Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: membership management software

[Stefani Danes (sl47]

Thanks very much for your advice.  I’ll look through those archived 
conversations.  When I asked about being more specific, our person initiating 
this effort gave me this reply.  Thank you for your help, and I apologize if 
this is more than you want.

Stefani

"Here is what I consider an ideal solution, which would minimize (maybe 
eliminate) the need for human intervention along the way.
Prospects would log in to our website and provide their contact information  
for follow up from us.
This information would automatically be captured by the membership management 
software, which can then initiate a set of protocols that we agreed to in 
advance  - i.e. send an e-mail response with information regarding  next 
meeting, etc.
For prospects who choose to become explorer members, it can take their 
application and accept payment in a variety of ways. In the membership 
software, their status would be changed from a prospect to an explorer member 
and a membership ledger created which tracks their cumulative payments.
For explorer members who choose to become equity members, the software can 
process their payments,  change their membership status from explorer to equity 
member, and track their additional payments on their membership ledger.
Explorer and equity can access the data base to see where stand with payments 
towards their overall investment target. This would eliminate the need for a 
volunteer to provide this information - members can access their own record on 
demand.  We can include in their record their overall investment target so they 
can see how much more their need to invest as they go along.
The software can be a communication platform for the members during the 
development stage as well after we become homeowners.
The membership software will be linked to Quickbooks on line - as payments are 
received, they will be automatically update cash for the deposit and credit an 
account for the type of payment received (Explorer vs Equity member vs 
donations etc). 
Some vendors can help us establish the website for a fee. This can be very 
helpful to ensure the website is designed with all the features we need it to 
include.
Most vendors have a tiered fee structure based on the number of member records 
being maintained. This can be ideal for us - we adjust the fee based on the 
number of records we choose to maintain.  Once the project is completed and we 
have moved in,  the number of member records we need to maintain would drop and 
our fee would also decrease.
We can use this same infrastructure once we are a  homeowners association, so 
we can track monthly payments for all homeowners and identify anyone who is 
getting behind in their payments."

On Apr 28, 2020, at 9:52 AM, Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:

Hi Stefani!

Can  you be a little more explicit about what you want the software system to 
do?

There are many discussion threads on GATHER, GROUPS.io and another software 
system I can’t remember right now in the Cohousing-L archives.  You can reach 
the archives by scrolling down to the bottom of any email message to the 
Cohousing-L list and clickling on the link.

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Member, Board of Directors
Mid Atlantic Cohousing
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church, VA
202.546.4654

The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they 
know and then stop.
Mark Twain




> On Apr 27, 2020, at 8:30 PM, Stefani Danes <sl47 [at] andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hello, everyone,
> 
> Our cohousing group (community in formation) is interested in considering 
> membership management software.  If your community uses such software, would 
> you be willing to give us feedback on how well it’s working?
> 
> Thanks very much,
> 
> Stefani Danes
> Rachel Carson Ecovillage
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Stefani Danes RA LEED-AP

Architect and Adjunct Professor

Research Fellow, Remaking Cities Institute
Carnegie Mellon University

T: 412-441-2948

E: sdanes [at] cmu.edu