This is the second post in a series designed to prepare users for MemberHub 2.0 changes.

As mentioned yesterday in the introduction to subdomains post, the driving factors behind the upcoming enhancements have been to make the user experience more about your organization, while also making it easier for administrators to manage membership information. This has resulted in a new approach to user accounts in general. Of course the design had to change just a bit too.

Your Calendar and Dashboard are Scoped by Organization

To get to your combined calendar, dashboard, or profile for the current organization, simply click on the organization name [link] in the upper-left. The Dashboard will not look very different if you’re affiliated with only one organization in MemberHub. Same goes for the Calendar. (NOTE: if you’re currently subscribing to events on your combined calendar, you will need to re-subscribe to your organization Calendar). You’ll notice both of these pages now have the organization’s name and logo in the header instead of MemberHub’s.

Quickly let me explain what we mean by “scoped”. At the time this post is being published, Your Dashboard is a view across all your hubs; across multiple organizations (if you’re part of multiple orgs). In 2.0, you can only be on the Dashboard for the organization you’re currently logged into. Using our example from yesterday, when Gerald logs into Trinity Community Church at tcc.memberhub.com he will land on the Dashboard for that organization. He can switch organizations from the same dropdown.

Your Account, Your Profile; What’s the Difference?

Your Account will consist of your email addresses (yes that’s multiple addresses), your password, time zone, and global notification preferences. Your profile is everything else like your mailing address, phone numbers, gender, birth date, etc. The profile is managed by the organization and you both can make changes. You will have a separate profile for each organization that you’re affiliated with on MemberHub. We’ll talk more about what admins can do in the next post.

Your Family will be Created by Organization Administrators

After doing some real digging into the ways that the family concept was being used in MemberHub we decided to move the responsibility of creating and managing families to organization administrators. Most users were confused about the ability to add family members; especially when joining a hub and didn’t understand the implications of creating those records. Members will be able to edit Family Members but the responsibility of grouping members in to families will be left to the staff at your organization who decide to make use of the family view and new family directory. More on this down the road too.

In the next post we’ll share why we’re making life much better for organization administrators.

Please, leave us a comment below.

The main objective that drove this round of enhancements was to give more focus to the organization. Essentially we wanted to do a better job of scoping the entire user experience by the organization that actually signed up for the service. Let me explain something that might not be obvious right now.

When you currently log into MemberHub, you land on Your Dashboard. Every user has their own dashboard where they see a combined view of data across all of the hubs AND organizations that they are affiliated with in MemberHub. The header and the MemberHub logo are present. This was a great concept for some users because they are a part of multiple organizations that use MemberHub and the current dashboard provided a one stop view into all the organizations in their life.

However, what we heard in our feedback was that administrators wanted their member’s experience in MemberHub to feel more like their own organization. Many of you suggested that as members interacted with the system it was more about MemberHub and less about Trinity Community Church (example organization name). As soon as a member logs in, it’s not branded with the organization, it’s branded with MemberHub. This is all about to change.

Every organization (subscription) will now have a customizable subdomain. For example, Trinity Community Church could have a subdomain of http://tcc.memberhub.com. You can even use your existing organization’s website address and just tack the .memberhub.com onto the end to get your organization’s branded login page.

Think about this for a minute. Every time someone gets an email from MemberHub and clicks the link to take them into the system, instead of landing on a login page that says nothing about your organization, they’re taken to a branded login page that will immediately bring a level of trust and familiarity that your members are expecting when using a tool that you have provided. In addition to this, Trinity Community Church can now just link to http://tcc.memberhub.com right off of their website. In fact, it should be encouraged that members use your subdomain to login.

Once someone logs into the organization, they are no longer taken to a generic Your Dashboard page. Instead they are taken to the organization’s dashboard. With the exception of the top navigation (which we will explore later this week) the dashboard feels the same, BUT…it’s got the organization’s name and logo in the header…not MemberHub’s.

Having a subdomain for your organization in MemberHub allows the system to be opened up to many enhancements. Here are just a few:

• A more branded experience
• Member profiles that can be edited by both members and admins
• Less confusion on who’s in control of the data and communication
• A page for organizational wide events, directories, hub listings and more

All organizations in the system will have their subdomain defaulted for them. Administrators can customize their subdomain on the Settings tab inside the Admin console.

There are more blog posts coming this week about the upcoming changes, so stay tuned! And please leave a comment below and share your thoughts. Thanks!

One of the most common questions with regards to implementing social media objectives at churches, nonprofits and associations is “Whose responsibility is it?”. Should the IT people do it? After all, they know how all this techy stuff works. What about marketing/communication? They are in control of our “messaging” and “branding”. What about the leaders in the organization? They should do it because they reflect the vision and heartbeat of the organization.

The truth is most social media experts will suggest that all staff members at your organization should have social media as part of his/her daily tasks. Social media should be used at all levels of the organization.

Earlier today, during the free M2Live webinar, Cynthia Ware (a well-respected church technology consultant) suggested that churches should appoint a Social Media Director. Someone that is responsible for laying out the plan for your church’s use of social media. I for one think this is a great idea! Here’s why:

• Every church should have a social media policy for their staff. This person is responsible for that.
• This person is also responsible for all social media strategy. What should Facebook be used for? What should it NOT be used for. Will you use Twitter? What is the PLAN? Who responds to ridiculous comments on your Facebook page? Should your pastor blog? What is a blog? Should someone wear a Hootsuite?
• All questions social media related are filtered through this person.
• This person is responsible for new trends and staying on top of the rapidly-changing landscape that is social media.

Should you hire or does your social media director already exist? What else am I missing? Why is hiring a social media a director a good idea? Why is it a bad idea?

The next M2LIVE webinar will feature Cynthia Ware — A technology and church development consultant, Cynthia also serves as the executive director of the Center for Church Communications. While presenters have opportunity to share their message, the format allows you ample time to ask questions and engage the presenter.  To access the webinar, visit http://www.M2LIVE.org/live on August 17th at 11:30 a.m. (EDT).

In the last year, many people have claimed that email is passe. Often, the main argument is that the use of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are growing so fast that eventually everyone will just use those tools and their mobile phones to communicate. Others have argued that email is just an inferior communication protocol. While it’s curious and interesting to entertain such a massive shift in the way the world communicates, I think it’s an outrageous claim. Here are 5 signs email is here to stay for while.

1. Email is Too Ingrained In Our Every Day Life

Email is dead….really?…really? The entire world communicates through email. There is so much business infrastructure around email and years and years of data that it just seems ludicrous to suggest that email is even dying. Did the T.V. kill radio? Has the mobile phone killed the land line? Just because there are new ways to communicate doesn’t mean that the tried and true email is going bye-bye. Email may die one day, but the biggest factor that would contribute to its demise would be time…and a lot of it.

2. Google Failed to Replace It

Last week, Google announced that they “don’t plan to continue Wave as a standalone product”. If you know anything about Google Wave you’ll know that Google had grand plans to create a “better email client”. But that’s just it, it wasn’t email. It was totally different. Kudos to Google for trying to change the world, but if Wave had sent emails (like most other technologies) it would have had a better adoption rate. As it was, it was just another “inbox-thing” people had to check. That brings me to my next point quite nicely.

3. All Applications Use Email

As of this post Facebook is reporting that people spend over 700 billion minutes on Facebook a month. That’s a lot. But what happens when you o send someone a private message? It sends them an email. In fact go take another look at your Facebook’s notifications preferences. Almost every single thing the application does can and will by default send you AN EMAIL. Like around 100 different email notifications. This type of notifications preferences isn’t unique to the 2nd most active website in the world; they all depend on email.

4. It’s a Nice Alternate to the CONSTANT Steam

People complain about email all the time. They complain about having to empty their inbox and going through 100s of emails. I’m guilty of this too. But the reality is that email is still a great protocol for messages that need to be delivered, but not consumed immediately. Emails are not as disruptive as text messages, but that’s only because text messaging is a relatively new medium to receive messages on. It used to be that when we got a new email we said “Woohoo” I got electronic mail message! Neat. My point here is that just like wedding invitations will always be delivered via snail mail, email provides a great alternative to drinking from the firehose of communication and data that is social media.

5.  Email is a Protocol, Not an Entity

Recently I’ve heard my wife increasingly say to others, “I’ll facebook you.” What does that mean? It means that Facebook is the protocol. It is the medium by which the communication takes place. As inevitable as it may seem, Facebook could be gone tomorrow. The use of Email is not dependent upon the success of a company. Email remains.

What are some other signs email is NOT dead?

We’ve been busy…listening. In the last 6 months, we conducted customer interviews, spoken with prospects, chatted with early adopters and even formed a Customer Council. We’ve been listening to your feedback, suggestions and problems and now we’d like to make some noise!  We’re making some enhancements that we know are going to be warmly welcomed…even more than the beloved sound of a vuvuzella.

We’ll be communicating the details of these changes out to our users over the next few weeks via email and this blog. So if you’re not already subscribed, then do so at the top right. You can subscribe via email and the blog posts will be delivered to your inbox.

Here’s an idea of what to expect in the upcoming changes:

• Sub-domains (ex. http://trinity-church.memberhub.com)
• Branded login pages for your organization and branded user dashboards
• Ability for admins to manage member profiles
• Register multiple email addresses
• Easier member directories

These changes will open up the door to even more enhancements. Enhancements that weren’t possible before; like more membership management capabilities. The bottom line is that it’s going to be MUCH easier to get your members into the system, easier to manage member profile information and therefore easier to enhance communication with and among your members. Your experience with MemberHub will be branded less with MemberHub and more with YOUR ORGANIZATION.

Thank you to those of you we’ve spoken with and especially to our Customer Council.

Photograph by: UNITED PHOTOS
Credit: REUTERS

Much of the online church community is familiar with the upcoming free conference called The Nines, but are you familiar with The Tens? Okay, I made that up. But, there is something important going on this year on 10.10.10. It’s called the National Faith in Action Sunday and it’s all about just that…putting your faith in action.

In case you’re not familiar, Faith in Action (FIA) is a four-week campaign with the purpose of empowering churches to get out of the building and into the local community. What is Faith In Action?

Faith in Action is a four-week, church-wide campaign that creates an outward focus and a heart to serve in your congregation. FIA culminates in a Sunday where regular services are cancelled, and the entire congregation engages in service projects in and with the community.

There is a lot more information on the website including an Overview, slew of resources, stories of other churches, and they have an active Facebook Page too.

The four-week campaign is “embraced by churches year-round, but many choose to participate on National Faith in Action Day.” On this one Sunday every year, churches get out into the community, canceling their normal Sunday service and work together with other churches to serve their community. I can’t think of a better way to model Christ’s call for unity within in the church.

How awesome would it be if every church in America participated on National Faith in Action Day? What would happen to local communities? What effect could this have the body of Christ? What would Anne Rice think?

We think FIA is awesome, so we’d like to spread the word and here’s what else we’re doing about it: we’re offering our services for FREE to organizations for the 3 months leading up to and during their 4 week Faith In Action Campaign. Simply use the following coupon when selecting your plan: FIA101010 and you’ll get 3 months use of MemberHub for FREE!

THIS IS ONLY VALID UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

So has your church considered participating in a Faith in Action campaign? Have you participated in the past? How did it go? Did you share your story anywhere? Leave a comment!

[Image from Faith in Action]

“It’s all about timing.” How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said it? A lot…I bet. No one can doubt the truth behind that simple statement. Choosing the right software at the right time is no exception. Knowing when to buy that key piece of software for your organization and more importantly why you’re buying it is important. Let me give you an example of how our organization recently messed up on this very thing.

One of the most crucial aspects to any business is keeping up with it’s customers and prospects. Some type of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is vital to keeping a history of all communications and relationship details with your customers. By they way, churches and nonprofits you need one too. Either a ChMS or some Membership Management Software….look into it. Anyway, we set out to get a CRM. But we didn’t do our homework, we just signed up for Salesforce. We don’t use 2/3 of the system. Sure that happens a lot when you get a feature-rich (ready “bloated”) software but the worst part is that we spent too much money. We should have selected a much cheaper, simpler solution for the first year (perhaps 37Signal’s Highrise). Salesforce was the wrong software at the wrong time.

At the same time, we totally missed the boat on the software that we should have been running since DAY 1. It’s called KissMetrics. From their website: “KissMetrics is the simplest and easiest way to visualize your conversion funnel in order to increase your ROI”. Basically it helps businesses increase sales and conversion rates. We should have adopted this type of software even before we had customers! Live and learn.

Here are a few points to keep in mind when thinking about software for your organization

1. Most software has been created because there is a tangible benefit. Seriously…like saving time and/or money. This is especially important to keep in mind for young organizations that assume they cannot afford software or worse that they should not have to pay for it. In the middle of any organization process that’s taking place you should always be asking yourself if there is software that makes this easier. Sometimes that means spending some money on software. If you’re a small organization (like a church plant) can you really not afford to pay $12/mo to enhance communication and centralize all all logistics? Yes that was self-serving :).

2. Learn the tangible benefits the software offers. Does the software pay for itself? Can the return on investment be measured. If so, make sure you know what the ROI is. If the software offers a free trial then try it out. And really give it a go. You may crash and burn but you’re better off trying something then just thinking about it. If you can’t tell by the trial or just looking at the website, then pick up the phone!

3. Call software providers. Yes, pick up the phone and call them. If they don’t list a phone number then that’s a bit questionable in my opinion, but the point is…reach out to them. You’ll usually find that honest and fair people are behind most of the reputable software that’s available on the internet these days. Even more…

4. Ask for a discount. If you really can’t afford the software at the time, but you know you need it, then simply ask for discount. Talk is cheap (sometimes). We use coupons at MemberHub and there a handful of them floating around the internets. Just like us, many vendors will be happy to help you out for a little while. Just ask.

So, what’s that piece of software that you’ve been thinking about for a while now? What can it do for your organization? What are you waiting for?

The next M2LIVE webinar will feature Justin Wise; we will be discussing how the Web is flattening the Church. Or how Web and social media technology is changing how the church does business. Join us online July 29^th at 11:30 a.m. (EDT).

Justin Wise is a pastor, blogger, and speaker from West Des Moines, IA. He enjoys blending culture, faith and technology in a relevant way. Justin is on staff at Lutheran Church of Hope, and is senior editor of BeDeviant.com.

A FREE webinar, the M2LIVE webinar features insight from many of today’s brightest church web evangelists. While presenters have opportunity to share their message, the format allows you ample time to ask questions and engage the presenter.  To access the webinar, visit http://www.M2LIVE.org/live on July 29th at 11:30 a.m. (EDT). Each webinar will last about 45 minutes.

M2LIVE is a grassroots effort allowing believers of all backgrounds to come together to celebrate Christ, while sharing and learning from one another. A series of web-based and live hands-on workshops, M2LIVE is designed for church leaders and volunteers interested in enhancing their ministry using the latest in web and social media technology. Learn more at http://www.M2LIVE.org.

From July 8-11, over 3,000 staff, volunteers and vendors converged on Salt Lake City, UT for the 4-day General Assembly of the YMCAs. It’s an event that is held every four years and the whole city was infused with the YMCA community. Literally everywhere you went, were signs of endorsement for the event. It was  expected to generate $3 million for Salt Lake County’s economy. By the looks of things I’d be surprised if they didn’t hit that number.

We were there as an exhibitor. At first I was a bit skeptical of the potential return on such an event, but as we looked closer we began to realize that this is the perfect opportunity for our company to share our success stories from working with the YMCA of the Triangle as well as speak with close to 3,000 Y staff and volunteers. I’m confident now that being there was the right thing to do.

Here are some observations from our time at the General Assembly:

1. The YMCA has Some Serious History

Saturday’s general session ended with the introduction of the Y’s new brand and new strategy, (culminating with a very bizarre rendition of U2′s Beautiful Day, I might add) but the morning started with the introduction of the 2010 inductees to the YMCA Hall of Fame. The list included such notable men and women as Ellen Brown, the first female YMCA staff employee and John D. Rockefeller Jr. The surprising thing to me was that each one of the 17 inductees was born in the 1800′s! It was powerful to learn about each inductee as they splashed the antique photos up on the ginormous LCD screen and shared stories about how these people contributed to the organization that has had such an impact on millions of lives in local communities for the past 160 years! It was moving.

2. What about the “C”?

“For the first time in 43 years, the YMCA unveiled a new brand strategy to increase understanding of the impact the nonprofit makes in communities.” The organization is now referred to as “The Y” and the new logo reflects this. It’s interesting that the foundational guiding beliefs and truths upon which the organization was built continue to take a back seat in the organization’s core message. It’s also unfortunate that a search for the YMCA turns up tons of images for the Village People.

3. YMCA is Missing the Boat on Social Media

The Y seems to be missing the potential of social media. They want to re-introduce themselves to America. They’ve already appeared on Good Morning America and they’ve got big plans for an all-out media blitz. That’s great! But in his presentation, Neil Nicoll, President and CEO of YMCA of the USA had no mention of using social media tools like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to help create the powerful networks that can so easily spread your message for you. Perhaps they do have a plan and we’ll be surprised, but I’ve done social media presentations for Y executives and spoke with a LOT of others during the conference. My general observation is that none of the Ys are doing social media right and they’re all looking at each other waiting for one of them to just nail it. It would be a real help if the YMCA of the USA had a strategy in place that all other Y’s could turn too.

4. YMCA Spirit is Hard to Ignore

As a child, did you ever attend a YMCA summer camp?  I did. I spent 5 summers at Camp Kanata, in North Carolina and I also participated in the Y Guides program (at that time it was called Indian Guides…needless to say that had to change). The child-like enthusiasm and magic that happened in those programs can be felt throughout all levels of the organization and it’s people. Whether it’s a seminar at the YMCA General Assembly or a fundraising meeting at a local Y, the staff and volunteers always know how to balance a proper amount of silliness and professionalism in such a way that it’s hard not to want to be part of what they’re doing.

5. The Y is Going to Grow Even Stronger

Regardless of any missing religious affiliation and lack of social media prowess, the YMCA is going to continue to grow. The work that they do in communities is a true blessing to millions around the world and this can no longer go unnoticed. They’ve done 2 years of research to figure out how the general public perceives the organization and compared that to it’s core principles. They’ve done their homework for the new strategy which focuses on Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility.

As Neil Nicoll said, “The Y is more than just a place for a gym and a swim.” It always has been and it will continue to be. Now they just need to remind the world who they are. The proof is already there! It is a blessing for us to be able to serve them!

Were you there? What did you take away? What do you think about the Y’s new strategy and logo?