February 28, 2023 | Andrew Lawlor

Associations and nonprofits could not accomplish all the important work that they do without committees. 

Committees handle vital responsibilities for organizations and are integrated into its very mission. So it’s critical for association leadership and staff to be able to manage committees efficiently. 

And that’s not an easy task. Managing committees can be complex, if not overwhelming, for a lean association or nonprofit. An association management system can help — but only if it’s well-designed and flexible.

At Aptaria, we pride ourselves in assisting associations create tailored, scalable AMS solutions powered by Salesforce. We give associations the tools they need to ensure committees are running optimally while keeping staff free from repetitive administrative tasks.

Is Your AMS Meeting Your Committee Needs?

The key to creating an effective and efficient AMS solution is getting the functionality and features just right. 

We build solutions that are tailored to meet your needs — and not to do anything you don’t want. In the end, a tailor-made AMS will help your committees (and your organization) deliver for your membership instead of standing in the way. 

Through the use of a no-code rules engine, our solution helps you run your committees automatically, saving you time and ensuring your committee rules are correctly enacted per your organization’s charter.

Here are some of the ways our solution fits to the way your committees work: 

Types of Committees: Aptaria’s solution supports any type of committee your association uses, from the board of directors to regulatory-focused panels to special interest groups.  With an AMS that accommodates all your committees, it’s easier to foster engagement and action among your members.

Voting: The solution can allow members to vote on committee leadership positions if your charter allows it.

Term Limits: If your committees have strict term limits, our solution will identify those members that have reached the end of their term and prevent them from continuing as chair, vice chair, secretary, etc, ensuring new blood and varied perspectives contribute to the committee’s mission.

Committee Role Assignments: The system will automatically assign a member to a specific role based on their role on another committee.  For example, the Treasurer on the Board of Directors will be automatically assigned as Chairperson of the Finance committee.

Custom Roles: You can create custom names for roles or positions within committees. And the roles can vary from committee to committee. 

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Participation and Engagement: The solution can track committee participation and member engagement over time. That includes keeping tabs on when a member joined or left a committee, and what their current status is on a given committee.  Those members who are contributing more to the committee’s work can be recognized and given additional responsibilities, if desired.

Events: The solution makes inviting committee members to an event and engaging with them before, during and afterward quick and easy.  With just the a few clicks a committee chair can launch a Webinar or a Lunch-and-Learn.

Collaboration: Committee members working together in meetings or  sub-committees collaborate through a Web portal powered by the Salesforce Experience Cloud (formerly known as Community Cloud).   The committee chair can encourage and increase committee-member engagement and collaboration with discussion boards, focus groups and members-only content. If you choose to, staff can also moderate the discussion boards to ensure compliance with organizational content standards regarding profanity, hate speech and divisive subjects. 

That’s a long list of capabilities. And that’s appropriate, because we know that committees are essential to associations and nonprofits. And every association implements its committees differently to meet its unique organizational needs. 

The Aptaria AMS allows associations to run their committees as they see fit, taking care of routine tasks along the way so your team can focus on engaging with committee members and achieving your mission.

When ‘One-Size-Fits-All’ Doesn’t Fit

As you shop for an AMS, you may notice that other solutions can not be tailored in quite the same way as I describe above.  There are “off the shelf” solutions for associations and nonprofits, too.  Association leadership may ask “How much customization is really needed anyway? Name your committees, select the members, and you’re done, right?”

But packaged AMSs require significant customization to fit an associations’ committee structure. There’s no such thing as “one size fits all.” And these packaged AMS solutions come with recurring costs, too. 

So the purchase price ends up being just the beginning of your AMS expenses. 

Conversely, working with Aptaria will give you a solution made to your exact specifications. We design it to match your committee dynamics — saving you time and frustration once the solution is in use. 

With Aptaria’s AMS solution built on the Salesforce platform, you pay only for the Salesforce licenses and the configuration to match your needs and then you own the solution. (The packaged AMS vendors charge ongoing licensing fees to continue using the product.)  

And because the solution is built for your needs, it’s easier to scale over time. 

We recognize that if the software an association uses to manage committees wastes money, it’s a big problem. So our Salesforce-powered AMS solution allows you to avoid that problem completely. 

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Is your association looking for ways to serve its members better? Tailor-made association management software can help you do just that, while reducing the frustration your team experiences and saving them time. Click here to learn more about Aptaria’s tailor-made AMS solutions.