An associate management system, better known as membership management software, is perhaps the most integral tool for any non-profit organization. It is specifically made to make your non-profit more efficient and productive.
It helps streamline communication among your volunteers, team members, and stakeholders. More so, it can aid in disseminating information to specific membership groups. With capable membership database software for nonprofits, you can allow the team members to collaborate better and interact with the organization.
Simply put, the membership management software is a unified database that stores all relevant information about your volunteers. This software functions very similarly to donor management software. In fact, you can use both programs together and ensure that all data is seamlessly connected.
How Does Membership Software Help Organise Your Data Better?
Any good membership management software can ensure a better flow of data, which further eases several intricate processes of your non-profit. With the software, you can easily segregate members related to your organization in a pyramid database system.
Typically, the groups are divided on the type of membership status each member holds. There are basically three segregations, namely bronze level, silver level, gold or platinum level. While the names can differ depending on the software you use, the function is rather standardized.
The levels differentiate members based on how actively they take part in and support your organization. Usually, the higher the membership level is, the higher your donation or membership fee will be.
A higher level of membership also comes with more perks. For instance, while a bronze-level membership might give you access to exclusive communication abilities; a platinum membership can ensure you VIP invites to events.
Having a segregated and organized list of your organization’s volunteers can further allow you to smoothen the workflow. You can better communicate by sending out bulk emails, donation requests, event invites, and newsletters to appropriate members.
With such an organized database, you can also gather more information about the volunteers. Knowing their history of donations, amounts, and interests can further allow you to forecast how much you can expect from each member. This will also allow you to better target your audience, ensuring you can make the most of your efforts.
With any capable membership software for nonprofits, you will also be able to analyze the data. This can include everything from your member’s geographic locations, how many of them renewed their membership, their donation history, and other similar information.
Any good membership software will always allow you to integrate the system into your official website. This way, every member can manage their personal accounts directly from the website. In addition, this will feed all the necessary information you need into the databases you have placed automatically.
How Is Membership Management Software Different From Donor Management Software?
Quite frankly, there is not much of a difference between the two. However, donor management software stores more information, even if it is short-term. For instance, it will compile information about anyone who has ever donated to your organization.
While this can be someone who has donated $10, say seven years ago or someone who regularly makes a donation. On the other hand, a membership management program will help you develop a benefits-driven system. This will better segregate your donors, encourage donations, and increase community support on a more long-term and regular basis.
Is It An Affordable Option?
Prices and charges involved in running a membership management program can differ based on its features, capabilities, location, and overall usability. A more robust system will always cost you more to install and run.
However, most non-profits, especially the ones that have just started out, might find it hard to suffice. It is best if you can start out with free software first. This will not only help you save resources but also give you a taste of what you can expect from the software.
Once you know how it works and what you precisely need from It, you can then graduate to a more robust solution. This will also ensure you are not wasting resources in running a system that you do not need or use in the first place. Free software is almost always less complicated than paid ones, as they with lesser features.
How Does It Help Your Non-profit Organisation?
There is a myriad of benefits you can expect from a good and capable membership management program. The first and rather most important way it can help you is by streamlining all kinds of administrative tasks almost instantly. This is also the most popular feature of why non-profits tend to use such software in the first place.
With an integrated system, you can also allow your members to manage their personal accounts without the supervision of a volunteer or employee. The process is quite easy as well. All the members have to do is log in to your official website, fill in all the necessary fields in your digital forms, pay for the membership, and that is.
With that, they can enjoy all the perks that come with their segregation of membership. The good thing about this is whatever information they will enter in the forms will directly get synced and stored in your database. This not only helps save time but also frees your manpower and eliminates the chances of any human error.
In addition to all that, a membership management program will also allow you to keep track of all the members supporting you. This further helps you project the future performance of your organization with historical data analysis.
Quite often, many members will support your organization for many years, as it is more of a feel-good endeavor for them. In addition to offering them benefits and perks, the software can also name perks for the individuals responsible for managing the memberships.
Some common perks can include self-service event ticketing, sending out bulk emails, and having an overall automated system where everyone can manage their own accounts. You can also use the software to send out automatic renewal reminders, taking a huge load off your employees.
How Should You Go About The Process Of Choosing This Software?
Now that you know what a membership management program is, why it is necessary and how it can help, it is time to choose one. One quick search on the internet will present you with hordes of options.
While any software will help your organization, it is very important to choose the right one. Although it is expected to confuse you, there are some easy things you can factor in to make the decision easier.
A non-profit does not always have enough capital to spend without weighing the pros and cons. So, start by considering the kind of budget you have. This will immediately bring down the number of choices you have and make it a simpler decision.
Now that you have your shortlist tries picking the options which are easy to learn, intuitive, user-friendly, and do not require extra training. A good program will always keep the end-user in mind and ensure they do not have a hard time learning it. More so, training can waste time, effort, and money, which you can avoid like this.
Thirdly, make sure you have your priorities straight. Do not just purchase any random software that has a lot of features. This can mean you end up spending more money than required. Look for options that cater to your organization’s specific needs and requirements.
With the information mentioned in this article, you will surely have no problem finding a great membership management program and implementing it into your system.
Make sure you have checked the service provider’s reviews and industry reputation before finalizing your choice. Rest assured, with robust membership management software, you can expect your organization to be more efficient and capable.
