Imagine a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting outdoor activities among young riders and their families.
For years, they’ve been tirelessly organizing various events, from after-school programs to adventurous trail rides, all aimed at fostering a love for mountain biking in their community.
However, behind the scenes, managing these events and memberships has been a daunting task.
Picture the staff spending countless hours manually tracking event registrations and managing participant information.
With each new event, the workload only seems to grow, and the risk of errors and oversights increases. Amidst the chaos, the organization’s core mission of inspiring and creating opportunities for kids begins to take a back seat to administrative burdens.
It’s a common challenge that Bitcot recognized and addressed head-on.
In this article, we’ll look at how we stepped in to offer an innovative membership management software solution that empowered one such non-profit to modernize its approach to managing events and memberships.
This article explores our collaboration with the client to build a comprehensive events portal integrated with scalable membership management capabilities.
SprocKids’ Pain Points in Event and Membership Management
The client, SprocKids, is a nonprofit organization focused on youth development through peer-based mountain bike activities.
With a diverse community of people including parents, coaches, and kids, managing subscriptions and course participation was highly complex for the client.
- Course Overload: Managing a wide range of programs and events led to a significant administrative burden.
- Manual Tracking: Without an efficient system in place, tracking event registrations and participant information consumed valuable time and resources.
- Complexity in Program Offerings: The variety of courses (events and programs) offered led to complexity among participants.
- Skill Level Management: Matching participants with the appropriate skill level courses required careful attention to ensure everyone had a positive and safe experience.
- Resource Allocation: Balancing the allocation of staff and resources across different types of courses was challenging, leading to inefficiencies.
- Community Engagement: Ensuring consistent participation and engagement in community events like SHREDfest and Bike Party required effective promotion and coordination.
Therefore, the client wanted to create a digital portal to simplify bookings, effectively manage their courses and memberships, and facilitate communication among the community.
As the client wasn’t happy with what any of the SaaS platforms were offering, including TeamSnap, the Bitcot team offered to build them a customized membership management platform, with minimal charges for hosting and maintenance.
Bitcot’s Automation-Based Membership Management Solution
The membership management app we’ve built is a user-friendly product designed to:
- Help parents manage their kids’ participation in courses offered by SprocKids.
- Help organizers at SprocKids execute successful courses for kids.
The application essentially functions as an events portal with a subscription-based model; it’s designed to cater to both events and membership functionalities. It allows parents to easily explore available courses, make bookings, and manage their kids’ memberships.
Overall, it’s a convenient tool for parents to stay involved in their kids’ activities at SprocKids.
On the admin side, the portal provides organizers with intuitive tools to effortlessly create, promote, and manage courses from a single, centralized portal. From course planning and registration to real-time participant tracking and communication, every aspect of membership management was now simplified and efficient.
Also, read the case study outlining the successful collaboration between our team and SprocKids.
Grounded in our expertise in custom WordPress development, our team utilized WordPress as the foundation for this particular membership portal.
Many of the features we built are primarily in the backend, making sure that those workflows are automated.
We’ve integrated the portal with Monday.com for efficient workflows as well as facilitated community building through WhatsApp.
In essence, the portal we built represents a significant leap forward in membership management efficiency, empowering organizers to focus on what they do best – creating memorable and impactful experiences for their community.
The Main Functionalities of the SprocKids Management Portal
Courses
The portal provides an intuitive interface for parents, offering comprehensive visibility into events and programs.
Within the interface, they can easily access details including the course name, description, type, rider level, start and end dates, location, minimum age requirement, wheel size, and cost.
With advanced filtering options (including Type, Rider Level, Rider Age, Wheel Size, Location, Season, and Cost), they can easily navigate through the array of offerings to find courses perfectly suited to their preferences and schedules.
The Cost slider provides precise granular control over setting specific filtering criteria within a range. This provides parents with a more nuanced and customizable filtering experience.
One of the standout features of the portal is its flexible and accessible booking system. Parents have the freedom to book events or enroll in programs with or without a subscription, giving them the flexibility to participate in a one-time activity or commit to a more comprehensive involvement in a series of skill-building sessions.
Parents have the option to select any of the listing entries to navigate to its respective page where they can view comprehensive details.
From there, they can click on the ‘Book Now’ button and proceed to checkout. Here, they can fill out all necessary details including basic information and specifics like the number of participants (which is used for calculating the total amount) and other rider information.
They can apply any applicable coupon, input their Stripe payment information, and make the payment in order to enroll in the course.
We’ve implemented an automated communication system for parents and coaches involved in the courses. Three days before each course, parents receive a welcome email. A day before and after the course, reminder emails are sent to both parents and coach(es). After the course ends, a thank-you email is sent to parents.
This system ensures timely updates and appreciation, enhancing overall engagement and collaboration.
Subscriptions
At the heart of the application is its membership system which allows parents to purchase subscription accounts for their kids, whether it’s for one kid or multiple.
Parents can subscribe directly from the listing page by clicking on the banner or the button, which leads them to a detailed page.
Upon selecting “Subscribe Now”, a similar account creation process that was previously mentioned follows, guiding them through payment via Stripe integration. Upon completion, an automated thank-you email is sent to them.
Once the membership is set up, parents gain access to all the courses. What’s really neat and innovative is that they have the ability to conveniently view and manage the courses under the custom calendar. They can add or remove the courses from their calendar as per their preferences.
Once a course modification is made, an automated email notification is sent to the respective coach(es) for their awareness.
Any courses added are also listed below the calendar along with the coach(es)’ details. This setup makes it easy for parents to have visibility into course bookings and track/adjust their kids’ schedules effectively. Also, they receive a reminder email three days before each course.
This calendar integration functionality is where a lot of customization was involved. We included this functionality to add a layer of convenience, empowering parents to tailor their kids’ experiences while keeping everything organized.
Customization
Extensive backend customization using CustomJS was implemented for membership management to ensure smooth functionality. This included integration with the project management tool Monday.com, facilitating workflow management and automated email notifications for various purposes.
On Monday.com, we set up two main boards: Memberships and Events.
Upon user subscription, information including email ID, start and end dates, mobile number, plan name, plan amount, amount paid, emergency contact, zip code, plan ID, and user ID gets automatically added to the Memberships board.
And when a parent adds a kid to a course, information including email ID, product ID, course name, acceptance date, mobile number, coach name and email ID, participant names, participant ages, participant wheel sizes, emergency contact, medical information, and zip code gets automatically added to the Events board.
To accomplish this smooth integration, the backend code was meticulously customized to synchronize all the data with Monday.com. This intricate customization ensured accurate data transmission and efficient management.
Furthermore, specific requirements like calendar integration for course scheduling and participant management were addressed through additional customization efforts, as mentioned earlier.
Engagement
The portal fosters community engagement by integrating with WhatsApp, providing a convenient channel for communication between parents, coaches, and organizers.
This integration ultimately enhances the user experience and optimizes the membership management process. It makes it more convenient for members to stay connected with the community, reduces manual effort for organizers, and ensures accuracy.
Our portal automatically adds new members to the WhatsApp group, ensuring a smooth integration between the portal and the messaging platform.
This automation optimizes the onboarding process, allowing new members to join the community effortlessly. They can start engaging with other members without delays or additional steps and receive relevant updates, announcements, and messages from organizers.
When a member’s subscription expires, our system automatically removes them from the WhatsApp group. This feature ensures that the group remains up-to-date and relevant.
The integration of WhatsApp with the membership management portal is a first-of-its-kind custom software solution that sets this portal apart from other platforms. This custom integration allows for a more personalized and efficient communication experience for our client’s members.
Moreover, Slack integration is also available for additional communication options if required.
Administration
The administration interface empowers admins to create and manage all the courses.
Through this interface, they can input and manage course details including title, description, calendar event color, assigned coach(es), start date & time, end date & time, minimum age requirement, wheel sizes requirement, location, contact email ID, type, season, rider level, and featured image.
Furthermore, admins have the capability to designate courses as “private” and implement access codes for bookings. In the case of restricted access, parents are prompted to provide a specific code for enrollment. Alternatively, they may opt to join a waiting list facilitated through a dedicated form routed to the admin team.
Moreover, the system empowers admins to oversee inventory management, allowing for the addition of quantity and prices, with the ability to mark courses as “Sold Out” once the capacity is reached.
With the client already having set up a WhatsApp group inclusive of organizers and coaches, admins can monitor various aspects of the integration including connection status, group status, group name, instance ID, participant list, and group description – with the option to edit the latter.
Participants can be effortlessly added using their respective country code and WhatsApp number. Admins can also remove participants as needed.
Additionally, admins have access to settings where they can customize notifications for parents and coaches.
The Impact on San Diego’s Youth Mountain Biking Community
Improved Parental Involvement
The portal enhances parental engagement by providing easy access to event information and membership management tools. Parents can stay informed about their kids’ activities and make informed decisions about their participation.
Enhanced Administrative Efficiency
With rich booking and membership management features, the portal serves as an invaluable tool for the organizers at SprocKids. Automated processes significantly reduce the time and effort required for overwhelming administrative tasks.
Increased Community Engagement
The community-building features like WhatsApp integration foster greater engagement and collaboration among members, coaches, and administrators. This aspect creates a sense of community and strengthens relationships within SprocKids.
Cost Effectiveness
Despite the extensive customization and integration efforts, the client has been able to minimize costs by automating administrative tasks and optimizing workflows. This leads to increased accessibility, expanded outreach, and enhanced program quality.
Scalability
The portal is built with scalability in mind, allowing it to grow alongside the organization’s needs. It can accommodate increased user numbers, expanded event offerings, and additional features without sacrificing performance.
Final Thoughts
Working with SprocKids has been really invigorating for our team, showing our commitment to making a meaningful impact beyond financial gains.
This was a pretty good way of essentially getting this nonprofit all the tools it would need to better serve its community and achieve its mission of empowering young riders by teaching life skills through biking.
The level of customization achieved for SprocKids would not have been possible with a SaaS platform. It required the implementation of its own code and the utilization of a dedicated server to accommodate the extent of customized functionality required.
The membership portal has not only addressed the immediate challenges faced by the client but has also laid the groundwork for greater efficiency, engagement, and innovation. This makes it the best membership management software available.
As SprocKids expands its course and membership base, the portal can easily scale up to support the growing demands.
Moreover, the automation of various processes within the portal enables SprocKids organizers to focus on delivering exceptional experiences for their members and participants. They can spend their time and energy developing innovative programs and strategically driving the organization forward with confidence.
Check out what the client has to say, expressing his satisfaction with everything we’ve accomplished!
The Bitcot team executed on a redevelopment project of our Sprockids San Diego Bookings page. We couldn’t be happier with the end product! They were detailed, responsive and extremely patient as we had requirements changes. Look forward to working together with Raj and the team again in the future!
– Sean Bascom, Board President & PQ Community Leader, SprocKids
The success of this membership management solution serves as an adaptable blueprint for other organizations seeking to modernize any sort of event management, membership system, or integrated workflow solution.
Take the first step towards transformative solutions by reaching out to us now and discussing how we can customize a solution to push your organization forward.
