Choosing new association management software? Check out these top Personify competitors!

Top Personify Software Competitors for Associations

Learn about the future of association software in this whitepaper!

In the search for your next association management software, you will likely encounter Personify AMS as a popular choice. The Personify360 platform helps associations, organizations, and businesses handle complex operations — including constituent management and eCommerce — with pre-built modules, third-party integrations, and custom coding.

It might seem at first glance that Personify can provide the functionality your association needs. But before you make a purchasing decision, remember that while the Personify360 platform’s flexibility offers the opportunity for your association to customize the solution to your exact needs, users have found the platform overwhelming.

If you don’t have a dedicated IT staff whose job it will be to customize your AMS with custom coding and third-party software extensions, you might want to consider some of the top Personify software competitors:

  1. Fonteva for Associations
  2. Protech
  3. Doubleknot
  4. Salsa
  5. MemberPlanet
  6. 123Signup
  7. Sumac
  8. Novi AMS

We’re confident you can find exactly what your association needs within this list of top association management solutions! Let’s jump into the list.

Fonteva is the top Personify AMS competitor.

1. Top Personify Software Competitor: Fonteva for Associations

If you’re looking for association management software that’s easy for administrators and users, Fonteva for Associations could be the perfect Personify software competitor for you.

When you use Fonteva software, you don’t need to know how to code just to customize the platform to your association’s unique needs. The administrative interface is easy to use, letting your staff build drag-and-drop reports within the platform itself instead of exporting sizable .csv files to a third-party reporting solution. Configure events, member communities, revenue accounting, and any other popular Fonteva modules without extensive technical knowledge.

Plus, since Fonteva is built entirely native in Salesforce, you have access to the Salesforce AppExchange. If you discover a specific need Fonteva’s extensive capabilities can’t meet, you can easily install apps that are guaranteed to be compatible with the Salesforce platform.

It’s not just your administrative team that will benefit from Fonteva’s ease of use. The member interface is reminiscent of consumer apps they’re used to using to browse social media and shop online.

And if you or your users ever run into a problem you can’t solve, you have Fonteva’s full customer success team to help you out, as well as Salesforce’s community of user forums and technical support.

Fonteva is the top Personify AMS competitor for its ease of use.

What Sets This Personify Software Competitor Apart

Fonteva for Associations is powered by Salesforce, which means the solution is:

  • Available: Choosing a true-cloud solution means you can access your member database anywhere from any device.
  • Flexible: With access to the AppExchange, you can meet any business needs that Fonteva doesn’t address out of the box.
  • Secure: Salesforce boasts more than 3 million certified developers, working every day to make the platform more secure.
  • Scalable: A true-cloud solution built in the word’s largest CRM means you have all the space you need for members and admins.

Hosting your association management system in the world’s largest cloud-based CRM brings with it all these advantages and more, so you never have to be slowed down by legacy AMS solutions!

Protech is a top Personify AMS competitor.

2. Personify Software Competitor: Protech

While many association management platforms are specialized to accommodate unique associations, such as those with a donor-heavy member base, this software solution is made to provide a great management experience for all associations.

Say hello to Protech, the leading association management software provider powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365. As a 100% Microsoft-native software, Protech’s association management platform is able to connect its users to a near-limitless array of tools to enhance the power and performance of your specific association management solution.

If your association is looking for a Personify alternative that has room for endless growth and customization, Protech’s association management platform may be the software for you. You don’t have to rely on dozens of integrations to make the most of Protech’s powerful AMS, either. Right out of the box, Protech includes:

  • Streamlined, mobilize-responsive membership management tools
  • Robust marketing features, such as personalized email automation
  • Dedicated education and professional development management software
  • Built-in accounting and reporting features
  • Enterprise-level e-commerce tools

With the right association management software, your association can optimize operations across your entire organization.

What Sets This Personify Software Competitor Apart

While there are many association management platforms on the market, few of them are quite as scalable, customizable, and comprehensive as the association platform offered by Protech Associates. 

Protech’s platform uses some of the most trusted and powerful CRM technology available to build out a robust suite of membership tools. If your association already uses the Microsoft ecosystem, Protech provides the ideal Microsoft-native association management solution to enhance and integrate with your current techstack.

Doubleknot is a top Personify AMS competitor.

3. Personify Software Competitor: Doubleknot

Some membership programs, like those of visitor-serving institutions such as museums and science centers, are not structured in a way that a general association management software solution can support.

If your membership program has specific needs, why not choose a more specific solution? Otherwise, you’re left purchasing a highly customizable solution and spending money on features you don’t need or choosing a basic solution and integrating third-party software, paying for the software itself and the integration.

Museums and science centers need a solution such as Doubleknot that can provide:

  • Automatic discounts and promotions to members shopping or registering online.
  • Print-at-home or mobile membership cards, including family membership cards.
  • Gift memberships, including personalized messages to the recipient.
  • Automated membership renewal notifications sent when deadlines are approaching.

Provide a seamless member experience with the right software solution!

Doubleknot is a top Personify software competitor for museums.

What Sets This Personify Software Competitor Apart

Unlike many other types of membership programs, museum and science center membership programs often attract members with benefits on admission or special program registration.

If your members join your program because they want to take advantage of a member benefit, shouldn’t you make it easy for them to do so?

Doubleknot allows members to add a membership to their online cart and then apply their member benefit to the same purchase. And your staff can use mobile POS systems for linebusting, signing up visitors who want to move to the shorter members-only admission line.

Salsa is a top Personify AMS competitor.

4. Personify Software Competitor: Salsa

For associations whose members are primarily donors, association management software that stresses fundraising is essential. That includes arts and cultural organizations, advocacy organizations, and some higher education institutions.

Salsa is a top Personify software competitor for these situations because in addition to a robust donor CRM, you get features like:

  • Mobile-friendly online donation forms
  • Automatic gift acknowledgments
  • Event registration forms
  • Peer-to-peer fundraising
  • Online marketing

All of these features of Salsa Engage integrate with Salsa CRM, automatically updating comprehensive donor profiles with donations, pledges, fundraising event attendance, and participation in peer-to-peer campaigns.

Salsa is a top Personify software competitor for arts and culture nonprofits.

What Sets This Personify Software Competitor Apart

Not all association management solutions are perfect for fundraising-focused associations. These associations have unique needs that they can’t afford to give up.

Instead of purchasing expensive fundraising-specific add-ons, Salsa provides these features as a core element of Salsa Engage, which integrates seamlessly with Salsa CRM. Don’t sacrifice the features you need to sustain your fundraising in the interest of a more robust CRM — get both!

MemberPlanet is a top Personify AMS competitor.

5. Personify Software Competitor: MemberPlanet

If your focus as an association is communication, MemberPlanet might be the solution for you. The association management software provider helps your administrative team stay on top of member communications over email campaigns and group text messaging features.

Whether you’re inviting members to an event or soliciting donations, you might need to address your messages to a specific segment of your membership base. MemberPlanet allows your association to create distribution lists to help you target messages to the members who need to see them.

As all good marketers know, targeted messages are more likely to be opened, read, and acted upon. To encourage members to engage with your association, you need to be approachable and give them any opportunities you can!

MemberPlanet is a top Personify software competitor for associations that value communication.

What Sets This Personify Software Competitor Apart

MemberPlanet truly places emphasis on communication and building a strong member community within associations. This emphasis is perfect for the missions of:

  • Nonprofits
  • Schools
  • Religious organizations
  • PTAs
  • Alumni associations
  • Greek associations

123Signup is a top Personify AMS competitor.

6. Personify Software Competitor: 123Signup

Professional associations and trade associations need association management systems that can accommodate the operations of member communities spread out across a vast geographic region. For these associations, 123Signup is a top Personify software competitor.

123Signup offers:

  • Membership management, including membership levels
  • Event registration for industry and networking events
  • Certificates for reaching professional development objectives

Your professional or trade association can rely on 123Signup to keep your members engaged in the professional community.

123Signup is a top Personify competitor for trade associations.

What Sets This Personify Software Competitor Apart

123Signup’s system is built to facilitate professional networking. You can organize members-only events, allow members to modify their profiles, and open up a member directory for users to browse.

Even better, your members only have to be signed in to take advantage of their networking benefits. Their membership status is automatically validated when they register for events or redeem certificates.

Sumac is a top Personify AMS competitor.

7. Personify Software Competitor: Sumac

Nonprofits looking for a basic solution to address several operational needs would do well to consider Sumac.

At its core, Sumac is a nonprofit CRM. But nonprofits that need more than constituent management have the option to purchase add-ons to address specific needs. The membership add-on provides:

  • Membership applications
  • Automatic renewal and dues payments
  • Membership cards
  • Trend reports

Because add-ons are included in pricing levels, nonprofits with membership programs considering Sumac should take a look through the pricing options to ensure they can get what they need in their budget.

Sumac is a top Personify software competitor and a no-nonsense nonprofit CRM.

What Sets This Personify Software Competitor Apart

Sumac is a no-nonsense software solution.

Your administrative team will not have trouble configuring the basic CRM and any add-ons, and users will appreciate the simplicity of membership functions embedded directly into your website through website integration.

Novi AMS is a top Personify competitor designed by and for trade association professionals.

8. Personify Software Competitor: Novi AMS

Trade associations looking for a comprehensive AMS that also facilitates website creation should consider Novi AMS. As the only association management software approved by Intuit for sale in the QuickBooks App Store, Novi AMS is particularly strong when it comes to accounting and financial management.

Novi AMS was created by and for trade association professionals who understand that these organizations have unique priorities and structures. Designed to make association management and web design easy, some of the most important features of Novi AMS include:

  • A 2-way, 24/7 sync with QuickBooks that eliminates the need for manual re-entry of financial information from one system into the other.
  • A membership database organized according to the parent/child (employing company/employee) structure that many trade associations use.
  • An easy-to-use CMS that doesn’t require coding experience and can be updated from your mobile devices.

Novi AMS features a robust member database and integrations with some of the most popular email automation platforms, making it easy for your association to stay in touch with members.

Novi AMS is a Personify competitor that makes it easy for trade associations to create and update great websites.

What Sets This Personify Software Competitor Apart

Novi AMS facilitates all aspects of managing your association and providing for your members, from keeping them updated via your website to processing their payments using top-of-the-line accounting features.

With a strong understanding of trade association professionals’ goals and priorities, Novi AMS allows you to focus on creating the best possible experience for your members.


Now that you know a little about the top Personify software competitors, you’re ready to learn more about your top choices! If you focus on your association’s specific needs, you can’t go wrong.

Want more information about other association management software? Check out these resources:

  • iMIS Software: An Overview and Alternative. iMIS is one of the most popular association management solutions. But what do you know about it? Read our review and our suggestion for a top alternative.
  • Top Abila Alternatives. Thinking about Abila for your association management needs? MAke sure you consider these top Abila alternatives before making a purchasing decision.
  • Aptify Review | Our Assessment and Comparison. Double the Donation has put together a review of Aptify, another legacy AMS you might be considering. Read up on the pros and cons, plus their suggestion for an alternative!

Ready to learn how Fonteva can help you? Check out our virtual tour

Check out these powerful Abila alternatives to help you choose your next association management software solution!

Powerful Abila Alternatives for Association Management

Your association is looking for its next association management software solution. You know that you need a capable solution that can grow with your association, one implemented successfully by associations like yours across the country and the world.

With just those specifications in mind, you might be tempted to go with Abila, the first solution you find that fits those requirements.

But don’t stop your search there! There are powerful, trusted Abila alternatives on the market that offer similar features, including modules and flexibility your association can’t get anywhere else. Why base your long-term association management software purchasing decision on generic requirements when you could find software that addresses your association’s unique needs?

There are Abila alternatives out there that are a perfect fit for your association — and we’re willing to bet you can find them in this list:

  1. Fonteva for Associations
  2. Salsa
  3. Doubleknot
  4. Wild Apricot
  5. Realm
  6. SilkStart
  7. Tendenci
  8. Novi AMS

Ready to find the Abila alternative that’s perfect for your association? Read on!

The top Abila alternative is Fonteva.

1. Top Abila Alternative: Fonteva for Associations

Fonteva for Associations is true-cloud association management software built for enterprise-level associations ready to shed the restrictions of legacy AMS.

With Fonteva for Associations, you get all the benefits of a Salesforce-native solution, including:

  • True-cloud hosting, with all the space you need to grow your association.
  • Non-disruptive updates, with three free updates each year included in your license.
  • Flexibility, connecting you to the Salesforce AppExchange to meet any unique business needs.

You’ll realize the benefits of a true-cloud, Salesforce-based solution when you can host an event, segment your members into communities and committees, sell merchandise online, and keep track of your revenue accounting all within the Fonteva solution!

When you house your member data, events, and dues payments in one central, true-cloud solution, you’ll never lose data during transfer or updates. Plus, your members can take advantage of their benefits automatically at checkout on your online store, when registering for an event, or when accessing online communities based on their permissions.

What to Love about This Abila Alternative

Fonteva for Associations is one of the most user-friendly solutions in the space, with drag-and-drop reporting making administrative tasks easier for you and a consumer app-inspired user interface making engagement with your association easier for your members.

But if you ever encounter a situation you can’t solve on your own, Fonteva’s world-class customer support portal and phone support team are there for you. You also have all the resources for Salesforce support at your disposal, including user forums relied upon by more than 23,000 nonprofits and higher education institutions.

Pricing of This Abila Alternative

You don’t have to worry about any hardware or software installation or upgrade costs with Fonteva for Associations. Instead, you’ll be responsible for a license and a one-time implementation cost, which covers non-disruptive updates that we automatically schedule outside of office hours.

Even better, if your association is a 501(c)(3) organization, you can take advantage of a discount on the price of a license!

To request a quote, visit our pricing page.

Salsa is a top Abila alternative.

2. Abila Alternative: Salsa

If your association is a 501(c)(3) organization or relies on donations in some way, Salsa could be the perfect solution for you! Salsa CRM, a world-class donor management system, and Salsa Engage, a marketing, advocacy, and online fundraising platform, work together to help your association build a complete picture of your fundraising and donor engagement efforts.

Choosing Salsa means you’ll get:

  • Comprehensive donor profiles
  • Donation tracking
  • Direct mail fundraising
  • Donor management dashboards

For donation-focused associations, Salsa is the top choice for membership (and donor) management.

What to Love about This Abila Alternative

Salsa’s products will allow your team to focus on directing and advancing your membership program without worrying that smaller administrative tasks are falling through the cracks.

When your association implements Salsa CRM and Salsa Engage, data is automatically shared between each program, module, and department. That means that your donor profiles are always up to date with the online petitions your members sign, the donations they make, the events they attend, and the marketing campaigns they’ve received, opened, and clicked on.

You can always manually add notes and modify these profiles when the need arises. But you don’t have to keep track of all the routine details by hand!

Pricing of This Abila Alternative

Visit Salsa’s website to submit a request for a quote.

A top Abila alternative is Doubleknot.

3. Abila Alternative: Doubleknot

Arts and cultural organizations with membership programs have specific needs that not all association management software can meet. So why choose a generic association management system like Abila and pay for features you’ll never use, plus add-ons or third-party integrations to fill in the gaps in your operations?

Doubleknot is the membership management solution for museums, science centers, zoos, and aquariums. Their specialized solution allows for the operations these organizations need to rely on:

  • Automatic member benefits
  • Gift memberships
  • Automatic renewal alerts
  • Member directory
  • Event participation history

These features ensure that consumer-facing, revenue-generating museum membership programs are sustainable and profitable.

What to Love about This Abila Alternative

The lifeblood of visitor-facing membership programs is new member enrollment. Members might join for any reason, but most often they join to take advantage of a discount or special members-only promotion on admission, program registration, or special event.

Doubleknot boosts enrollment on two levels: first, through enabling your staff to enroll members from anywhere, and second, by making it easy and profitable to offer the most popular member benefits. 

With mobile POS systems, museum staff can take membership registration through long admissions lines. And when non-members make an online purchase, if they add a membership to their cart, their member benefits apply to the same purchase!

Pricing of This Abila Alternative

Contact sales@doubleknot.com for a quote for your museum or science center.

A top Abila alternative is Wild Apricot.

4. Abila Alternative: Wild Apricot

Large associations might want to check out Wild Apricot, an all-inclusive membership management solution with a focus on bringing your association to members wherever they are.

Top features include:

  • Cloud-based membership database
  • Online payment gateway
  • Website builder
  • Event registration

As with all cloud-based membership database systems, Wild Apricot is always up to date. As soon as a new member fills out an application or a current member registers for an event, that information is accessible to any user with internet access.

What to Love about This Abila Alternative

As important as automatic membership profile updates are, sometimes, you need to give your members the autonomy to update their own profiles. With Wild Apricot, your members can modify information on their profile, including their payment information and contact details.

Wild Apricot member profiles can be updated from any desktop or mobile device, so your members are never without connection to your association. That connection is what all your essential membership management system features are for!

Pricing of This Abila Alternative

Wild Apricot customers can choose monthly billing or annual prepaid scheduled for different plans, based on the number of members your association needs to house. Prices start at $25 per month for 100 members and run to $350 per month for 15,000.

A top Abila alternative is Realm.

5. Abila Alternative: Realm

Church communities extend past the pews, so why not implement a specialized membership software solution that can address the unique ways you engage with your congregants?

Realm is that solution, providing the following features to church communities:

  • Custom member profiles
  • Online giving and pledges
  • Groups and committees
  • Event planning and attendance tracking

Whether you’re organizing a fundraising potluck to raise money for a mission trip or just reaching out to check in on a specific member, Realm gives you easy access through the free mobile app.

What to Love about This Abila Alternative

Connection and communication are essential for church communities, and Realm’s highlighted features demonstrate just how much emphasis they place on getting those aspects right.

But that’s not all you can do with Realm! Keep administrative duties organized, stay on top of your finances, and produce reports about the data that matters to your ministry.

Pricing of This Abila Alternative

With different features for a specific number of users available at different price points, Realm can cost as little as $30 per month or as much as $209 per month, plus startup costs. For congregations of more than 150 members, contact Realm for a pricing discussion.

A top Abila alternative is SilkStart.

6. Abila Alternative: SilkStart

For associations with members across the country (or the world!), it often makes sense to create local chapters that can take some of the administrative burden off your executive team’s shoulders. If you’re a multi-chapter association, your association management software should reflect the reality of how your association operates.

SilkStart is a top choice for associations with multiple chapters because it offers:

  • One central database with custom fields
  • Company plans, affording benefits to employees
  • Automatic renewal reminders on a flexible schedule
  • Custom membership levels

These features make running a large organization with local chapters possible to manage in one solution without having to purchase an individual solution for each.

What to Love about This Abila Alternative

Hefty software like SilkStart is always in danger of becoming impossible for the average user to operate without extensive training and support from technical professionals.

SilkStart places special emphasis on ease of use. Administrators can create events and reports with drag-and-drop features, and users will find mobile-optimized forms easy to fill out on the go.

Pricing of This Abila Alternative

Annually, the premium plan comes in at $180 per month, while the multi-chapter plan starts at $475 for 10 chapters.

A top Abila alternative is Tendenci.

7. Abila Alternative: Tendenci

If you’re willing to put in a little extra work to craft the perfect solution that fits your association’s membership program to a tee, then Tendenci could be the platform for you!

The open-source association management software provides associations with a website that they can then customize with features like:

  • Membership management
  • Events management
  • Job postings
  • Community forums

Not all association management systems will be perfect out of the box. Tendenci takes that reality and builds an entire platform on it!

What to Love about This Abila Alternative

It might seem intimidating to build your own website and membership management tool from the ground up.

But you don’t have to be highly technical to make the most of Tendenci. With templates and access to a code snippet library on GitHub, your association has all the tools it needs. Just add a little determination and creativity!

Pricing of This Abila Alternative

Price ranges from $169 per month to $399 per month, or a custom price for large international organizations.

Novi AMS is an excellent Abila alternative for trade associations looking for an association management software solution.

8. Abila Alternative: Novi AMS

Trade association professionals are looking for an association management system that makes it easy to foster connections among members and facilitate their professional development.

Novi AMS was designed by and for trade association professionals and keeps their needs and interests in mind with features such as:

  • 2-way, 24/7 sync with QuickBooks accounting software
  • An easy-to-use CMS
  • A membership database designed for trade associations
  • Targeted communication tools

Novi AMS offers an association management system that is easy for both your association’s leaders and your members to use. The platform covers a variety of trade association needs, from accounting to eCommerce to event management.

What to Love about This Abila Alternative

Novi AMS is an all-in-one association management platform that can help your trade association not only collect and organize member information but also create an engaging website with its easy-to-use CMS.

The platform is also the only AMS approved by Intuit for the QuickBooks App Store. The 2-way, 24/7 sync with QuickBooks ensures that any financial information input into one system appears in the other automatically. This integration saves you time and facilitates highly accurate accounting.

Novi AMS was created to address the specific needs of trade organizations. The parent/child structure of its member database reflects the fact that trade association members tend to join as employees of a company rather than as individuals. Other affiliations between members and institutions such as parent companies also show up in the database.

Pricing of This Abila Alternative

The Novi AMS pricing scale is based on your association’s annual revenue. You can visit their pricing page to learn more about pricing options for your association.


Now that you’re prepared with a list of the top Abila alternatives, it’s time to venture into your purchasing process! Make sure you’re always looking for the solution that’s a perfect fit for your association, not just the largest or most popular option.

Need more resources before you make a decision? Try these:

  • iMIS Software: An Overview and Alternatives. iMIS is one of the most popular association management systems on the market. But is it the best choice for your association? See if our top alternative would be a better fit for your association.
  • Top 6 Personify Software Competitors. Have you considered Personify for your association management software needs? Don’t make a decision before you check out our list of the top Personify software competitors!
  • 5 Essentials for Your Membership Management System. Not quite ready to dive into the association management software market? Get our checklist of essentials for your membership management system before you set off on your purchasing journey.
Learn more about member and association management software.

Learn everything you need to know about iMIS software and the top-rated alternative.

iMIS Software: An Overview and Top-Performing Alternative

When it comes time to invest in a new association management software solution, you’ll quickly realize that the number of options on the market are overwhelming. Even more overwhelming, though, is the sheer amount of information on each provider’s website, on authoritative review websites, in industry publications, and in online customer forums.

Some names pop up more often than others, though, like iMIS ® software! The solution by ASI is widely used, but is it right for your association in particular?

In this post, we’re going to cut through the noise for you. We’ve provided:

  1. A clear overview of iMIS ® software
  2. Some potential drawbacks you should be aware of during the search process
  3. top-rated alternative to consider as you move toward a purchasing decision.

Let’s get into it!


Get a comprehensive iMIS software overview.

iMIS ® Software OverviewiMIS software encourages member engagement.

There’s a reason why iMIS ® software is so popular. The association management solution is all-encompassing, offering an expansive suite of features and the ability to customize the solution to your association’s unique needs. Plus, the software solution has been around for more than 25 years, first designed by Advanced Solutions International (ASI) in the early 1990s! It’s had plenty of time to establish a loyal following.

Let’s delve into some of the most popular features.

  • Membership: Host member information in online PCI-compliant profiles that members can update themselves. Encourage members to join or manage chapters, committees, and companies, then record participation in these online groups.
  • Fundraising: Accept one-time, recurring, major, planned, and tribute donations through iMIS software. Manage all steps of the donation process, from donation forms to receipts and automatic pledge reminders.
  • Events: Plan and execute events with flexible pricing rules and automatic communication features. Plus, create an event microsite with public RSVP lists, your event schedule, and social media integrations.

As you can see from these features and the way they’re configured, the overarching focus of this software is member engagement, with self-service member profiles.

Of course, many associations have needs that iMIS ® software can’t meet. Read on to see if your association is one of them!


Learn about the top iMIS software drawbacks.

iMIS ® Software Drawbacks

Agile, enterprise-level associations often find that iMIS ® software’s greatest asset doubles as a significant drawback: its breadth of features.

While it’s important to choose a provider that offers the solutions you need for your association’s operations, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice speed or ease of use. You have enough to do without learning how to use a complex new system:

If you need something more than the out-of-the-box features, you should be able to find what you need and implement it without worrying about potential problems with the integration.

Plus, when it comes to the customization itself, iMIS software isn’t built for the average administrator. The solution can be coded to meet your association’s needs — with the help of ASI technical assistants or an in-house member of your staff who happens to be an expert in SQL reporting.

You might end up needing to bring on a consultant to help you customize the software, run updates, and perform routine maintenance, increasing the actual cost of the solution as a whole.

Considering these sorts of future costs and anticipating technical issues or growing pains is an essential part of finding the right association management solution. Committing to an outsized solution too early is rarely a smart move.

Don’t want to have to deal with complex coding or disruptive maintenance processes? We have the solution for you.


The top iMIS software alternative is Fonteva!

Top iMIS ® Software Alternative: Fonteva for Associations

To get the most out of your association management software solution, you might be looking for Fonteva for Associations.

With this top iMIS ® software alternative, you also get an improved member experience. Fonteva is designed with the consumer-facing apps and websites of social media and eCommerce platforms in mind. Members will engage with your association more deeply and frequently when their online gateway to you is intuitive.

Just take a look at how easy it is to promote member collaboration with community chat features:

Fonteva, the top iMIS software alternative, makes it easy for members to stay engaged through online communities.

Built entirely native in Salesforce, Fonteva also brings with it all the advantages of a true-cloud solution built on the most widely used and trusted CRM in the world. The solution is:

  • Scalable, able to grow along with your association without replacing costly on-site servers that limit capacity.
  • Flexible, directly connected to the Salesforce AppExchange to fill any niche needs your association has.
  • Up-to-date, with three upgrades delivered over the cloud per year that will never disrupt your operations.
  • Global, compatible with languages and currencies from around the world, as well as more than 100 payment gateways.
  • Supported, by top-notch Salesforce customer support and Fonteva’s customer success team.

If that all sounds exciting but intimidating, don’t worry! Fonteva for Associations is also lean and user-friendly, eliminating the need for extensive outside help with customization or reporting with access to the Salesforce AppExchange and drag-and-drop reporting features.

Building dashboards like this one is easy:

Create drag-and-drop dashboards with top iMIS software alternative, Fonteva.

Each member of your team, across all different departments, can choose the modules that help them do their jobs and add them to their dashboards with ease and no technical expertise.

 


Now that you have the essential information about iMIS ® software and Fonteva for Associations under your belt, it’s time to make your decision!

Need more information about association membership software? Check out these additional resources to help you in your purchasing process:

  • Association Management Software: The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide. Make sure you have a game plan before venturing further into the association management marketplace. Let our essential buyer’s guide serve as your road map.
  • Top Abila Alternatives. Considering Abila for your association management needs? Make sure to check out some of the provider’s competitors to see if your association might find a better fit elsewhere.
  • Top Personify Software Competitors. Another popular association management solution, Personify, might be the best choice for your association. But before you make the final decision, consider these top Personify software competitors!
  • Best 15 Membership and Association Management Software. Before querying vendors, ensure that your list includes the best in the business. Double the Donation has put together reviews and ratings of every solution that should make your list.

Learn more about member and association management software.

Strengthen your member community with your association management system!

Association Management Systems: 7 Tips for Strong Community

A strong member community is more than a point of pride for your association’s executive team — it’s also your best retention and recruitment tool rolled into one!

Think about it from your members’ point of view. Members who feel like they truly belong in your association will want to stick around, and potential members will want to join because they see personal, social, and professional value in the network.

To encourage a healthy, engaged member community, you don’t need much besides your passion and a capable association management system.

In this post, we’ll explore these top strategies for engaging your member community, all made possible by a great association management system:

  1. True-cloud solutions keep software up to date
  2. Association membership directories inspire connection
  3. Communities and committees empower members
  4. Association software events management diversifies engagement
  5. Mobile functionality encourages participation
  6. eStores help members show off their membership
  7. Association membership system tracking flags at-risk members

Ready to foster a strong member community within your association? Make sure you have the right system in place with our ultimate buyer’s guide to association management software, then get ready to put your system to use!

Implement a true-cloud association management solution.

1. True-cloud solutions keep software up to date

For you to put these tried-and-true member engagement strategies into practice, you need your members to first be engaged with your association management system. After all, you can’t foster a sense of community through your software if your members won’t log on to their profiles.

Nothing dissuades participation quite like out-of-date software. Your members don’t want to use software that’s so outdated that it gets in their way, and they can’t use software when it needs to be taken offline to be manually updated. Don’t miss out on member engagement for easily avoidable software reasons!

To ensure that your members actually use your software, choose a solution that’s based in the cloud, like Fonteva. Since Fonteva is based in Salesforce, the most popular cloud-based CRM, updates are automatic, fast, and included in your license:

Invest in a true-cloud solution to ensure your association management system is always up to date.

Plus, up-to-date software is one of the best defenses against a costly password breach. When you use Fonteva, you can assure your members that you’re taking steps to protect their confidential private information, and you don’t even have to push the updates live — the system updates itself automatically, applying the latest patches from the most secure cloud CRM in the world, Salesforce.

There are plenty of other benefits that come from choosing a true-cloud association management system, including:

  • Storage space for as many member profiles and events you need
  • Access to the database from anywhere, not just in your office
  • Smooth and quick implementation, so you can hit the ground running

These factors let you bring as many members into your system as you want as quickly as you want, so you can get started with your membership engagement strategy right away.

The Takeaway: A true-cloud association management system like Fonteva stays up-to-date automatically, encouraging your members to use it and thereby opening up opportunities for your team to foster a stronger community.

Choose association membership software with public member directories.

2. Association membership directories inspire connection

A strong member community isn’t made up of members who only interact with your association’s administrative team.

The communities that members want to join and stay in are those in which members regularly and meaningfully engage with each other, not just the association’s leaders.

That doesn’t mean there’s nothing your team can do to foster a strong community! To the contrary, the structure you set can either encourage or discourage members from connecting with one another.

One simple way to set your community up for success is to allow members to find each other through a membership directory. Think about it like social media — your member profiles might even be modeled after highly intuitive consumer-facing social networking apps, like Fonteva:

Your association management system's member profiles should be easy to find through a member directory.

It might seem too simple to be true, but a membership directory does more than you think:

  • Connections: What if you discovered that someone you knew through an association attended the same university as you? When members can see each other’s profiles, they will discover unexpected, happy connections that encourage them to reach out and start conversations.
  • Groups: Ensure that your members can see what groups, committees, and chapters other members are in and can request membership in those groups. Members might not know what networking opportunities are out there until they see them listed on other members’ profiles.
  • Badges and awards: The competitive spirit is alive within most member communities! Display badges and awards publicly on your members’ profiles for other members to see and aspire to.
  • Profile updates: Because members know others will be searching for them through their profiles, they are more likely to keep the information in those profiles updated. This information helps your association later on with marketing and analytics.

When your members establish real connections with other members and engage more meaningfully within your association management system in these ways, they will feel more invested in your association. The more time and attention they devote, the closer they feel to the community!

The Takeaway: Encourage your members to find meaningful connections to other members — and to update their own profiles regularly — by setting up a public member directory.

Empower your members with communities and chapters within your association software.

3. Communities and committees empower members

Centralizing a lot of your association’s planning is important. But it’s not practical, especially for enterprise-level associations, to manage each aspect of your operations from such a high vantage point.

Why not pass off some of that administrative weight onto your members? The privilege to manage some of their own operations is actually empowering for your members.

Look for an association management database that incorporates member-driven communities and committees that allow your members to:

  • Create new member groups and microsites
  • Personalize the appearance of group pages
  • Grant access to members who request it
  • Communicate online or through email
  • Display committee membership on public profiles
  • Integrate with payment gateways
  • Organize special projects and events

With these key features, your members will feel a sense of responsibility and authority, not just belonging. They can organize events, sell merchandise, and facilitate relevant conversations.

Even better, ensure that your members can accomplish all these tasks on the go! With Fonteva, communities and committees operate like consumer-facing social networking apps. Here’s what your member sees when they view a committee from a mobile device:

Empower your members to engage with your association and other members on their own terms within the structure of your association management system.

The Takeaway: With a degree of administrative access, your members will become more invested in your association and its mission.

Manage events in your association management system.

4. Association software events management diversifies engagement

If your goal is so inspire a sense of belonging, there’s nothing better than an in-person event. Some things just can’t come across in online communication.

Whether it’s a networking lunch, a conference, or a cocktail party that you want to organize, the key to an engaging membership event is integration with your association management system. If your event management solution and association management database are integrated, you’ll be able to:

  • Save time and administrative stress: All the information from your event registration forms goes straight into your membership database without you having to manually transfer it after your event.
  • Offer automatic member benefits: If certain higher-level members get a special registration slot, for instance, you need an association management system that can automatically apply that benefit instead of the member calling your office to override the system.
  • Sell memberships and event tickets together: Some people will want to purchase or upgrade their membership to redeem those special permissions. Invest in a system that can streamline membership purchase and event ticket purchase into one checkout.
  • Allow local chapters to host events: You’re already empowering your members to find community online, so why not give them the agency to bring that local community together in the real world?

With Fonteva, event management is already included! You get all the features that come along with Salesforce event planning:

With Fonteva's association management system, you get comprehensive event planning features on top of the Salesforce CRM platform.

On top of these event personalization features, you keep your data centralized in one place when you organize events in your association management database.

The Takeaway: Organizing events with your association management system doesn’t just ease your administrative burden. With an integrated event management system, you deliver a smoother experience for your members.

Ensure your association membership software is mobile-friendly.

5. Mobile functionality encourages participation

More and more often, your members are accessing the most important elements of their social and professional lives through their mobile devices. By implementing mobile functionality, you encourage your members to take your organization with them on the go into multiple arenas of their lives.

The easier it is to access your member community, the more your members will do just that.

When looking for membership and association management software with the right mobile features, keep in mind that you want to encourage users to use your app, not discourage them. A mobile app is not useful if it’s so difficult to use that none of your members want to log on.

You should search for an intuitive app that doesn’t require you to train your members on how to use, like Fonteva:
Make sure your association membership management solution can connect your members with their community even when they're on the go.

The Takeaway: When members log on to Fonteva on their mobile phones, they see familiar menus and feeds that they might see on a social networking app. This familiarity encourages them to use the app wherever they are!

Encourage members to show off their membership with your association software's eStores.

6. eStores help members show off their membership

Selling branded merchandise online is a great way to make additional revenue for your association. Plus, every time your members wear branded merchandise from your online store, they walk around as free advertising for your association!

Beyond the free advertising, branded shirts, water bottles, and stickers are ways for your members to identify themselves outside their member profiles in the real world. The more tangible their membership is, the more connected they feel to it, and the better chances they have of renewing their membership.

With Fonteva, you can sell all of those items and more:

Offer members automatic discounts at your eStore with your association software.

Instead of signing up for a third-party site to sell your items, integrate your eStore with your association management system. You’d be surprised by the benefits:

  • Enforce a variety of custom pricing levels based on membership level
  • Track purchases by custom membership profile fields
  • Take advantage of the same payment gateways you use for dues and donations
  • Sell memberships, tickets, and even sponsorships using the same checkout system
  • Allow members to store their payment information in a secure online wallet connected to their profile

The Takeaway: Go beyond bringing in additional revenue and use your association management system’s eStore as an opportunity to engage your members.

Track at-risk members within your association management system.

7. Association membership system tracking flags at-risk members

Even engaged members can decline to renew, for a number of potential reasons. They might not be able to cover their membership dues, they might have moved to a different city, or they might not be getting out of your association what they wanted.

Those reasons are important for your association to know because they can help guide your operations in the future. But before you can discover them, you need to identify those members before they lapse out of your association.

For that, you need a robust reporting option that’s:

  • Accessible, so each of your association’s departments can build reports about information that’s relevant to them
  • Intuitive, so anyone can produce useful reports regardless of coding experience and without help from IT
  • Customizable, so any staff member can monitor any custom fields that are helpful for their segment of your association

When you integrate these reporting features with your association membership database, you can build reports that pull from membership information without having to import it. The association management system does the work!

Take a look at the kind of data you have quick and easy access to with Fonteva’s reporting dashboards:

Monitor your membership base for at-rick members within your association management system.

Associations need to monitor their membership renewals for approaching deadlines. Automated membership renewal letters are great early defense against missed renewal deadlines, but you might consider a more personal approach when the deadline is right around the corner.

There are other factors that can indicate an at-risk member, which depend on the association. If your association plans many events, for example, members who haven’t attended in a few months might merit a call or email to ask them why they haven’t shown up.

With Fonteva dashboards, you can view common membership statistics while personalizing your view for your particular organization.

The Takeaway: Decreasing attrition becomes a more streamlined project when your association takes advantage of a sophisticated association management system’s custom reporting.


From recruitment to retention, your association management system is the most efficient tool in your association’s toolbox. Engaging your members in a strong member community starts with forethought and the best software available! When it comes time to start comparing various association management software solutions, prioritize all the different features discussed above.

For more about association software, check out these additional resources:

Download our guide to association management software!