Veldun vs. DIY Tools
Many associations run on tools they set up themselves: Google Sheets for members, Mailchimp for the newsletter, Stripe for payments, Squarespace for the website. That works, and it can cost very little. Veldun puts all of it in one account, so you enter each event once and each person on the board has their own login.
Get about 5 hours back on five tasks you do today
You do these tasks today across separate tools. We timed each one in Veldun and estimated the same task by hand, step by step. Every rounding works against Veldun.
| By hand | With Veldun | |
|---|---|---|
| Open registration for a CPD eveningDescribe the evening in one sentence. Veldun fills in the prices, seats and reminder. You check it and publish it to your website. | 30 min | 4 min |
| Describe the evening in one sentence. Veldun fills in the prices, seats and reminder. You check it and publish it to your website. | ||
| Send the members’ newsletterAsk for a draft and Veldun builds it from your events, new members and news. You add your note, check the news and send. | 90 min | 15 min |
| Ask for a draft and Veldun builds it from your events, new members and news. You add your note, check the news and send. | ||
| Remind every member before they lapseVeldun writes each member’s reminder and sends it without review. You stop matching the list against payments. | 105 min | 7 min |
| Veldun writes each member’s reminder and sends it without review. You stop matching the list against payments. | ||
| Hand over to a new treasurerIf the new treasurer is already a member, give them the role. They sign in with their own login, and nothing is locked in old accounts. | 90 min | 1 min |
| If the new treasurer is already a member, give them the role. They sign in with their own login, and nothing is locked in old accounts. | ||
| Update a page on your websiteDescribe the change in plain words. When Veldun’s draft is ready, check the preview and press deploy. Nobody learns a site builder. | 20 min | 3 min |
| Describe the change in plain words. When Veldun’s draft is ready, check the preview and press deploy. Nobody learns a site builder. | ||
| Five board jobs together | 335 min | 30 min |
What changes in seven parts of the job
On the left is the work you do today between the tools you set up. On the right is the same work in Veldun, and what you get from doing it that way.
Keeping the member list current
With separate tools
The list is a spreadsheet. When a member changes firm or email, someone on the board hears about it and updates the row.
With Veldun
Members sign in and update their own details. Each one chooses whether to appear in the directory on your website, so the list stays current without the board retyping it.
Collecting dues and tickets
With separate tools
Payments arrive in Stripe. To see who has paid, the treasurer matches the payment account against the member list by hand.
With Veldun
Members pay by card into your own Stripe account at Stripe’s standard rate. Each payment is recorded against the member, so the treasurer sees who has paid.
Sending renewal reminders
With separate tools
Each renewal season, someone compares the list with payments, builds a mail merge and sends reminders in rounds.
With Veldun
Veldun writes a personal reminder to each lapsing member and sends it 30, 14 and 7 days ahead. They go without review, so nobody spends renewal season on them.
Publishing a CPD evening
With separate tools
You set up the ticketing page, copy the details into the website and the newsletter, and check they match.
With Veldun
Type one sentence about the evening. Veldun fills in the date, prices, seats and reminder, and puts it on your website with registration open. There is one copy to check.
Writing the newsletter
With separate tools
Someone gathers the upcoming events, recent recaps and new members from different places, then lays them out in Mailchimp.
With Veldun
Ask for a draft. Veldun assembles it from your events, new members, membership figures and news from the profession. You add a note and read the news. Nothing goes until you send it.
Keeping the website up to date
With separate tools
One board member knows the Squarespace login and the page layouts, so each change waits until they have a free evening.
With Veldun
Ask for the change in plain words. Veldun drafts it on a copy of the site and shows a preview, so the live site stays as it is until you press deploy.
Handing over a board role
With separate tools
Logins sit with whoever set each tool up. A new treasurer means tracking down who holds what and getting added to each tool.
With Veldun
Everyone signs in with their own login and a role that sets what they can change. An admin gives the new treasurer the role, and nothing is locked in the old treasurer’s accounts.
Pay one monthly bill you can read in advance
Starter is $99 a month for up to 250 billable contacts, Growth $149 for up to 500, and Professional $199 for up to 1,000. Every feature is on every plan. Each membership counts once, and so does each non-member who came to an event in the last 12 months. Newsletter-only subscribers are free up to three times your member count.
Your separate tools can cost less in dollars, especially where some are on a free plan. The difference buys one bill, one login per person for everything, help moving across, and the hours back on the tasks above.
Dues go into your own Stripe account at 2.9% plus 30 cents, Stripe’s standard rate. Veldun takes nothing from any payment.
Move across with help included on every plan
It starts with a free private preview of your website, so you can see the result before you sign up.
See your website rebuilt on Veldun
Send your current website address. Veldun rebuilds the site as a preview at a private link nobody else is shown. The preview is free and needs no card.
Bring your member list across
Download your Google Sheet as a file. Veldun imports it, and you match the columns before anything is saved, so every member lands in the right place.
Open dues and your first event
Set up dues paid into your own Stripe account. Then describe your first event in one sentence, and Veldun puts it on the new site with registration open.
Go live on your own domain
Veldun gives you the exact records to add for your domain. Then let your members know where to sign in.
Keep comparing
Veldun vs. Wild Apricot
Wild Apricot is cheaper under 250 contacts. See what a 300-member association pays on each, and the 20% added for your own processor.
Read moreVeldun vs. Join It
Join It starts at $29 a month and takes a service fee on each online payment. See what that costs against Veldun, which takes nothing from dues.
Read moreWild Apricot Alternatives for Small Associations
Eight options for an association leaving Wild Apricot, including when staying makes more sense, with prices and payment fees side by side.
Read moreSend us your website address and Veldun rebuilds it as a free private preview, no card needed.
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