From the whole Wild Apricot team, we wish you a very happy holidays!
In this update, you'll find:
Here’s What Happened in 2018
We released dozens of new features and updates in 2018, including:
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Wild Apricot Payments
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Online store
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Polls, election and surveys
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Managing account administrators in one place
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Changing your billing period yourself
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Help and support icon
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Members location mapping gadget
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Emailing initially disabled for new accounts
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Casefile theme set
Here's what happened each month:
January — We announced our new in-product help center, so you don’t have to switch between admin view and the help site.
February — We announced that we were removing admin limits and changing our pricing plans to reflect the added value of the online store and member app.
March — The online store opened for business!
April — We had our first user conference at PersoniFest 2018. It was great to meet everyone who stopped by! We also launched Wild Apricot payments, so members and customers don’t have to leave your website to pay.
May — We added the ability to manage account administrators and to change your account from monthly to yearly billing.
June — We announced the launch of Boot Camp. This series of webinars has been hugely popular, and has helped thousands of people to learn to use Wild Apricot.
July — We showed you some ways to use the new polls and survey feature.
August — Two important posts this month: our article about keeping your Wild Apricot account secure, and our bumper list of 200+ fundraising event ideas.
September — We added taxes to the online store — and also redesigned our newsletter email.
October — The mobile app for members was released on Android.
November — Our annual Free Membership Growth Online Summit took place this month. Thousands of you attended to learn tips and tricks from our experts.
December — We announced that Personify had acquired a2z, Inc., a leading events management platform. We also launched the Wild Apricot app on Integromat.
Test Yourself
With the members location mapping gadget, you can show your website visitors which members are in their local area. We all know that a local presence will help you attract customers or supporters who live or work nearby, but how far are people typically willing to travel?
Q: What % of people will only travel 15 minutes or less for everyday purchases and services?
A: 66%
B: 72%
C: 87%
A: Scroll to the bottom of this post to find out!
Make It Easier to Find Your Members with Location Mapping
Do you ever wish you could show visitors which of your members are local to them — without having to manually add them to a map? Or that you and your members could see at a glance which neighborhoods fellow members are based in?
The members location mapping gadget pinpoints the locations of your members on a map, and shows selected member details when you click. This can help visitors to contact the right members, members to organize community events, and admins to save time spent searching through directories.
Learn more:
Introducing members location mapping
This post shows you ideas for ways to use the gadget, how it could benefit your organization, what to do if you see an error message, and FAQ.
Click here to read the post.
3 ways to boost your website with members location mapping
Take a look at how other customers are already using the gadget. This post gives examples for healthcare service providers, educational organizations, professional associations, and more.
Click here to read the post.
We’ll also be posting a blog with top tips for using the gadget next week, so keep an eye out for that.
What’s New in Wild Apricot
There have been two software releases this month, 6.14 and 6.15. As well as fixing some bugs, these also include 2 changes to note:
New theme set for websites
The new Casefile website theme set has been released. The theme can be used by any organization, but has been designed for associations representing lawyers, jurists, and advocates. It includes theme variations for different legal specialties, like environmental protection, child protection, and animal protection.
The theme includes a collapsible sidebar...
... and sliding gadget style, available for upcoming events, recent blog posts, and forum updates gadgets, that allows visitors to scroll through items like images in a slideshow.
Retiring the Google map gadget
We are retiring the Google map gadget because of changes at Google's end that prevent it from working with custom domains, and limit the number of free requests. Existing site pages with Google map gadgets will continue to function as before, but the gadget will not be available to add to any page.
In its place, you can directly embed a Google map by copying and pasting embed code obtained from Google. For complete instructions on embedding Google maps into Wild Apricot site pages, click here.
Integromat
In December we launched the Wild Apricot app on Integromat. Integromat is a tool that allows you to automate manual workflows without writing a single piece of code, so you can create scenarios like automatically sending your members an email on their birthday. To find out more, click here.
December Support FAQs
How do I turn off the Invoice me option for registration fees and membership fees?
To turn off the Invoice me option – so that event registrants and membership applicants are forced to pay online – choose Online only as the payment method for your events and membership levels.
Why can’t I select the contact I want to merge in my database?
There are some kinds of contacts that cannot be merged. You cannot merge:
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A member with active recurring payments
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A bundle administrator with bundle members
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The only full administrator
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Your own contact record
Why can’t I see the event I just duplicated?
When you duplicate an event, the new event is set to admin-only access. If your event list is filtered to display upcoming events, that list won't include admin-only events. You have to switch the filter so that admin-only events are displayed.
If you start editing the new event and notice that there’s already registrants, that means you’re editing the original event, not the duplicate.
Blog of the Month: The Master List of Apps Your Nonprofit Needs
In today’s mobile-driven world, there are literally thousands of apps for nonprofits out there. But which ones will actually save you time in the long run?
We came up with this list, which includes apps on topics from self-care to time management to fundraising. We’ve also included a few lines on what you can use each app for, which platforms it’s available on, and which costs are associated with it.
Click here to read the full post.
Here are the rest of this month’s blog posts:
43 Free Nonprofit Webinars For December 2018
The Personify Family is Growing: Introducing a2z, Inc., the Leading Events Management Platform
50 Nonprofit Blogs You Need To Follow Right Now
Take the Quiz: Is the Member App a Good Fit for your Organization?
The Master List of Apps Your Nonprofit Needs
Wild Apricot Launches Members Location Mapping
3 Ways to Boost Your Website with Members Location Mapping
Organization Spotlight
The Heidelberg International Women’s Club
The Heidelberg International Women’s Club brings together English-speaking women in and around Heidelberg, Germany. Women of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds are welcome. The club helps its members discover new friendships, an international community, and ways to make a difference. Their website features their upcoming events, a blog sharing updates, and photos of their recent charity work.
Click here to visit the website.
Test Yourself: Answer
C. A study on the impact of retail proximity on consumer purchases found that 87% of consumers are willing to travel 15 minutes or less for everyday purchases and services.
Click here to read the study.
To help your website visitors find members that are local to them, you can add a member location mapping gadget to your site. Find out more about what you can do with location mapping by reading this post, and see some examples of it being used by clicking here.
That's all, folks! We'll see you in 2019.