Release 2.8 for November 29th, 2006, Wednesday.

One great advantage of hosted web software (Wild Apricot being an example of such a service focused on non-profits) is that you do not have to bother with system upgrades. We take care of that for you. Tomorrow we are releasing a significant new release 2.8 and all existing accounts will be seamlessly upgraded to the new version with all data kept intact. Here are the key enhancements:

Custom member database fields

Many existing and prospective customers have been asking for this and we are very happy to announce that Wild Apricot now offers full customization of member database fields. Every non-profit is different - and you might want to store member's gender, his industry, company size - or a myriad other things. Now you can do it with Wild Apricot.

If you go into Settings / Customize member database fields, you will see a screen like this:

It lists the fields you currently have and provides at-a-glance overview of field properties.

You can click on any existing field and customize it, for example you can rename the Postal code / ZIP field into simply "ZIP", and make it mandatory:

By clicking on "Add new fields" you can create additional fields as needed:

You can also specify whether a given field should be included on the member application page - and on the member profile page. For example, you might add a field "How did you hear about us" and only include it on the member application page - but there is no need for it on the member profile (the page each member can access and update on his own).

You can drag-and-drop fields to the desired order and create new  subheadings ("section dividers").

Note: Adding and deleting fields is only available for billable account plans.

Database of event attendees

Another big enhancement is a database of event attendees across all your events (people who are not your members). It is accessible under Events / event attendees.

With this database you can keep track of them - since they are typically your best prospects for becoming volunteers, members or sponsors. For each person you can quickly see how many and for which events he or she has registered:

In the near future we will add capabilities to send automatic notices to past event attendees (right now you can have these notices sent to members) as well as any occasional emails - all from within Wild Apricot.

Currency options

Originally our list of payment currencies has been limited to US and Canadian dollars - and dollar sign was automatically shown for amount fields (for event registration fees, donations, membership application and renewals). Non-profits outside of North America will be happy to know that now you can select among much wider selection of currencies:

U.S. Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Swedish Krona, New Zealand Dollar, Norwegian Krone, Japanese Yen, Hong Kong Dollar, Pound Sterling, Euro, Danish Krone, Swiss Franc, CAD Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar

Selected currency will be used for displaying all prices and for online payments.

There are many other, smaller enhancements and improvements too - we will leave it to you to discover on your own!

We have worked hard on this release - changing from the fixed list of member database fields to a customizable one has required a total overhaul of the system database and dozens of web pages linked to it. So the system has undergone many rigorous cycles of testing - and we are now confident that it is just as reliable and stable as it always was. We are looking forward to your feedback - and of course feel free to call, email us or post questions to online forums.