Who they are: The Foraker Group works to increase the leadership and management skills of professionals and volunteers working in Alaska's not-for-profit and tribal organizations. They have an innovative, Alaska-grown approach in providing high-quality, cost-effective assistance to staff and boards of directors through Agency Services, Board Training and Educational Opportunities.

What they needed: Forakergroup.org is an ever evolving site. The staff needed a content management solution they could easily learn and teach to new staff, an online newsletter, robust membership management, an events calendar and an online store.

What they got: For The Foraker Group I created a progressive new design that was implemented into a content management solution that allows their staff to maintain their content without incurring the cost of a designer or programmer. Using the content management solution as a base I added the following modules as their organization grew and demands changed.

Events Calendar with implemented invoicing system: The events calendar enables Foraker Group to easily insert classes and events. This calendar also allow users to register and pay for an event and allows the site administrators to track users, classes and payments. Features include:

• Quickly create events and categories
• Track how many people sign up for an event and limit the number of seats or allow standby
• Allow users to pay for events online
• Offer events only to valid members or give them price discounts
• Track how many people attended an event and send an automatic online survey to attendees
• Generate reports showing how many events, how many locations the events were in, and how many people attended
• Detailed payment records that records transaction ID, authorization code, IP and payee information

Membership Management with implemented invoicing system: With over 400 partners, Foraker Group needed a way to easily track and maintain records for partner history and feedback. I developed an online application that allows partners to register and pay dues online. Partnership is organization based, so I created an option so organizations can sign up staff and board, under their organization profile, to access the member area and thus qualify for reduced rates for events and products. Features include:

• Simple online application process for new members combined with secure payment option
• Secure online member area where active members can view members only content, register for events at a reduced price, or purchase products at a reduced price
• Backend member management tool that allows staff to quickly search for members, edit data, record payment history and keep a record of comments linked to each member organization
• Online invoicing system where staff can automatically generate and email invoices to members whose renew date has lapsed; this system allows members to renew their membership online via secure form, or mail their payment with the printed invoice
• Detailed payment records that records transaction ID, authorization code, IP and payee information

Online Newsletter: A integrated newsletter system was be enabled and linked to the members and contacts table. The newsletter system is set up so Foraker can create different templates and send out campaigns to contacts, members, specific member groups, or everyone. The campaign manager tracks who the campaign was sent to and keeps track of who opened the email and what links the reader followed. Features include:

• Send rich content HTML emails
• Create print campaigns and print labels
• Allow users to subscribe or opt-out with just the click of a button
• Set up multiple lists including private lists (that only you can add users to) and public lists (that anyone can join)
• Detailed search and export options
• Easily set up multiple templates for any campaign
• Create multiple lists and add users to them quickly
• Write your own queries to search your list and send special campaigns
• Attach files to any campaign
• Track who received the email, who opened it, who clicked links
• Track the percentage of successful emails

Ecommerce Area: Foraker also has an online store built into their application. This store allows people to purchase products online and allows valid members to purchase products at a reduced price. On the backend staff can monitor payments and track shipping. The online store has a built in option that allows staff to sell online tools and products by having customers insert a username and password. Upon successful purchase, an email is sent to the customer with a web address where he or she can download the product.

These solutions have helped Foraker Group grow as a organization and establish a strong web presence. Web statistics show a tremendous growth: in December '04 Foraker Group had 10,000 page views. In February '06 that number grew to 23,000. Total referrers has grown from 6,871 in December '04 to 13,231 In February '06.