WildApricot

User-friendly and Manageable

Comments: The experience was fulfilling. Being able to manage the members and their infos in the app has never been much easy.

Pros:

Even people with no computer know-how can easily used this app.

Cons:

Computer glitches may occur. One need to update the program every now and then to avoid errors in entries.

Great Platform for Member-Based Organization

Comments: Our overall experience with WildApricot has been very positive. The platform functions extremely well and handles a very large volume of transactions without difficulty. WildApricot is expensive but delivers excellent value.

Pros:

WildApricot provides an excellent platform for the website for our arts and crafts guild. The website development tools are powerful and easy to use and customize. The platform allowed us to build our website ourselves without incurring costs for an outside web developer. Our organization is membership-based, requiring that all participants in our events and activities be current paid-up members. The Wild Apricot platform ensures that this criteria is met at all times. Great membership and event management features include customizable membership and registration forms, a helpful mobile app for administrators, easy payment processing, and effective search and reporting tools.

Cons:

The main limitation of WildApricot for our organization is the inability for a individual to hold more than one category of membership at a time.

Terrible on ease of use and support

Comments: I am a former member trying to rejoin the group. When I set up my profile, I was bombarded with offers for coaching support is needed. I scheduled a call back, stated my issue and sat for an hour waiting. 15 minutes past the lastest range of the call bacl I got an email that the support call was cancelled because the group's admin should handle the issue. In fact they stated "we only set the software. The organization runs it". Then why offer to support and waste my time. Admin was unable to figure how to upgrade from past member to current member on the website.

Pros:

they promoted ease of use, quality of support, ease of launching and transferring data from last provider. None of those were accurate.

Cons:

ease of use, technical support, transfer of data, general user interface

Wild Apricot for Non-Profits

Pros:

The best thing is that it is an all-in-one software. So with the backend management system you have a web-site sitting on top of it. It makes everything super simple for us to only have to use one main software.

Cons:

Honestly, nothing. It does take a bit of time to figure it all out and their are limitations of it in terms of website design. But from what you pay for it is a solid software.

No major surprises - works as advertised.

Comments: Our society and its business processes and information management had grown without design, ending up a spreadsheet-driven beast with disjoint systems.Wild Apricot has allowed us to bring that all together with a single system, with clear business rules and a simple web user interface for admins and members.Yes there are bugs and limitations but no show stoppers for us.

Pros:

Member management and communications is good.Event management is good.Support is good.

Cons:

Financial management needs work - only shows income not expenditure so no P&L view.Some permissions for admins need to be more fine-grained (e.g. FOH in event management with the app.)The contact-based pricing hurts organisations like us... the value is in our 300 members, the cost is in our 1000 other contacts.

No customer service

Pros:

Comprehensive membership management and membership data.

Cons:

no customer service. I am locked out of our web site and WA does nopt answer.

Do Not Use

Comments: Horrible to use and to figure out and is f----d

Pros:

Nothing that was offered by them for use in my club

Cons:

Operation that was offered by them for us ein my club

Nice software

Pros:

Great and easy software to use. Would recommend to anyone

Cons:

I have no complaints about the software

Best for organisations in North America

Pros:

Wild Apricot is a fully featured membership platform covering both the back office administration as well as member-facing website/portal. It would be a solid choice for an organisation that is willing to fully adopt the "Wild Apricot way", i.e. working in the way the system works rather than trying to do anything unique.

Cons:

Wild Apricot is from North America. This means many of the settings are geared towards organisations based in the US/Canada. Customers elsewhere (e.g. UK) may find certain important features don't exist, or are slow to be offered. Examples would be Gift Aid on donations and BACS Direct Debit.

Great Alternative

Comments: It was easy to use and did everything the client needed at a great price point.

Pros:

It is affordable and can do some things other platforms can't at the same price point.

Cons:

Support is extra and if you want to customize the front end you have to find your own developer vs. having them do it for you. You can also do it yourself with a template, but they don't look as nice as other sites or having custom graphics applied.

Company cash cow not in tune with the needs of users in 2023

Comments: Extremely dissatisfying in every respect, the product, the customer service, th e lack of transparency, the company principals and developers are bunkered in where nobody from the public can have direct access to a human. The price increases in the past several years that there have been no innovations on this platform that the customers have been asking form judging by the forum, since 2014, several [sensitive content hidden] ago. Evidently this platform is something that keeps switching hands as every new [sensitive content hidden] tries to milk this cash cow.

Pros:

I don't like anything about it compared to other platforms, I inherited it

Cons:

Complete lack of response to customer needs, the program is inflexible, archaic, no improvements have been made in years and no attention is paid to the user forum where customers have been requesting basic functionality that was available on other platforms in the 1990s. Their support materials - check them out - now all start with an article telling you what the platform CAN'T do. In these, you'll find lists of all the functions that normal platforms a fraction of the cost of this one have been doing routinely since the internet was invented, like, oh...being able to proof the copy of a blog before it goes live, or schedule an event on a calendar to blast out at a specific date and time - a feature that is available on another part of their platform but not in the event module - I could go on for a long time. Customer service is useless, all they do when you finally get them on a chat is send links to articles that describe how customers needing more flexibility can add custom css. Isn't that the developers' job? Or they refer you to their 'partners.' My organization interviewed 4 of their partners. None of them had knowledge of css, or any more access to the staff at Wild Apticot than the general public. Their disregard for the needs of their users is shocking.

AUTOMATIC ASSISTANT

Comments: MUST use system for all non-profits!

Pros:

Time saver, gives back valuable man-hours to service the program cause

Cons:

Limited to the users creativity.

Overall satisfied

Pros:

Great for membership management. Simple and easy to use. Great for email communication and scheduling with members. I like the events feature.

Cons:

Customer support needs help. Still learning the software so will report later if more comes up.

Lack of product development and poor support do not justify multiple price hikes

Comments: Wild Apricot has suffered greatly since its purchase by Personify. There have been zero major updates or changes since the purchase. The updates to templates, GUI, and functionality have not come to pass, despite major price hikes. Support has become abysmal. Asking any question or reporting issues is given a rote response.

Pros:

A single system for membership, content management, and event planning

Cons:

Email systems between membership and events are inconsistent (two separate systems). Difficult to set up, Zero product improvement or enhancements, poor customer support. Very dated GUI

The good and the not so good about WA

Comments: We switched 400 contacts to WA in 2012 and we now consistently bump up against the 2000 contact level, above which we are not prepared to go because of the large annual fee increase

Pros:

Event management and the updated email formatting

Cons:

Price rise in 2022 is not commensurate with the level of improvements and the lack of support from human beings

Good Product for Non-Profit Management

Comments: The selection of Wild Apricot has allowed a small non-profit working with a hodge-podge of cobbled together "free" solutions to move into the 21st century. Volunteers and board members can work from a unified database rather than multiple, out-of-sync, task-specific spreadsheets. Tasks can be distributed without dis-integrating this data. Web site integration and payment processing allow members, donors and event participants to interact with the organization online, rather than the previous limitation to paper forms and checks. Implementation was straight-forward, if not exactly "simple". Years of old and inconsistent data always complicate a migration. The choice to integrate with the organization's existing WordPress web site rather than fully implement Wild Apricot's built-in CMS also provided some challenges. Support was mostly timely and helpful during the migration and implementation phases.

Pros:

Product is full-featured and the least expensive for a small non-profit on a limited budget. Of particular interest were membership management features, including self-service join, renew, and update. Also critical was event management and integration with membership, since the organization's main publicity and fundraising activity is a large bike ride. Web site integration was also attractive. Good platform for communicating with members and event participants. Payment processing integration for memberships, donations, and event registrations.

Cons:

Lacked QuickBooks integration, although the organization's treasurer at the time did not consider this a needed feature. Lack of volunteer management, though that was not considered an essential feature at the time of review. Web site integration works best when using the built-in CMS. Integration with WordPress, the organization's existing CMS was largely successful. However some issues did arise with the forms for things like memberships, donations, and event registrations, especially on Apple devices.

Excellent Management System for All My Needs

Comments: I began using WA in 2011 for a non-profit managing 90 volunteers and various events and fundraisers. Since then, I have created WA accounts for 3 other non-profits of similar size AND, as of 2017, also created a WA software account to manage my professional association of 1,000 members with great success. I am a huge advocate for Wild Apricot software and how is can effectively manage members/volunteers and manage events/fundraisers/conferences while being a user-friendly, professional platform to market my organizations.

Pros:

The simplicity yet robust nature of this software is awesome. The user-friendly setups and ease-of-use make it an effective tool to help manage various facets of the organization. Many screens are at-a-glance summary overviews while others provide sufficient detail to meet a variety of needs. Many of my volunteers are elderly and they can navigate the system just as ease as a techny-teenager. The system is user-friendly enough that, if you are in it every day, it is not cumbersome and, if you are an infrequent user, it is quite intuitive.

Cons:

While I like many things about the software, I only wish there was a way to (1) track volunteer hours within member profiles and (2) have the ability to use more than one payment system (I have a 501c3 and 501c4 organization with different financial needs) so I wish I could manage both within the same software system. So, those are big wish list items that I hope come along in the future but so far those are manageable through other less than ideal means. Otherwise, on a daily basis, there is very little I have issue with within the software.

Wild Apricot

Comments: Set up was frustrating …and use is fantastic

Pros:

All of it it’s so useful for our organization, and every part of it is really helpful.

Cons:

Setting it up. Could have used three months of daily health. We almost gave up. HTML and code or not something the average person knows and this was just exhausting.

Wild Apricot is perfect for recreational clubs

Comments: I would definitely recommend Wild Apricot for any organization with a membership and events that require registration. They manage this amazingly well!!. I love the fact that it is so easy for both admins and users to use. Most of my admins and membership are not technical so this is important to us. It's easy to enable blogs, forums, and photo galleries to create community pages -- somewhere that members can connect to the club and each other.

Pros:

We are a recreational tennis club with 70 members. I created a great website with a customized membership application form in just one day with no coding required. Within a week, we were live, with online applications and online event registration for tennis tournaments and even electronic payment. I have ALL contact information plus player rankings available when it is time to do the draw; it is so much easier than taking paper entry forms which are not filled out completely or legibly. Thanks to customized event registration forms, I can solicit volunteers at the time that they register. No more calling people at their homes trying to find someone to help!!! I appreciate the security measures too -- I am able to provide club newsletters and photo galleries to club members only. My membership is very pleased with the functionality and everyone says that the club feels more connected this year. The Wild Apricot support team has been responsive to all questions and problems.

Cons:

The finance side of Wild Apricot is a little weak as their reports do not take into account the finance fees that Google Checkout and PayPal deduct. And you can't modify the numbers manually to reflect actual amount received, either due to finance fees or if someone sent in a partial payment. They are aware of these issues and are working on them. The other enhancement request that we have is to have users be able to see who else is signed up for tournaments. That's because we are a social organization and because we make use of changing volunteers to help with every event. Wild Apricot is working on this but it was not an early priority because professional organizations that were hosting seminars, for example, had no need for participants to see who else was attending and did not necessarily use any volunteers.

Great product but not for everybody

Comments: Biggest impact has been the reduction in paper processing for membership applications and renewals, and for tracking event registrations and financial results.

Pros:

We are the oldest ski club in the USA, and run hundreds of events each year, including over 20 high-dollar flight trips. WA has excellent features for setting up and managing events. The membership management software is also first-rate.

Cons:

WA recently implemented an in-house credit card processing feature. Soon afterwards they started charging a 20% processing surcharge for those who do NOT subscribe to their product. Their processing fees are higher than what we are paying with a very large merchant provider, so we don't want to switch. We are waiting for the "other shoe to drop" when WA will drop support for 3rd-party payment processors.

Moved to a different software

Comments: Wild Apricot worked for our organization for quite some time, however the features were not robust enough to grow with our organization.

Pros:

This software worked for our organization for years when we were not focusing on our online process. Wild Apricot helped us create our first website.

Cons:

The ability to customize the front-end website needs work. Styling never seemed to save and we felt very limited to the templates Wild Apricot provided. We also wanted to offer monthly memberships, but it was important that the member couldn't cancel before a set amount of time had past (i.e. a year obligation). This is not possible in Wild Apricot. Lastly, the email builder leaves a lot to be desired. Font-faces, font-size and padding would often revert back to the default after saving, causing us to test emails multiple times before sending. We eventually migrated our website to Wordpress, and had to use iFrames for our member application, forums and member directory. Half of the iFrames never worked, and it slowed our website down significantly.

Great Back End For Tracking

Comments: For the money, I would like it if they would work on the front end as well as the back end. There are so many things I feel could make this the easy winner for all things non-for-profit but I think they have banked on the back end for so long that they've let other things go which, honestly has made me look at other places to host our website. And we're talking over a thousand dollars a year that we currently pay.

Pros:

The back end of it is great for non-profits as it is all intergrated. It allows a one stop shop for membership and events which is great! It also allows emails to be targeted to certain groups which is even better. They have great email templates and do offer a myriad of how-tos.

Cons:

The front end is a mess. The website functions are awful and dated. You can't make it your own unless you're a wiz at html and writing code. What time is saved from the back end is lost trying to keep the front end looking sleek and up to date. You're painted in a corner by only be allotted so many fonts and the worst part, it's not reactive to mobile devices. The emails are the same. They have great templates that you can follow, but the problem is what you think you're sending out and what is actually sent out are two different things and all the hours trying to make an email look professional are lost.

Wild Apricot is taking ALL the users for a ride- Using EXTORTION! Not happy!

Comments: BAD!

Pros:

We are able to use PayPal and Stripe- we had recurring payments set up- easy to use those vendors/

Cons:

We are able to use PayPal and Stripe. Now WA want to charge us 20% more a month unless we switch to THEIR preferred vendor. We have auto renew and this will cause us to lose members, and we do not like the format of their vendor. We were given LESS than 60 days notice and basically told " it;s our way or Tuff" Thousand of small non profits are effected. this really stinks.. DON'T USE WA! Terrible customer service

Great Service, no hidden costs and love the database

Comments: Have been with 3 other companies who promised great things for membership-based software and under-delivered. WA's response time for customer service is faster than any of the other 3. Sometimes takes several tries, but with stay with it and the issue is usually solved. Rather than promising many items before the contract is signed, then revealing that you get rudimentary versions and have to pay for the more robust item that you really need, WA is up front with what you get. They accurately answer questions about this type of issue before you sign on with them. They also have a free version limited to a small number of members, which can let you try everything before you totally commit to a fee-based version for a larger organization with more members. The database is faster than any other we have used. They allow a LOT of fields rather than limiting you to an extra 10 or 29 beyond the basic ones needed for a members-only database. As a result we have been able, for the first time, to keep track online of members, contacts, past members, exhibitors, donors, etc., all online without the need for separate offline databases for some of them. With other companies the limited fields means we could do a lot with members records, but could not adequately add or change anything enough to keep track of advertisers, sponsors, exhibitors for our conference, and had problems with trying to identify prospects for members or to track those who dropped their membership. There are a few areas that still are lacking. We currently use Joomla for content management, and find the Joomla templates, content categorizing, and methods of limiting access to be more useful than WA. There needs to be at least one responsive template, since a large number of our members have become more dependent on tablets and phones for their internet content. The report system gives a nice online report, but results are not printable and when downloaded, give you a spreadsheet including every single field in each record rather than the single items you were looking for in the report. WA makes upgrades about twice a year, usually incorporating the most requested improvements. They also make other smaller upgrades in between the main ones. If you can't wait, tweaks are available for a fee through a third party which is familiar with the WA environment. They are the only organization out there who makes me feel that they really DO care about what a non-profit organization might want.

They have changed and not for the better

Comments: Normally does well but we had a event in which we had to send out directions to and the list of registrants disappeared - we had to be put in a que for tech support and when I got to #6 at 4:55 they said I had to e mail and they would get back to me next week. When I first started with handling this the tech support was great and personal not now, it is thru chat and they shout you off supposedly at 5. Also being Canadian, they have different holidays which is frustrating. I managed to trick the system to bring up the list but it took an afternoon of my off time

Pros:

It is a powerful platform to use alskdjmka xmm mc mcmscbhjsdbjbcm mzm mxbmncm

Cons:

It is Buggy to operate - not user friendly