Building the
Ideal Association
Tech Stack
To thrive in this digital age, associations must harness the power of technology to connect with their members and streamline operations. Your tech stack is the cornerstone supporting your association’s ability to deliver a
valuable, personalized, and engaging member experience while simultaneously keeping staff workloads
sustainable.
From member management and communication to education delivery and community, each component of
your tech stack serves as a building block for creating a robust, efficient, and member-centric ecosystem.
What are the Key Components of an Association Tech Stack?
Database of Record
Association Management
Software (AMS)
Membership Management
Software
Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)
Essential Association
Tools for Engagement
Online Community
Software
Website and Content
Management System
Email Marketing Platform
(Marketing Automation)
Tools for Growth
Event Management
Software
Volunteer/Mentor
Management System
Learning Management
System (LMS)
Job Board
Ecommerce and
Payment Processing
Blog
Analytics and
Reporting Tools
Higher Logic Thrive Platform offers solutions for all your technology needs.
It’s built on years of association experience, research, and feedback, to help you
deliver powerful member experiences with one easy-to-use platform. Higher Logic Thrive Platform combines three essential pillars of member experience – member management, community, and marketing – and allows you to scale as you grow with best-in-class partner integrations, and add-ons including Higher Logic Thrive Jobs, Mentor Match, Learning, Commerce, and more!
Your Database of Record
Association Management Software (AMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), or Membership Management Software
An AMS or Member Management system is often the core of an association's tech stack and the association’s “database of record.” It’s used to manage member data, renewals, dues, and other transactions. It can also be used to track interactions with members, potential members, and sponsors.
Higher Logic integrates with many AMS providers, or we offer a Member Management solution within Higher Logic Thrive Platform that allows associations to accept membership payments and track renewal dates.
Essential Association Tools
Online Community Software
Community software provides a platform for members to interact, share ideas, ask questions, and most importantly, engage. Much more robust than a listserv or forum, your online community can include discussion forums, social networking features, community digests, and member profiles. All this creates a sense of connection between
members, and with the association. Online communities encourage member participation and enhance the overall member experience.
Website and Content Management System (CMS)
A website is essential for sharing information, resources, and news with members and the public. A CMS makes it easier to update and manage website content. It can also help you lock down members-only or audience-specific content.
Email Marketing Platform (with Marketing Automation)
Email is a powerful tool for communication. Email marketing platforms help associations send newsletters, event invitations, and other important updates to their members. Having marketing automation capabilities within their email marketing platform can save association staff time and deepen their ability to personalize
their communication.
Higher Logic Thrive Platform brings together the core pillars of association technology into one
integrated and easy-to-use solution. Streamline and connect your tech stack by hosting your online
community, event registration, and even your website, on a platform built to pass information to your marketing automation software. Unlock actionable insights into what your members value most,
enabling organizational growth and creating staff efficiency while minimizing technology costs.
Technology That Helps You Grow
Event Management Software
For associations that host events, conferences, webinars, or meetings, event management software can help with registration, ticketing, scheduling, and attendee management.
Volunteer/Mentor Management System
For associations that need to manage volunteers or mentors, having a specialized volunteer or mentor management system helps ease the effort needed to recruit, organize, and engage volunteers and mentors effectively. These tools are designed to streamline the process of matching volunteers or mentors with suitable roles or mentees, tracking their involvement, and ensuring a positive experience for involved members.
Learning Management System (LMS)
An LMS is a software platform designed to facilitate the creation, delivery, management, and tracking of educational content and courses. Associations often use LMS platforms to offer a wide range of learning opportunities to their members, such as online courses, webinars, workshops, and training materials. They can also use an LMS to facilitate flexible learning pathways and encourage members to own and track their learning journey.
Job Board
A job board platform provides a dedicated online space where associations can post job listings, career opportunities, and employment-related resources for their members. They help associations solidify their position as a key part of their member’s career growth by enabling the association to facilitate job searches and career development within the association's industry or niche.
Ecommerce and Payment Processing
If the association sells merchandise, educational materials, sponsorship, etc., e-commerce and payment processing systems are essential.
Higher Logic Thrive Platform includes Community, Marketing, Member Management, and Events
solutions. Associations can also scale as they grow by leveraging add-ons including:
Mentor Match to manage mentoring and Volunteer Manager to manage volunteer programs.
•
Learning to organize educational offerings.
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Jobs to tie your association to members’ career growth.
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Commerce to generate non-dues revenue through things like physical and/or digital product sale and sponsorships/advertising.
•
Do you have sub-communities or multiple chapters? No problem with our Microsites and Group Manager add-ons.
Blog
Blogs are an excellent way for associations to share valuable content, industry-related knowledge, association news, member stories, and thought leadership with members and the broader community. An association can use their CMS, Community, or a separate dedicated tool to create, manage, and publish articles, news updates, and other written content.
Analytics, Tracking, and Reporting Tools
To make data-driven decisions, associations may use analytics tools to track website traffic, member engagement, email campaign performance, and more.
Out of the box reporting in Higher Logic Thrive Platform makes it easy to understand the effectiveness of your efforts. Plus, our proprietary Community Engagement Benchmark Score tool helps you to understand engagement through data – while providing you with a roadmap for future success. If the score isn’t where you want it to be we even provide tips on how you can level up your community engagement strategy.
Web Tracking and Engagement Scoring help you advance your marketing efforts by giving you deep
insights into member behavior that you can use to inform and trigger email campaigns.
Higher Logic Thrive Platform is designed for associations to make creating
powerful member experiences simple. It has everything you need to find, engage, and retain your members – with tools for community, marketing, and member management in one easy-to-use platform. Prebuilt community and campaign templates get you up and running in no time at all. Optional add-on features are available to support your events, job board, online store, volunteer program, and more. Streamline your technology, save valuable staff time, and create a seamless, user-friendly member experience.
See what Higher Logic Thrive can do for you!