Top 10 cool, easy-to-use web poll survey tools for your blog and website

Polls can be a great way to engage your supporters and to get their feedback about topics related to your mission. In this article, we have reviewed a number of web-based polls to find the ones that are easy to use and customize, even with limited web design skills.

Read more...

Case Study: U3A Denia

U3A stands for the University of the Third Age, which is a self-help organisation for people no longer in full time employment providing educational, creative and leisure opportunities in a friendly environment. It consists of local U3As all over the UK, which are charities in their own right and are run entirely by volunteers. Local U3As are learning cooperatives which draw upon the knowledge, experience and skills of their own members to organise and provide interst groups in accordance with the wishes of the membership.

U3A Denia is a Denia chapter of an association of retired /semi-retired English-speaking men and women living in Denia, Valencia, Spain. Its purpose is to share educational, social and recreational activities in small groups, using the skills and interests of its members.

Tina Bellenie, Treasurer and Part-Time Websmaster, says that for years the organization has relied on traditional press outreach tools (press announcements and word of mouth). But driven by the importance of communicating with members, Tina and her colleagues launched a new interactive website to keep members engaged and grow membership. (And we are proud that they have selected Wild Apricot platform for their online community!)

"We already had a website (created with Microsoft Front Page) and a membership database (using Hotmail) and we wanted to improve both, says Tina Bellenie, Treasurer and Part-Time Webmaster. It was particularly important that the website could be updated by any authorized user from his/her own home. Initially we were only looking for a new website but when we found Wild Apricot the idea of integrating the website and the membership database was very attractive. The events organizer clinched it."

U3A Denia found the following Wild Apricot features to be of most use in helping them attract and increase members:

• The emailing facility for members
• The fact that web pages can be edited and added to so easily by non technical people
• The ability to communicate easily and rapidly with all or selected groups of members
• The ease of use of the website which allows non-technical people to keep it updated regularly without waiting for an 'expert'
• The clear and attractive layout of the website
• The online event registration which saves hours of admin time

U3A Denia can be found online at u3adenia.memberlodge.org/

Read full Case Study

Wild Apricot Info Zone

Our most recent update has been released on September 12th and the next one will be released during the first few days of October.

Highlights:

• Event categories (tags, labels). Now you can assign categories to your events and then easily search through the events in the future as well create multiple event list pages with different selections of event lists. For example, you can have a separate page with 'Social events' and another one for 'Learning events' - as well as a page for all events and one for past (archived) events.
• You always had the ability to add unlimited content pages to your Wild Apricot website - but all interactive pages (such as online member application form, member directory) were added automatically to your account. Now you can add and delete these pages just like content pages. This means that you can add multiple event list pages, application forms, member directories etc. Note: at this moment, only event list pages have totally separate pages. Thus, it does not really make sense to add e.g. multiple member directories as they will show the same list of members. However, this will be addressed over the next few releases.
• Event registration has become much more flexible. A new concept of 'registration types' is introduced - analogous to ticket types. This means that you can sell 'general tickets' to the public for $20, 'first row seats' for $30 to the public and 'special member tickets' for $10 only to members. You can also now use cut-off registration dates and early-bird pricing. Self-service custom domain management has been added - you are free to add your custom websites at any time.
• Many other improvements and minor bug fixes.

As always - go to http://help.wildapricot.com/display/DOC/Release+history for more details

What are we working on right now - to be released in the first few days of October

• Full redesign of event registration process. We are making it easier to avoid accidental duplicate registrations and for members to get appropriate member price (eligibility is determined by their email even if they are not logged in).
• Automating registration limits. You can set event capacity at 50 people according to your venue seating and the system will automatically disable event registration once the limit is reached.
• Member pictures in member profile (for photos or logos).
• Payment report drill-down: you can now click on any amount in the report to see the list of transactions behind it.
• Ability to add multiple member directories - each one with its own settings.
• Undo last save for any web content page.

Other things in the works include:

• Recurring payments
• Additional payment options
• Group (Corporate/Family) memberships
• Discussion forum
• Customization of fields in member directory list
• Calendar view of events
• Setup wizard for new accounts

(Some will be developed in the very next release, others will follow in the next few releases)

We always appreciate your feedback so please keep it coming.

Online Member Services Best Practices (Part 1 of 2)

How do you interact with hundreds or even thousands of members and supporters worldwide - and with very limited resources? How can you improve member satisfaction, increase renewal rates and reduce the costs and time spent on member support? Today, many associations, clubs, nonprofits and other member organizations understand the value of using the web as a self-service support medium for members. In this article, we present the most common functions and facilities under the general umbrella of online member services along with some recommendations for each.

Read more...

N4P Dose of Humor

What exactly is a gift annuity?

Copyright, Grantland Enterprises; www.grantland.net. Used with permission. May not be reproduced in any format

Subscribe to the Wild Apricot blog today!

The Wild Apricot blog is constantly publishing articles, interviews and case studies on about web technology and social media tools for associations, clubs, charities and other non-profit and member-based organizations. Our focus is on issues relevant to volunteers, administrators, webmasters, and managers. You can subscribe via RSS or email.

For comments, requests, questions and contributions to our newsletter:

support@wildapricot.com

1-877-270-4268
416 - 410-4059

www.wildapricot.com

144 Front St W, Suite 725
Toronto, Ontario
M5J 2L7, Canada