AMO for Associations user-centered design, robust database management capabilities, and overall flexibility make it the perfect choice for ALL of your membership solutions.

CASE STUDY

Background:
This association had approximately 4,000 members in its Access databases. It had two full-time administrative staff and one part-time. It conducts monthly meetings, regional quarterly events, and a large annual national event. Discounts were allowed for early reservations. Dues were collected annually. New members have their dues prorated for the first year. It created and mailed monthly newsletters. Those newsletters often included requests for information or feedback from members.

Challenges:

1. Member data was kept in multiple databases for different purposes which created "islands of information" since these databases were not linked.
2. Member data was often out of date since all updates required members to fax, mail, or call-in changes. Those changes were then manually keyed in by association staff; sometimes resulting in data entry errors.
3. Events were promoted by flyers sent via US Mail. Event registration forms were included with the flyers. Total mailing cost, including paper, printing, labels, and postage for the quarterly and annual events was approximately $15,000 per year.
4. Event registration forms were mailed back to the association and included check payments in most cases. Some members would forget to include payment and would have to be sent a reminder.
5. The association utilized contract staff to assist with the quarterly and annual event mailing and registration processing. The cost of this additional labor was approximately $9,000 per year.
6. Newsletters were created electronically and sent to members using a third-party service. Unfortunately, members were required to "opt-in" to receive the newsletter. It was believed that many were not receiving it or were deleting without reading it because they thought it was "spam".

Solution:
This association began using AMO for Associations in October 2001. Now its member data resides on a single database that can be updated by its membership. Events are now promoted and registrations processed via AMO for Associations and members can now use their credit cards to pay instead of mailing in checks. Dues are also processed on-line and partial year prorated payments are easy. Newsletters continue to be done electronically, but now they are delivered by AMO for Associations. Feedback and input from members is now handled via the Forums module in AMO for Associations. In short, AMO for Associations has provided this association with the missing pieces of its management puzzle and it more than pays for itself in the process.