U3A memberships and course bookings can be managed by your U3A Net website. The software is already on your site, although you may need to activate it. This page describes how the membership software and course bookings work, and the costs of getting help to set them up.
Why use these options for your U3A Group?
There are commercial membership systems on the market. These charge an ongoing fee, which turns out to be expensive in the long run. The software described on this page is either free or very low cost. If you need help setting it up, there will be an initial fee. Once the software is in place, you may require occasional support. However, the ongoing costs will be minimal. This solution will work out cheaper for your U3A group over time. The software may not be quite as user friendly as the commercial software, but it is very much cheaper, and will require less time and effort than a manual system.
Webhive can provide support to U3A groups with the setup. Please note that this support is not covered by U3A Net. It is a fee-based service offered by Webhive.
Membership system
Membership management software is available to all U3A groups with a U3A Net WordPress multisite website.
The membership system has the following features:
- New members can register and pay online
- Renewing members will log into the website and click the Renewal button to pay.
- Online payments can be made via Paypal or Stripe. (The group will need either a Paypal account or a Stripe account to accept online payments. Stripe is easier to set up.)
- Members can log into the website and edit their membership profile to update their contact details.
- Existing members can be imported (from a .csv file)
- Expired members remain in the membership system. Their Account State is marked ‘Expired’.
- The membership system can sync with a Mailchimp mailing list
- Pages can be protected so that only members can see them.
- The membership system can be integrated with event/course management and bookings, via the website.
- The membership system is run by the Simple WordPress Membership plugin. It is installed and is free to use.
- The following require an annual fee. Depending on demand, we may be able to acquire a bulk discount:
- Extra fields on the registration form and profile editing page
- Exporting membership information to a file (for printing or mail merge)
- Automatic emails when a membership expires
Membership Setup Types
Largely, there are three membership setup options:
These options are described below.
Annual Fixed Date Renewals
The Simple WordPress Membership plugin can handle annual fixed date renewals. However, each year, the membership expiry date will need to be changed within the membership system before members renew. (Note that changing the membership expiry date does not change the expiry dates of individual members.)
Any failure to update the annual expiry date at the appropriate time will cause confusion. For this reason, rolling memberships (below) are the preferred option.
Rolling Memberships
With rolling memberships, members may join online at any time of year. For a small annual fee, the software can be set up to send renewal reminders before membership expires.
Rolling memberships work better than annual fixed date renewals, because there is less room for error.
Join Once
Some U3As charge per event/course. An attendee becomes a member of the group when they make their first booking, and remains a member. There are no annual membership fees.
Events Manager Pro (see below under ‘Courses’) allows you to take online payment for events and courses. Members can log in to see their bookings.
The membership software can maintain a record of members’ contact details.
Setting up Your Membership Software
If you have technically-minded volunteers, you can set up the membership software yourself. You will need to activate the plugin and check the settings.
Alternatively, you may seek help from Webhive.
If you want to add extra fields to the membership registration form, export members to a file, or send emails to remind members to renew their annual membership, you will need to pay a small annual fee, and request some help with setup from Webhive.
Please bear in mind that every time you make a change to the system’s setup, fees may be incurred for Webhive’s support. It may be necessary to run through the entire system to adjust the way it works. So, it’s best to decide how you’d like the membership system to work from the start.
Membership software notes
Membership information
The membership system includes a default set of fields – Username, First Name, Last Name, Email, Membership Level, Access Starts, Account State (Active, Expired etc), Gender, Phone, Street, City, Zipcode, Country, Member Since, Subscriber ID/Reference, Expiry Date. If you want more fields, this can be arranged (see below).
Bank Transfers
When members pay by bank transfer, a committee member will need to update their membership expiry date on the website. It is advisable to charge a processing fee for this.
Family Memberships
Avoid family memberships. Each member should hold their own membership.
Joining Fees
Avoid joining fees – these complicate the system. Each member will join and pay online by credit card. Therefore, there should be no overhead for joining members. There is one exception – I suggest charging a processing fee for members who refuse to pay online by credit card.
Offline Renewals
Online membership systems are designed to take online payments. If a member refuses to pay online, it is best that they ask a friend to help them. U3A groups that continue to accept offline payments will find that they are complicating the process and generating confusion.
Membership Software Cost
The core membership software is free.
Initial Setup
From $599
With standard customisations.
Member Import
$150 – $599
Depending on the number of members and how well formatted the spreadsheet is. Note that members with missing entries in mandatory fields will not be imported. Please fill missing phone numbers with 000 000 000, missing email addresses with [email protected], [email protected] etc, and missing address fields with ‘address 1’, ‘suburb’, ‘NSW’, ‘0000’
Further customisations
$89 per hour.
Estimate can be provided.
Adding extra fields to membership form
$99 per year for extra software plus $40 per field.
Annual software fee may be discounted if several U3A groups want this feature.
Sending members automatic emails before expiry
$99 per year for extra software plus $99 initial setup if email text is provided upfront and no changes are made.
Annual software fee may be discounted if several U3A groups want this feature.
Member export
$99 per year plus $49 initial setup.
Annual software fee may be discounted if several U3A groups want this feature.
Courses Software
Members can book courses and events online using Events Manager. Events Manager can replace PDF files and printed course booklets. Events Manager has the following features:
- Courses and events can be displayed on a web page in a table, sorted by date. Members can click through to see the details of the event. For example:
- Members can click through to see details of the course. For example:
- Courses and events can be assigned to a category, eg ‘History’
- There is a search function
- If required, bookings can be limited to members only.
- For an annual fee to the group (see below), members can pay for courses and events online. The group will need a Paypal or Stripe account (Stripe is easier to set up). Payments can also be made offline. Bookings are confirmed once the payment is marked as received.
- Events and courses can be imported (from a .csv file)
- Google Maps will be disabled. If you want it enabled, there will be an extra fee. You will need a Google Cloud account and this account will need an active credit card attached.
Note, that if you simply want to a calendar or table containing upcoming events, you may not need Event Manager. You may find it easier to simply add the entries to a page.
Courses Software Costs
The Events Manager software is free. However, you’ll need to purchase Events Manager Pro if you’d like your members to be able to pay for individual courses online.
Events Manager is already available on multisite websites, although you may need to activate the software. You may set it up yourselves or ask Webhive for help.
The following charges are for U3A groups that require help with the software:
- Setup of courses software with minor customisations $499
- Import of events and courses from a .csv file $299 (extra will be charged for poorly-formatted files, on an hourly rate)
- Advanced customisations or ongoing support $89 per hour.
Purchase, installation and maintenance of Events Manager Pro is $350 per year. If several groups want to take online payment for courses, the cost can be shared (multisite websites only).
Notes:
- Events Manager Pro allows U3As to take online payment for courses and events.
- Events Manager Pro is not necessary for U3As who take online bookings but not online payments.
- Online payments require a Paypal of Stripe account. Stripe is easier to set up.
If you only want a simple list of courses on your U3A website, consider using My Calendar, Time.ly’s All in One Event Calendar instead. These may be simpler, and both are installed on the U3A Net multisite.