StarChapter Features

This tool greatly helps us manage our chapter and events by automating processes that we used to do manually. Gone are the days of tracking everything with spreadsheets. New member sign ups and membership renewals are a breeze, we are able to link to a payment gateway and accept payment directly though or website, and best of all, members can update their contact information at any time. Event registration, sign-in, and payment is also easy. And being able to run reports from the software is great.

It’s difficult to update the website unless you have prior experience. The reporting function is lacking by not being able to include all data that we want. And while sending emails from the software is great, having to manage this or respond using an outside email provider is very cumbersome. It would be better if we could read emails in the software. Also, not being able to create and send continuing education credit certificates through the software is a huge miss!

It streamlines a lot of the processes we were doing through multiple platforms.

The turnaround time for support. When I'm stumped, I have to fill out a support ticket and it often takes 48 hours to hear back via email. It often isn't what I was asking and then it takes another 48 hours for the correct response. The functionality is usually there but sometimes difficult to find. It would be amazing to actually be able to speak with someone or at the very least, online tech support.

Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it as it helps us improve our product.

Several features for chapter management seemed to be an advantage to Constant Contact. Communications to members, non-members and expiring members seemed to be be better.

Can't call anyone for support. Users are required to submit an online ticket and wait usually 24 hours to get an answer. This isn't helpful when trying to meet a deadline and run into trouble. Some event registrations don't show up in orders and I must do manual reconcilation of credit card payments (I'm told to avoid this we need to upgrade to PayPal Pro. Constant Contact worked fine with Standard Business PayPal). Requires our NAHU members to create an account and "log in" when registering.

I love the fact that everything is in one software. I used to have to use multiple ones and now I have everything in one, easy to use, functional place. The membership tracking, the payment processing and ease of website updates are amazing.

There is limited customization after a certain point. If the field hasn't already been created then in some cases you cannot create it. Some things cannot be made mandatory and there is a limited way of filtering member reports.

StarChapter is an exceptional chapter management tool. It is incredibly user-friendly and allows us to manage all aspects of our chapter with ease. The features and tools are comprehensive and cover everything from membership management to event planning. The support team is also very helpful and always available to answer any questions we have.

The only downside to StarChapter is that the cost can be a bit expensive, especially for smaller chapters. However, the features and tools more than make up for it.

This checks all the boxes for us. We needed a platform that let us send comms to our members, manage our membership list (including sending invoices for renewals and new members), manage event registrations, post news articles, allow our members (and non-members for a fee) to post job openings, and more...and this fit the bill! It was affordable, easy to use, the initial set-up was simple (StarChapter is a HUGE help and does a great deal of the work), and we've found their support team to be very responsive and helpful. We're very happy with our switch, and now all our data is managed in one place - which was the ultimate problem we set out to solve with our previous website.

There are a few little nuances we've discovered, such as not being able to use multi-byte characters (emojis, etc) in subject lines of comms and not being able to export ALL comm data (must be exported individually). I think the biggest thing that could stand to be improved is the comm data - you can get open rate, but that's pretty much it. You can't see what links are clicked on the most, or other data that other email-specific platforms offer. That said, it wasn't a deal-breaker for us.

StarChapter set everything up The training they provided was comprehensive The support is excellent. I had a few questions and received a response back within hours or even minutes. Once you get the hang of how it works, it is easy to make changes The price is incredible! We are a very small non-profit with a limited budget. Our users love the software. The admins really like the back end and the information it provides. Our members love the website and how easy it is to renew membership, sign up for classes and events.

Reporting is a little weak: I can find everything I need but it isn't as easy as I think it could be. (That said it could be that I haven't figured everything out yet.) I can get a list of new members, members that have renewed, and members that have not renewed BUT it does not produce a very attractive output. This would definitely not stop me from recommending this software.

I liked that they provided the initial set-up and conversion from our previous web-site. I like that over-all it is easy to manage the site and to update content. Please note that I do NOT have an IT background and learned everything from scratch. We are looking at an organizational name change, so it will be interesting to see if I still hold this view once I tackle that project. I have always had great customer support when I have a question, even when I pose something that the program can't do.

It is not intuitive for someone that doesn't have skills in web design. I have to research and learn new options, not just pick them up along the way. I find some of the finance and accounting functions too basic, as well as only a basic reporting functionality. There also don't seem interested in updating and adding functionality, just maintaining what they have.

I like the ease of use and connectedness of all of the software segments. The product also gives a lot of functions for the price which makes it an easy sell to our clients from a value standpoint.

Some items are clunky and not as nimble as they could be. I also feel like starchapter has stopped developing enhancements or improvements outside of the website templates that they sell for a fee. I would like to see more robust reporting or the ability to build ad hoc reports, enhanced functionality on the events with regards to promo codes/discounts, adjusting registrant information/substitutions, and more robust functionality with the eblasting system.

Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it as it helps us improve our product. We are sorry to hear that you're experiencing difficulty with the reports and some of the functionality. If you could please enter a support ticket, our team will get in touch with you to get more information.

I like the newsletter feature the most. I can create digital newsletters by template.

The cons for the software are that it doesn't fit with how our association works. The software is more designed for "chapters" of associations as opposed to a single association. We have COMPANIES as members (we are a 506(c)(6) trade association), and staff of those member companies are also considered members. So the billing/invoicing feature doesn't work for us, nor does the online registration...

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Top items: 1) Ease of access from any location. 2) Ability to have most of the associations information in one spot 3) Email communication 4) Reports available. Love the graphs for membership, meeting attendance, etc... 5) Love that the members can download the meetings they attended to track their own CEH credits. 6) Love how the support team gets back promptly on issues. 7) The newsletter StarChapter sends out although finding time to read it gets in the way. 8) The ease of using it. It's not hard to train others to use it.

Least liked: 1) Email verification. 2) The difficulty to find where to change some information and the need to ask what page it is on. 3) Renewing a members dues from administrative point of view has been difficult. 4) Would like notification of any issues concerning members. 5) Screen size for creating an event. Would like it bigger.

StarChapter makes it very easy to track registration and payments for our monthly meetings. Our previous process was for attendees to email one specific person, and all payments were handled on-site at the meeting. We were able to reduce the time commitment for our Registration chair significantly by switching to StarChapter, and we've been able to open up pre-payment for meetings through online credit card payments. This helps to ensure more turnout, since people are more likely to show up when they've already paid. It is also much easier to enable multiple people to work on the site, and those people don't need a background in web development to do important tasks that keep the Chapter running, like posting new meetings and newsletters, and keeping our calendar updated.

My least favorite part of the platform is the text editor, which isn't terribly surprising. If you want to include more than simple text for an event or mailing, you are better off creating the content outside StarChapter and importing an image or attaching a PDF with your content. I think this is a pretty typical complaint with text editors, but it would streamline our processes if we could do everything in one place.

Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it as it helps us improve our product.

This software is affordable and great for nonprofits that are just starting out. It provides everything you need to get started, including a website, dues structure, member letters and member CRM.

This software lacks a lot of functions that nonprofits really need. There doesn't appear to be a platform for managing CEUs, there is no membership card template, customizing emails with member data appears to have limited functionality, extracting membership data for dashboards is near impossible - you can only customize the data so much and the reports and charts built in are limited. Member categories...

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I like being able to edit any portion of the software at any time. I like that it is a word-friendly software to make the text appealing as well as being able to add images. I also like the payment portal; setting up the customer ticket options gives you the ability to make items required during a registration of an event.

At this time, the only item I do not find easy to navigate through are the reports. The reports are not easy to build or customize for each event. I tend to have to make an extra step in my process to match the entries.

Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it as it helps us improve our product. We are sorry to hear that you're experiencing difficulty with the reports. If you could please enter a support ticket, our team will get in touch with you to get more information.

Event management is a game changer for our chapter. It is clear StarChapter put a lot of thought into managing events from registration, order processing, reporting and payment processing.

With the success of using Star Chapter for our events we are finding areas where different events have a few customization needs such as, different distribution list for invoices and receipts, refund policy, member/non-member registration, and registration wizard instructions.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, we really appreciate your feedback.

StarChapter is an incredibly comprehensive and easy-to-use association management platform. It makes it incredibly easy to manage memberships, events, fund-raising, and more. Their customer service is prompt, helpful, and reliable. I'm consistently impressed with how well the platform works, and I would highly recommend it to any professional organization looking for a top-notch management solution.

The main downside to StarChapter is the cost. While the cost is generally quite reasonable, it can be a bit expensive for smaller organizations. Additionally, some of the features can be a bit complex and require a fairly steep learning curve.

StarChapter offers good functionality and management for an affordable price. It puts our website and association management into the cloud, where it belongs, and doesn't require a high degree of tech savvy to manage the site or our day-to-day activity.

The lack of a financial interface is PAINFUL, and it has resulted in higher than usual external accounting expense to make sense of what we do.

Thank you for your feedback, we appreciate it as it helps us improve our offerings.

First, StarChapter has a solid value proposition for a small organization -- competitive with Wild Apricot and similar "value" options. However, biggest selling point is its customer support. Unlike Wild Apricot, StarChapter doesn't outsource set up and has an in-house design team that walks you through the process. (start up cost 1/3rd of what I was quoted to set up a Wild Apricot site!). They were very accommodating and worked hard to create a web layout that replicated our branding image, and were able to integrate some external features. The final product exceeded expectations at launch, and was handled seamlessly.

The steep, steep learning curve and the absence of an on-call service line. Although the set up was excellent, I was not ready to manage the system on my own when we launched. As a result, I really struggled to complete basic tasks, and made lots of errors that resulted in member frustration or confusion. I was able to send in support tickets and get responses - usually within 24 hours, but the damage was often done by the time I got an answer. I think a comprehensive user manual - whether on-line or downloadable, would be really helpful. The knowledge base is very segmented and it's not easy to get step by step instructions when you need them.

Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it as it helps us improve our product.

The features I like best about StarChapter are: ease of administration, swiftness of launch, good value for your money. It's great for smaller associations.

Reporting is what I like least about StarChapter. Historical information isn't easy to access.

Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it as it helps us improve our product. We are sorry to hear that you're experiencing difficulty with the reports. If you could please enter a support ticket, our team will get in touch with you to get more information.

This is great for organizations and non profit that need something simple to get them going. We use this to manage members, as well as host our e-commerce type transactions for events.

It is a bit clunky and not as intuitive when wanting to do more advanced level organizational management. For example, if a member has not renewed their membership there is a grace period and then the member gets moved to a different list. If that member wants to renew- they have to create a whole new login which adds to confusion when the user expects to just to be able to login and renew their membership....

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Thank you for your feedback, we really appreciate it as it helps us improve our product.

Its simple and has the website/database/financials/surveys/emails all in one.

The email system is not pretty and has too many templates hidden/buried to update. Make it look more like constant contact and I have no more complaints. Love it

Thank you for your feedback, we are happy to announce that an update to the email functionality and templates will be available soon.

Software has a great website component - catalog of website pages format and views, flexible build, sleek modern look and great background site security. The website provides a "wow" factor. The Association management portion of the software has many tools for membership management, event management, dues management and email communications functions. All are very helpful. There are a number of on-line resources serving as a knowledge base and their support is wonderful. Most questions are answered within 24 hours. Members also really like the ability to pay dues or make donations or purchases on-line.

As a heritage culture society we had a few membership/group use case issues that the software couldn't really address and there wasn't much guidance on possible workarounds. We needed a few more project hours on our implementation phase (we were turned over to support before we went live). There needs to be a user manual document to further define screen fields as there is great flexibility in the system. While the videos are helpful, they don't provide enough detail for taking the system to beyond a basic level. The other key limitation is the lack of interfacing to financial systems like QuickBooks. While we really like the ability for members to pay dues or buy from store via credit-card, there is double entry for bookkeeping due to lack of interface.

StarChapter has streamlined our volunteer organization's processes and saved each of us time — which is important as volunteers! It's eliminated the use of an email campaign system and invoicing system. It has streamlined our communication with the newsletter feature, and contacting members and non-members with the email templates makes our roles simpler. I love that each of our board members are learning how to maintain their own pages through StarChapter's Knowledgebase. Everything you need to know is in there and it's presented in a style that's easy to read, follow and understand. I've had to request support for a couple items that were more complex than what I could handle, and their support team has responded within a day or two to resolve the challenge.

I've been using the software for about eight months. I think I still have so much to learn — it's a very robust software — yet they do make it easy to use. I just wish I could dedicate more time to really diving in to understand the connections between the modules and how to maximize the software.

Although there's much room for improvement in certain functionalities, StarChapter provides an outstanding product & service and their tech support staff has always been extremely professional and well versed in all things website maintenance.

1) Somehow your organization needs to find the budget for true novice to intermediate tech support to handle incoming calls, assisting with the rudimentary or emergency items. Currently, Customer Service Agents solely manning the phones to either set up Tech Support Tickets or redirect customers to go online followed by a 24 – 48 hour wait time for an initial response. By the time the client receives...

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