Membership management system, platform, solution, tool, app: five words for the same job, chosen by vendors to sound like a different size of product. Underneath, every one of them either keeps a membership with its tiers, renewals and dues, or it does not. This page sets out the job, then the three questions that actually separate products in this category, none of which appear on a feature grid.
The job of a member management system, stated once
Hold every member with a tier, a join date and a renewal date; record dues against the member who paid them; make renewals and arrears a list rather than a reconstruction; and let more than one person work the same record without a version in an email. A membership management platform that does those four is complete for most bodies, whatever else it advertises.
Three questions that separate a real member management platform
First, what happens when a member lapses: does the record know, or does somebody have to notice? Second, can you take the membership out as a file, today, without asking? Third, what does it cost when the body grows, which is the question per-member pricing answers badly. A membership management app that answers those three well is worth more than one with twice the features.
Where the app and membership manager software fit
A membership management app usually means the phone view of the same record, which matters if committee members do their work standing up at an event, and matters not at all if the administrator works at a desk. Membership manager software is the same category named for the person rather than the job. Neither word tells you about the four jobs above, so ask.
Where a student organization management system differs
A student organization management system is the campus version of the same record, and it differs in two ways that change what to buy. Officers turn over every year, so the handover is annual rather than occasional and the permissions have to survive it: an advisor keeps the record, the officers get their year. And the institution usually already holds the roster of who is a student, so the system's job is membership of the organization rather than identity, and duplicating the university's list is how these end up disagreeing with it. A body running several organizations wants one record with a group per organization, not one system per club.
Membership management solutions and tools, as the market uses them
Solutions usually signals a suite sold with onboarding; tools usually signals something smaller and self-serve. Neither is better, and the choice follows the body: staffed bodies with several systems want the suite that joins them, and a body with one administrator wants the tool they can set up in an afternoon and hand over in an hour.
Questions people ask about membership management system
What is a membership management system?
Software that holds members with tiers, join and renewal dates, records dues against them, and turns renewals and arrears into lists. Everything else in the category is built on those four things.
Are membership management platforms different from tools?
Mostly in marketing. Platform usually implies more scope and an onboarding process; tool implies self-serve. Judge by the four jobs and the three questions, not the noun.
Do we need a membership management app?
Only if the work happens away from a desk, which for committee-run bodies at events it often does. Otherwise a site that works on a phone is enough.
What should it cost?
Price it against your renewal spike rather than per member. On this site it is $35 a month for the whole body, which does not change when the membership grows.