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Table of Contents

• What is Association Management Software?
• The benefits of Association Management Software
• Typical features of Association Management Software
• The cost of Association Management Software
• Considerations when purchasing Association Management Software
• Membership Management Software vs. Association Management Software
• Relevant Association Management Software trends

What is Association Management Software?

Association Management Software automates management functions including fundraising, membership, event management, and other operations. These software packages typically offer many features to empower and inform association members. They also provide administration and business process tools for association managers.

Associations use these applications to communicate with their constituents, share resources, promote events, collect fees, and recruit new members. Association management software is related to membership management software, and we’ll share the similarities and differences later on in this article.

The benefits of Association Management Software

The primary benefit of association management software is how it helps you stay on top of the administrative duties related to managing an association by using a centralized tool. For instance, using this tool allows you to manage your website, newsletter, email list, member list, event registration, payments, eCommerce, and reporting, among others—all in one integrated system.

Typical features of Association Management Software

• Membership management: Track personal information of individuals and families using a member database. Your member database is the heart of your organization, and most other features are related to this one, so this feature is crucial for association management software.
• Member directory: Access an online or printable list of members (for external use), so members can network and get value out of the connections your organization provides.
• Event management: Schedule and manage the logistics of activities and other gatherings. The work around planning, managing, and hosting events can be one of the most heavy lifts for an association, so having a system to help with that can streamline the process.
• Financial management: Provide a comprehensive overview of an organization's finances. This may seem like a no-brainer, but without money, your organization can’t provide much value for members, so it’s important to have a strong sense of your budget, income, and expenses.
• Website management: Manage website updates like member profiles, news, and event information. Your website is one of the most important communication tools for your association, as well as an information database for members to take advantage of.
• Email marketing: Create and send email blasts and campaigns. Email marketing is another crucial tool for providing member value, helping with retention, and sending out reminders about membership renewals.

The cost of Association Management Software

Most products in the market are priced on a monthly basis. Some vendors also charge a startup or initiation fee, which was not included in the monthly prices listed here. Pricing can be divided into three tiers based on their starting price:

Price ranges*:

• $25 - $50
• $50 - $162
• $162+

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest priced offering found on vendor websites on July 14, 2020. These ranges correspond to the 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products.

Considerations when purchasing Association Management Software

If you manage an association, having software in place to help you take care of everything from one system can be life-changing. That being said, knowing the type of software you need can be difficult to determine. For instance, do you need membership management software or association management software? Read further to learn about the differences between the two.

Membership Management Software vs. Association Management Software

Membership management software tends to have some overlap with association management software. One key difference is that association management software usually has more features than membership management software.

Membership management software usually includes these features:

• Membership management
• Event management
• Website management

Membership management software usually includes these features:

• Membership management
• Event management
• Website management
• eCommerce
• Email marketing
• Financial management

As you can see, association management software typically allows for more functionality than membership management software.

Relevant Association Management Software trends

With the arrival of free social media networks like LinkedIn and access to free professional development content, paid association memberships are overall on the decline. That means it’s more important than ever to ensure you’re proving the value of your association to your members.

By streamlining your operations with an association management software system, you can look for new ways to innovate and provide tangible benefits above and beyond what your members can get for free on the internet. For instance, sharing a directory that allows members to easily network within your organization, being able to quickly spotlight members on your website on a monthly basis, or even making it easy to share updates or changes to events quickly is crucial for providing value and growing your membership.

Since many association organization leaders have day jobs, they often look to third-party association management firms to help with the day-to-day administrative duties. That way, they can focus on the value-add aspects. However, it’s a best practice to still have software in place for your management firm so you can keep managing costs down. Since many organizations operate on shoestring budgets to try to maximize the amount of funding that can go towards events or conferences, this can be crucial to achieving success for your association.