MembershipWorks
Delivering a Cloud-based Membership Management Software

With staff and finances stretched thin, membership-based nonprofits that use separate systems for billing, event registration, online forms, ecommerce, communications and donations are struggling. Maintenance tasks, a lack of unified reporting and data discrepancies can administratively cripple these associations, clubs and chambers of commerce that build community and provide invaluable services to their members.

With the financial challenges of Covid-19, the need for a streamlined membership system became even more urgent; many membership organizations are seeing a higher percentage of members choosing not to renew due to financial hardship. MembershipWorks’ cloud-based membership software allows organizations to manage their member data, process online payments, accept donations, publish member directories and event calendars online and more. The efficiencies created with all of these features in one place can soften the blow of reduced dues revenue, allow administrators to accurately track payments in real time and give organizations more time to support their members who may be suffering.

“Our SaaS offers a reasonably-priced, all-in-one platform with easy setup and seamless integration into most websites,” says Karen Kuah, CEO, MembershipWorks. Organizations who can’t afford to redesign their membership website while also transitioning to new membership management software appreciate that MembershipWorks is fully responsive and works with WordPress, SquareSpace, Weebly and HTML5 websites. “We hear success stories from customers regularly. We are grateful to play a part in their improved user experience, financial turnarounds and decreased staff workload.”

One neighborhood association that built a membership website in 2016 with MembershipWorks’ WordPress plugin has tripled their membership revenue and quadrupled their overall revenue since launching. The association’s newfound ability to sell sponsorships and directory listings on their site unleashed a previously untapped revenue stream. Most importantly, while their prior website allowed online payments, it did not offer automatic recurring credit card payments and also lacked automated renewal reminder messages. With these handicaps, renewal rates were abysmal. The association’s renewal rate after using the system for four years stood at an impressive 98 percent for 2019.

We hear success stories from customers regularly. We are grateful to play a part in their improved user experience, financial turnarounds and decreased staff workload

In March 2020, MembershipWorks quickly pivoted to support customer organizations that were struggling with the impacts of Covid-19. Customer support calls, emails and training requests skyrocketed as organizations sought help to cope with their new reality. MembershipWorks responded with innovations including a Zapier to Zoom integration (in beta) to support the need to transition offline events online. The development team also launched administrative efficiency features to enable an organization’s members to self-serve when needing to pause or cancel their memberships.

MembershipWorks offers a service model that features free support and training along with a response time of less than one business day for the large majority of support inquiries. Many plugin developers in the WordPress space provide little to no support of their product. Often when they do provide support, it can be painfully slow. While the hiring and training requirements for maintaining a staff able to offer this level of support to both end customers and developers is demanding, Karen would not have it any other way. As a former executive director of a chamber of commerce, she understands their frustrations and crafted their business model with this in mind. “Customer service is a pillar of our platform; we know that if customers do not understand how to use and implement our product, they will not be successful. If they aren’t successful, we won’t be either.”

As she looks beyond 2020, Karen anticipates that MembershipWorks will continue to focus on new features that anticipate the unique needs of her customer base while also making time to handle increased requirements arising from new privacy laws and integration partners’ API changes.