Posted by johnt on

I have been using WebCollect for member registration, subscriptions, emails to members and event bookings for quite a few years. 

It does most of what I want fairly well, apart from subscriptions. Its default is to collect subs monthly or yearly, but we collect subs termly, like a school would do. I’ve managed to fudge it to collect subs termly but it’s not great - the system sent out requests for subs at the end of last year, trying to collect autumn term subs twice and not requesting spring term subs.

There are a huge number of similar platforms available but they appear mainly to be targeted at commercial organisations like gyms, not small voluntary organisations. I'm wondering if this is something that could be incorporated into Voice or whether other Voice users can recommend an alternative platform.
Thanks
Posted by Alan-Parry (Euphonix Admin). on

Hi John

How many people are you talking about?  And would there be any alternative to collecting subscriptions through a website (e.g. getting your membership to set up Standing Orders or your organisation using Direct Debits)?

Regards

Alan

Posted by johnt on

Hi Alan

Thanks for your suggestion. It's for up to 100 people. I could try to get them to use direct debit but I fear it would be like herding cats. WebCollect automatically creates and sends orders for subscription renewal and it usually works faultlessly. I'd like to stick with this type of system (there is some techy jargon - MMS (member management system?) but one that works better than WebCollect.

Regards

John

Posted by Alan-Parry (Euphonix Admin). on

Hi John,

We have around 90 members in the Choir (so similar organisation size).  Pre-COVID we used to collect a recommended £5.00 per person in cash at each week at a rehearsal session.  Being a community choir, we ask people to pay what they can afford, most people paid £5.00, a few pay less and some pay slightly more.  During lockdown we were forced to move to e-payments (setting up Standing Orders or PayPal payments) and Post-COVID we have continued with e-payments (not returning to cash).  We have a few members who prefer to pay by cheque.  It is very much a system of trust, but it works.  Most subscriptions are now paid via a Standing Order, either monthly or 3 times a year to coincide with term dates.  Cheques are not encouraged, but where they are we only accept payments 3 times a year, because it means someone has to physically take them to be paid in (a very few members prefer to pay their subscriptions once a year).

Within the Members‘ Area of the website there are a few pages detailing how to set up a Standing Order (there is a printable version for those who don’t do electronic banking).  There is also another page that deals with PayPal as a method.

The only person who has an overview of payments coming in is the Choir’s Treasurer and there has never been any reported issues in the trust system that we have put in place.  

I hope that this helps

Regards

Alan (Euphonix Choir).

Posted by SteveG4iwr on

Hi Allan, are you proposing to charge existing users for the use of the system?  

Steve 

Posted by Joe Oldak on

Just for the record, there are no plans to integrate any sort of payment management into Voice, so you will need to find a third party solution for this.

I have no experience of any subs collecting platforms I'm afraid, though possibly other Voice users do!

Thanks

Joe