‘The Times They Are A-Changin'
Come gather 'round people wherever you roam and admit that the waters around you have grown…
Well the waters may or may not have grown around you but one thing is certain, the DCA membership has. In early 2019 we had 578 members. We now have over 1200 and there is no sign of the applications drying up. The new members list in the Journal regularly reaches 80+. Thus the task of maintaining a member database and associated mailing lists has become immense and is particularly stressful when managing the turnover of members that takes place when subscriptions are due.
At the moment all the recording and updating is done manually by the Membership Secretary and the Website Editor using a variety of spreadsheets, an elderly database, a card index and a Google Workspace account. Imagine the cross-checking that goes on to make sure everything is synchronised and correct! So we have decided it is time for a change. We need to get more automated.
We discovered this attractive sounding proposition during our online searches: “Are you struggling with a jumble of different spreadsheets and systems? Use White Fuse to consolidate data, automate processes and save time. White Fuse is used by professional associations, societies, social and sports clubs, voluntary organisations, not-for-profits and businesses.” What’s not to like! So we now have a White Fuse account and are busy setting it up to integrate with our existing website.
