GSNZ

Trying to service a membership organisation with conference software wasn’t working for the Geoscience Society of New Zealand (GSNZ). Administrator Nicki Sayers explains: “The software we were using wasn’t fit for purpose. We’d recently appointed a new Treasurer, who’d indicated automation of our financial systems was a deal breaker for him, so full integration with Xero was a baseline requirement. We were also keen to support a New Zealand based provider.”

With the old system, membership renewals and member invoicing were real pain points. With Gecco, GSNZ has automatic invoicing, with members paying their subscription at the point of joining. The completion rate for people applying and going on to become members is much higher than before, as a result.

The process of being able to allocate members to their requested Special Interest Groups is also much easier than it used to be, and members are now able to update these and their contact details themselves.

“This frees me up to focus on other areas such as member and external engagement,” says Nicki.

“Along with investing in Gecco software we updated our website. The build and getting to grips with the CMS were challenging at first, but we now have a modern online presence that we can be proud of. Google Analytics tell me that over 60% of the visitors to our website are in the 18-34 age group, so this is really important.

“An example of the website supporting our external engagement is the easy-to-update and professional looking Events module. This allows us to promote GSNZ events via our social media channels and drive traffic to our website for more information.

“In addition, the upgraded membership software makes my role much more satisfying and I’m able to focus on engagement and delivering value to members without getting bogged down in routine administrative tasks.”