A Membership and Fundraising Platform for Community Nonprofits

Introduction

This is a membership and fundraising platform for community nonprofits: multi-branch organizations that run memberships, programs and a front desk, and raise money from the same community. Ardn designed and built the platform and runs it as a managed service. It is sold for a flat fee, never a percentage of the organization's revenue.

Challenge

• Two systems for one person. Operations lived in one platform and donors in another, reconciled by hand every month.
• Families are billed in messy ways. Split payers, alternating months and assistance rates rarely fit a standard subscription.
• Peak hours at the front desk. Part-time staff needed to check in members, guests and walk-ins in seconds, not clicks.
• Programs fill up. Classes and camps needed capacity, waitlists and rosters by branch.
• The board asks by branch. Reports were assembled from exports.
• Pricing that grows with the mission. Incumbent platforms often take a percentage of revenue, so every successful campaign raises the software bill.

Solution

1. Members and donors on one record

The parent who pays for swim lessons and gives to the annual campaign is one person in the system, with memberships, registrations, check-ins, gifts and volunteer hours on one timeline that the membership team and the development office both see.

2. Household billing with split payers

A household holds guardians and dependents with the billing arrangement that fits: one payer, a split, alternating months or a custom schedule. Every member has their own barcode.

3. One-scan front-desk check-in

One screen for barcodes, guest passes and name search, showing today's classes at the location and who has arrived.

4. Programs and classes with waitlists

Per-branch pricing, capacity, waitlists, rosters and attendance, with members booking from a branded portal.

5. Fundraising on the member record

Campaigns with goals and public giving pages, gifts recorded by branch and campaign, and donor records linked to the same people the front desk checks in.

6. Board-ready reporting by branch

A report library and dashboards scoped by branch and program, built so the person who is asked can answer.

7. Priced for a nonprofit

• A flat fee, never a percentage of revenue.
• Payments settle to the organization's own merchant account.
• A free pilot in the organization's own branding before anyone signs.
• A 60-day go-live guarantee.

Results

• One record per person, whether they are a member, a donor, a volunteer or all three.
• Families billed the way they actually pay, with split and alternating payers handled by the system.
• Check-in in one scan, even at peak hours with part-time staff.
• Board questions answered by branch from the same reports.
• A software bill that stays flat as the mission grows, with money settling to the organization's own account.

Related

See the product: Nonprofit management software. See everything Ardn has built and launched on our work.