a Content Management System); electronic communications


GSTA Member Management Transformation

What caused our push to look for new resources? Spring/Summer 2011• A focused vision for 2011-2012 GSTA activities;

Website, newsletter and conference; Using the mantra “Better before Bigger”

• Instead of driving membership for membership’s sake, work on our products and getting better and providing more



• Website committee reviewed our current site and determined that a complete redesign was needed; further analysis revealed that this would cost a minimum of $6,000 through the webmaster company used at the time.

• Then we remembered the NCSE 2011 presentations about web presence and member management….and our change to Wild Apricot began.

• www.georgiascienceteacher.org


GSTA Member Management TransformationOver a period of roughly 2-4 weeks, GSTA virtual presence

is transformedGSTA Prior to Aug 2011 GSTA since Aug 2011

Spreadsheet management of 1000+ members info

Seamless membership management with invoicing and renewal reminders built in that interfaces with conference registration

Website managed by a really good webmaster that GSTA paid $2500 annually for services; basic updates, creation of online registration templates

A completely brand new webpage with the GSTA owned URL; We can post in seconds and do not have to wait on anyone else; no contracted services; $1,000 annual costEvent Registration is included with the services and all registrations were handled through the new platform including onsite registrations; total conf attendance in Feb 2012 was 1300



Lessons we still have to learn: • Credit card processing, looking at paypal instead

of activate.net and a separate processing contract; consider mobile plug in card readers (i.e. paypal, square, pay anywhere)

• Continue to learn the nuances of the new platform and train more association leaders on it

• Keeping records up to date and building membership only resources


Issues to consider when researching association/membership management systems

Operating budget: That goes without saying.

Consider costs associated with:

• Start-up or set-up fees (if applicable)

• Consultants and training (if necessary)

• Hidden charges associated with software updates

• Regular increase in fees (research!)

Total number of records:

• Members and non-members, but also contacts, meeting attendees, subscribers and the largest number of members you could have.


Issues to consider when researching association/membership management systems

Regular updates: Ask

how often software updates

are made (on average) and how operations might

be impacted

Set-up fees: General rule of thumb – systems with

set-up fees will coordinate data import, data clean-up,

etc. for you• Systems with no set-up fee? You will

have to do all of the start up on your own.

Training: Whether training is included; most

systems have free resources

(webinars, online documents and support portal)


Questions


Technology Share-a-thonWhat systems are you organization using?

ADD MORE Logos


Other Useful Software Systemsfor Associations

E-marketing systems:• Examples – Constant Contact, iContact, MailChimp, Real

Magnet, Informz• Any others? • Pros vs. Cons? Other Feedback

Surveys/Forms:• Survey Examples – SurveyMonkey, Informz, Formsite,

Poll Daddy, Zoomerang• Some systems allow integration to online merchant

accounts (PayPal, Authorize, Google Checkout, etc.• Pros vs. Cons? Other Feedback?


Other Useful Software Systemsfor Associations

Merchant Accounts systems:• Examples – PayPal, Authorize.net, Intuit, Google

Checkout• Any others? • Pros vs. Cons? Other Feedback

Event registration systes:• Examples – EventBrite, Regonline, Cvent, Thriva,

Eventzilla (new)• Any others? • Pros vs. Cons? Other Feedback


More Information Sharing

What other systems are organizations using? What’s worked? What hasn’t?


What organizations are using social media for what purpose?

Public platforms:• Facebook• Twitter• LinkedIn• Foursquare• Newer systems (Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.)• Photosharing platforms (Flicker,

Other engagement/networking channels:• Listservs• Online communities (behind Members’ firewall)• Blogs


Questions


Kelly PriceGeorgia Science Teachers Association, Executive Director

E-mail: [email protected]

Teshia Birts, CAENSTA Senior Manager, Chapter & Associated Group Relations

Phone: 703-312-9275E-mail: [email protected]

Facebook: www.facebook.com/teshiabbTwitter: @teshiabirts

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