How to Decide Membership Rules for Nonprofit Organizations

Is your club looking for a solution to manage your members? Look no further!
Finding the right software is not easy, and while there may not be a software that fits all of your needs, there are many that come close. With that in mind, we have created a list of software superlatives to help you find the best option for your club.
In this article we will cover:
Let’s jump in!
Before we dive into the features that your club needs, first we need to define what club management software is.
Essentially, it is a management system for any type of club. A management software enables your organization to store all of its information in one place, and uses smart technology to automate previously manual tasks (like marking which contacts are members, donors, volunteers, etc.).
This type of system is important for your club because it will save you vital time that you can repurpose to more important mission focused tasks!
As a club, there are a few factors to consider when choosing the best management software for you:
All of these software features will help your club save time and make sure that your organization is running as smooth as possible. We took all of these factors into consideration when examining the following softwares to give you the best list of club management systems possible!
We like what Raklet has to offer because it is a good option if you are a very small club that needs to step away from Excel but isn’t looking for advanced features.
Raklet is an all-in-one software and their features include CRM, social network, job board, collecting donations, selling tickets, managing memberships, sending texts, and sending emails. This covers most of the aspects that your club will need, excluding a website builder and calendar of events, but including other features like social networks and a job board.
We consider Raklet to be the best basic club software because you can choose a subscription based on what features you want. Instead of getting all of the features that a more established club might need, you can choose to go with the most basic option of Raklet which includes the CRM tool that will allow you to automate your administrative tasks, like using Excel.
The downsides of this software is that it can get expensive if you want all of the features, including communication campaigns. In addition, it is not possible to set up a website, which is not necessarily a tool that will grow with you, but is ideal for getting off the ground and setting up basic processes.
Although we mention these as negative points, these are both reasons why we consider Raklet to be the best basic software. These "downsides" will work in your favor if you are transitioning from Excel and just need basic features, but will not be good for a club that needs a fully functional and integrative software.
Specialized softwares (ex: for sports clubs) are good for operations because they are formatted specifically for your type of club. The downside to these are that you will either have to pay a lot to get them to fit your needs, or have to use several other tools that don’t communicate with each other.
We chose this one as an example of what a specialized software can do and how it can be tailored specifically to you.
Minbody was originally built for fitness clubs and yoga and pilates studios. Their basic features include hosting online classes, marketing functions, online booking, self-check in, and online payment. Because of its high level of specialization, Mindbody is best for scheduling group classes/events, one-on-one training sessions, and managing employees’ schedules.
These are all great features for your club if you are a fitness club, and will make your day to day operations run much smoother. The drawback of using mindbody, like any other specialized software, is that it is hard to use if your club is not a fitness club, and it will have a high cost to personalize it to your organization. This is general for all specialized softwares, so be sure to analyze if an all-in-one or specialized solution is the best for your club.
Wild Apricot is another all-in-one software that includes CRM, membership management, events, store, donations, finances, email, and a website builder. This software meets all of the requirements we mentioned earlier, which makes it a great option for established clubs looking to optimize their daily operations.
Another advantage to this software is that its cost is based on the number of contacts in the database, instead of on basic vs. premium features. This is fairly common for all-in-one softwares, and is especially helpful for clubs that need the full features package. This allows you to get everything that your organization needs to run a successful club without having to pay more.
The biggest advantage of this software is that it includes a fully functional accounting feature! Most membership based softwares don’t have this feature included or integrated as well, so if your club needs revenue management this will be a good option for you.
The one inconvenience about Wild Apricot is that it is not as user friendly as the other all-in-one options. The interface is not as appealing and there is often a lot of information on the screen which can seem overwhelming. Although it is important to have all of this information, it is better to have it in a format that any user can understand. This said, each software has their own pitfalls, and Wild Apricot is a good software and will save you time.
This software includes less of the features that you need, as their basic tools include membership management, communication, events, finances, and insights. You can see that there are quite a few missing functionalities here, but where JOIN IT lacks in features, they make up for it with integrations.
An integration is when two softwares come together to communicate with each other, enabling the software to have features that it otherwise wouldn’t have. For example, a management software that doesn’t include communication might integrate with an email tool which would allow users to send emails while tracking which contacts have received them in its CRM.
These integrations allow you to keep using tools that you love in connection with the club software features that you need, like membership management. The benefits of integration allow you to address almost any problem that your club may face, which then enables you to run your organization as efficiently as possible.
JOIN IT integrates with: stripe, eventbrite, mailchimp, zapier, quickbooks, zoom, google analytics, slack, constant contact, kindful, mailjet, surveymonkey, shopify, emma, campaign monitor, webhooks, and sendlane.
As with any software, there is a downside to JOIN IT and in this case it is the cost associated with integrations. Although the integrations can be helpful to guarantee you are using the best tools possible, you will also have to pay for each of these instruments separately. By the time you are done paying for the software and integrations you could have developed a personalized software that better fits your needs. On the other hand, if you only need one or two integrations, and these are tools that you cannot live without, JOIN IT might be the perfect solution for you!
We don’t mean to toot our own horns, but Springly was developed for clubs, by club leaders. Our strength is membership based organizations because we have invested considerable time in developing these features in our software.
In addition to membership management and CRM, we offer donor management, group management, management of entities/chapters, attendance lists, a website builder, calendar, communication campaigns, events, online and physical store, statistics, and a free integration with trello. Bonus: our accounting feature will be released in 2021.
Above all, our biggest strength is that there are no tech skills required, ever. Everyone can use our software regardless of age, time, or experience. Our goal is to save your club time, and that means no confusing "solutions." All of our forms were designed in the same manner, so once you have done one campaign you can create another in seconds. In addition to this, we offer website and email templates that are easy to use with drag and drop features so anyone can use these features.
There is one drawback to using Springly, and that is that we are not a specialized software. If you are looking for a specialized software depending on which type of club you are (fitness club, college sorority/fraternity, youth community club, etc.), you may want to consider another option.
With this in mind, be sure to conduct an analysis of the pros and cons of specialized software vs. all in one before making your software decision! This will help to ensure your club is using the best software that fits your needs and saves you time and money.
We hope this article has helped you to pick a Club Management Software that will help your organization to run more efficiently! Leave a comment below to let us know if you chose one of these options, and what your decision was based on.
Springly is trusted by over 15,000 nonprofit’s to help them run their organizations on a daily basis. See if it could work for you with a free 30 day trial!