WildApricot

What it is

WildApricot is a membership management platform with a built-in website builder, aimed at organizations that run on members: associations, clubs, chapters and nonprofits. The company's templates page says over 15,000 organizations trust it to manage their membership. The site's menu names the audiences directly: associations, nonprofits, chambers, clubs, charities managing donations and fundraising campaigns, and chapters that want to centralize operations, membership data and financials. What the site describes is a single system that holds the member database, publishes the member-facing website, takes payments, runs events, sends email and ships a mobile app, so the person running a club does not stitch five tools together.

Read it as a site builder for communities of people who pay dues and show up to meetings, not as a general-purpose app builder. The things you build here are a membership site, an events calendar with registration, an online store, and the communications that go to your members.

What you build and how

The member database. Everything starts with the member record. The home page describes the database as a place to manage members' information online, send communications and track engagement from one secure, centralized system, and it mentions a simpler membership application process, advanced search and filters, real-time updates to member records, segmentation for targeted communication, automated membership renewals and recurring payments, and a membership directory that keeps members connected. The platform treats the database as the hub: the website, the events, the store and the emails all hang off it.

The website. The member website builder is a drag-and-drop editor. The company says you can "Design your website using our wide array of templates, drag-and-drop editor and embeddable widgets" with no coding required, and that the result is professional and mobile-friendly. The templates page offers 12 membership website templates plus dozens of variations, and each is a theme set with named color variations:

• Kaleidoscope pairs light typography with dark backgrounds and colorful titles and accents. It lists expandable control panels for blogs, forums, events and photo albums, plus transparent gadget designs.
• Terra puts a large background image behind semi-transparent gadget styles. Its variations include Amber Creek and Squirrel's Paradise. It lists social icons that can be fixed to the right side of the screen, an option to hide pictures in mobile view, and a panel that replaces the menu bar and login options on mobile devices.
• Building Blocks has a clean, modern look with bold colors and a modular approach: customizable content blocks that can be arranged in various layouts, high-contrast color schemes and responsive elements. Blue Sky, Purple Haze and Red Alert are among its variations.
• Homestead was designed with homeowner associations in mind and works best with neutral or watercolor palettes. It lists a static background that stays fixed as the viewer scrolls, a sticky menu and large rectangular button styles. Painted Hills is one variation.

For a reader arriving from the websites angle, this is the practical picture: you pick a theme set, adjust it in the editor, drop in the widgets WildApricot provides, and publish a mobile-friendly site for your organization. The home page also says you can add widgets to existing sites, which matters if your organization already has a website you are not ready to replace.

Events. Event management covers everything from registration and promotion to payment processing and check-in. The home page lists customizable event pages and registration forms, online event payments you can track, and automated, scheduled event communications. The mobile app lets members register for events from their phones.

Email and CRM. The email tools build professional emails from customizable templates, automate and schedule everything from newsletters to e-blasts, and segment contacts into lists for members, event attendees and more. This is the platform's answer to the question of how a small team keeps in touch without exporting a spreadsheet into a separate mailing tool.

Online store and payments. The online store covers selling tickets, merchandise or other products. The company says you can start listing and accepting payments within minutes, and the store tracks inventory, processes payments and manages orders in one place. Payment processing covers taking and tracking payments online or on-site: you can automate, invoice or set up recurring payments through the built-in payment processor, or integrate your current payment system. A customer testimonial on the home page says the payment system deposits to the organization's bank account daily.

Mobile app. There is a mobile app for admins and another experience for members. Admins can manage members, events, payments and more from a phone or tablet. Members can connect with one another, update their profiles and register for events. The home page says admins can access the database, track events, process payments and communicate with members in real time from a smartphone.

Integrations and API. The company says the platform can enable single sign on services, sync with 1,600+ apps, and offer API support.

Add-ons. For existing customers the home page lists add-ons, named in the menu as Job Board, CommUnity and Text Messaging: a job board that connects employers and job seekers, pitched as a way to build non-dues revenue and offered for free, an exclusive digital space where members can connect and keep conversations going beyond meetings (sold through the sales team), and a way to send updates directly to members' phones.

The evidence from the pages

Both the home page and the templates page lead with a 60-Day Free Trial, with no credit card required, and "onboarding coaches" to get you up and running fast. A free trial is not a free plan. Plan prices sit on a separate Pricing page rather than on the home page.

The figures the company publishes are: 12 membership website templates with dozens of variations, over 15,000 organizations, and 1,600+ app syncs.

Two customer stories sit on the home page. Beth of the Arizona Chapter of the American Concrete Institute writes: "We have used WA for over 10 years", adding that customer service is available when needed, the pages are easy to set up and the payment system deposits to the bank account daily. Bob Young, Director at a Kiwanis Club, says the club had not had a new member in years before WildApricot, and that "we've also gotten five new members to join in the last two months through our new website." The page also says Kiwanis Club doubled its event attendance rate. These are customer statements the company chose to publish, not independent measurements.

The site's resources go further: a blog, webinars, a Boot Camp, a resource library, a Help Center, service notices and a partner directory, along with a Testimonials page and a list of website examples. Featured customer stories include how Upper Cape set its sights on 350 members and how a 450-member organization moved from annual meetings to weekly connections. That is useful context for a first-time administrator who needs help beyond the trial's onboarding coaches.

Who it suits and who it does not

WildApricot suits a volunteer-run or small-staff organization that needs members, a website, events and dues collection to live in one place. A neighborhood association, a chapter of a national body or a service club fits the pattern in the company's own testimonials. The theme sets even include one built with homeowner associations in mind. If your core job is to keep a list of members, collect dues, tell them what is happening and put a decent site in front of it, the feature list lines up directly.

It is a weaker match for anyone who wants an app builder with custom data models, workflows and logic. The site describes templates, a drag-and-drop editor and widgets, and the developer route it names is the API. Design freedom is bounded by the theme sets and gadget styles listed above. A finance officer can use the 60-day trial to test the whole setup before committing a budget.