Do you help manage an association, charity or club?  If you run a membership based organisation, nearly all your administrative work can be automated with membership management software.  It’s the ideal tool to build, engage, organise and retain members.  This includes your communications, database, events, fundraising, leads, member applications, onboarding, payments reminders, renewals and more.

Choosing a member management solution is a time consuming process.  There are literally hundreds of software solutions available and knowing which one is right for your organisation can be daunting.  Popular options include Growth Zone, Advanced Solutions International (ASI), Member365, Membes, memberplanet, Wild Apricot and Your Membership.

The ONZL team do not endorse or recommend a specific product.  However, we’ve compiled our top eight tips to help you find the best solution to help manage your membership.

1. Create a team who can search and assess available solutions against your organisation’s specific needs. 
2. Before you begin considering your options, be clear on your functionality requirements.  List your ‘must have’ features like membership reporting or customised fields. 
3. Identify potential vendors and make use of free trials, pilots and demonstrations.  Take the opportunity to test each of your essential features and evaluate each of the products.
4. Create a shortlist of potential vendors that meet your organisation’s needs.
5. Before making a final decision, talk to existing customers and gain their objective feedback.  Ask if the system is easy to learn and what kind of support is available?
6. Check upfront costs, ongoing fees and the contract terms.  Also consider payment processing fees and confirm payment gateway support is available locally. 
7. If you will be transitioning from another system, understand the data migration process.
8. Only sign a contract when you have found a vendor that offers good value, support and meets all your membership management needs. 

Contact us to learn about the member management services we provide for industry associations and not-for-profits.