SilkStart supports many payment gateways, but the most popular choice is PayPal. With an quick setup and no monthly fees, PayPal is a great solution for small organizations to receive payment online. Best of all, PayPal can be set up in minutes with SilkStart as opposed to days or weeks with other custom built solutions.

There are two steps to set up PayPal with SilkStart. First, we will look at how to set up a brand new PayPal account and what to expect during the signup process. Second, we will look at how to find your API key. If you already have a PayPal account, click here to see how to grab your API key.

Setting up a new PayPal Account

Go to the PayPal website http://www.paypal.com and click sign up.

In order to get the API—which is a code to allow SilkStart to communicate with PayPal—you’ll need to create a Premier or Business Account. There is not much difference in functionality. Premier is for a personal account and a Business Account is if your company will be the holder of the PayPal account. To set up a business account, you’ll need a bit more information, however the setup steps are similar.

Since the steps for both are very close, we will explore setting up a Premier account. After clicking on sign up on the PayPal page, select “Get Started” under the Premier account.

If you are in the United States, you can select either Personal or Business account depending on the use of your PayPal account.

Enter your information, click “Agree” and “Create Account”.

PayPal needs either your bank information or credit card information to setup your PayPal Account. Should you decide to make payments with your account online, PayPal will use one of these methods to charge you for the purchases. Select your best option, and click continue.

Once you complete your application process, you will be sent an email by PayPal. You must click on “Activate My Account” in order to fetch the API signature. Click on the button and follow the onscreen instructions.

If you don’t receive an email or haven’t confirmed your account yet, you will still need to confirm your email address. Click on the link and follow the instructions.

You should receive another email. Click on activate.



Once your email is confirmed, you can finally retrieve the API signature.

Finding your API code

First click on “Profile”.

Under profile, go to “My Selling Tools”, “API Access” and click on “Update”.

Select “Request API” credentials on the right panel.

Request the “API Signature” in order to get the information needed.

Copy the “API Username”, “API Password” and “Signature” and submit it to Kellan Higgins at SilkStart, kellan.higgins@silkstart.com. We will have you up and running within minutes.

SilkStart does all the backend integration with PayPal, as soon as your credentials are entered into your SilkStart platform, you are able to collect dues and fees for events. You can either use the complex backend of PayPal to track revenue, or use the simple reporting tools on SilkStart to get a quick overview of your system. Collecting payments online is easy with SilkStart.

How are you currently collecting your dues with your system? Tell us in the comments below.

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So you want to see every transaction that has gone through your SilkStart system in the last couple of months? But how can you have this in all one location? Is that even possible? Of course it is!

Every time someone gives your organization money, whether it is a cheque entered by an admin or a member paying online credit card, SilkStart records this information. When it is time to reconcile your books, you need to pull a report for all the transactions in the system. With ease, you can pull a SilkStart report for every transaction made last month with the reporting tool.

SilkStart has many reports (membership lists, event details, etc) and today we will be focusing on one type of report, financials. Financial reports helps you keep track of the income you are generating from your organization’s main revenue sources, membership and event ticket sales.

Pulling a New Report

1) Go to Admin > Manage Reports. Here you’ll see a listing of all your reports.

2) Click on “Create report”.

3) Select “Financials” and “All Transactions Report”. This will create a new report that shows all transactions which have been recorded into SilkStart.

4) You are now looking at a standard transaction report. By default, the report is populated with default columns pertaining to each transaction.

5) If you’d like to include additional information, simply drag-and-drop from the additional fields section into the report. Make sure that a vertical line appears when dragging the information into a report. This shows where you will drop in your desired column. If the line doesn’t appear, your column won’t be dropped.

6) Once you have all the information arranged in the report, you have two options. You can download it to a simple excel spreadsheet (.csv format) or view the report in your browser.

7) But wait, is there too much information in this report? Do you only want to see the transactions from last month? Easy to do with the use of filters.

8) Click on the dropdown above the table, select the “purchase date” option.

9) A date range will appear. Select the date range and the table will automatically update with only the transactions that happen during that period.

10) Once you are happy with the report, you can save it for future use or viewing. Click on the “create” button and enter a name to save the report.

11) Now you have a report you can call whenever you’d like to see transactions for any given period.

With this report, reconciling your books at the end of a month is made simple. No need to wonder where that extra 1000 dollars in your bank account came from.

What type of accounting software do you use, Quickbooks or Simply Accounting? Tell us in the comments below.

The post QuickTip: Pulling a Transaction Report appeared first on Membership Management Software | SilkStart.

Association databases have traditionally been extremely complex databases based on a local network. At the time, locally based solutions were the only option. Before the advent of quick internet access, you simply couldn’t have a network server sitting across the country. This was the best solution in the 80s and 90s, but for today’s move in technology, it won’t cut it in the 21st century.

Enter SaaS, a much more flexible and fast paced way to keep associations and membership organizations.

SaaS has a couple of advantages:

1) No more local machinery to keep up. If something goes wrong, you don’t need to bring in a person to fix it. Since the servers are remote, they can be fixed remotely.

2) Members can log into a fully functional site and update their own information. Suddenly everyone with an internet connection now has access to your site. Now your members can keep their own information up to date, no need to spend precious resources on it.

SilkStart chose to be a SaaS company because we felt membership organizations wanted to get the latest and greatest.

With SaaS we are able to push up new features faster than a traditional office based membership databases. If an organization suggests that we should put together simple conference management, then we can quickly act on their idea and release this feature to all our organizations. Because SaaS is web-based, you don’t need to install the latest update to get new features.

Look at SaaS industry leaders like Hootsuite and Asana. These web based apps are clean and easy to use. Best of all, if I sit down at my computer at home I have the same access as the computer at the office.

SaaS has made us more responsive to our customer needs. It has given us the flexibility to develop exactly what our customers need, not something we think they need.

Have you switched to any SaaS platforms recently? Tell us in the comments below.

The post Why SilkStart chose SaaS appeared first on Membership Management Software | SilkStart.

First off, what is SaaS? Software as a Service (or SaaS) is a product which provides everything you need without the need to download a program to your computer. You access the the service through a web browser instead. Setup is quick and painless.

The greatest example of this move is Email. Original email servers resided physically in a company’s office. Someone sends an email, the email finds its way directly to the office server at the companies HQ. Then a person could look at the email via their company computer. But what happened if that server died? No more access to the company email.

Then came along Hotmail or HoTMaiL (HTML mail). Now a service had removed the on location need for email. A person could access their email anywhere and at any time through the internet.

A true SaaS platform is the same way. When you use an online service product (as opposed to local hardware), it removes all the headaches of installing software on specific computers, keeping track of discs, updating your software company-wide, and more. Keeping your content accessible online is easier for your organization and employees.

More associations will move towards SaaS as these organizations become more globalized. With a SaaS platform, there is no need to have a central office. The organization can maintain its database from anywhere with an internet connection, and you can access your software from a web browser, whether it’s at home or in the office.

There are already numerous great SaaS companies that have already upset industries, from SalesForce (sales CRM), to Dropbox (File Storage) to Evernote (note management), all based around a relatively minimal monthly fee to access the service.

SilkStart operates the same way. We keep our own servers running in both the US and Canada to maintain all your valuable data, and they are automatically updated every 24 hours and maintained in a large data center. Using Saas, there’s no risk of Joe the plumber unplugging a server when he is messing around with the kitchen sink.

Next Time: Why SilkStart chose to be a SaaS company and how that helps you out.

Is your Association currently using an in-house or external database to store it’s info? Tell us in the comments below!

The post SaaS, the future of association management appeared first on Membership Management Software | SilkStart.

You have a cheque in hand for something your organization has been paid for, but how do you enter it? With the Enter Payment feature, your member’s payment is recorded and your records are automatically updated.

Entering a payment is easy with SilkStart. All you need to know is who gave you the cheque and what the payee is paying for. We’ll show you two different scenarios today; entering a payment for an outstanding balance and entering a payment you received in the mail.

For an Outstanding Invoice:

Go to the Admin Panel, click on “Enter Transaction”.

Select the person or company whose cheque you have received, click continue.

Since you are looking for an outstanding invoice (something someone has already signed up for), select “Invoice”.

Select the invoice you wish to clear.

Enter the details on the cheque, select continue.

Review the details and select submit. The cheque has been cleared! The person no longer has an outstanding balance and this transaction is recorded into your database against the person’s profile. Later, you can review a person’s profile and see all the transactions he or she has made with the organization.

For an new payment:

If a member wants to pay for an event or membership, and gives you a cheque or cash for the event, there is a slightly different way to enter it.

To pay for an event, after entering the members name, select “Event” under the “Payment For:” dropdown. Enter the name of the event and select the event from the dropdown.

Select the number of tickets the member is purchasing, fill in the person’s information, select continue.

Enter the cheque or cash information, click submit and you are done! Same as entering a payment with outstanding balance, the person’s file now has the latest transaction you just entered attached to them.

By entering every payment you receive from a member, SilkStart tracks that information and combines it in the person’s detailed profile. Voilà, very easy to always be on top of your most active members.

Note: We updated SilkStart to make it even easier to Enter Payments for transactions. This blog post was updated on Feb 20, 2013 to reflect this new and awesome changes.

QuickTips are here to give you the lowdown on transactions (and other features) on SilkStart. Have a specific feature you want us to cover? Let us know in the comments!

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You are sitting at your desk. The phone rings. It is Bob from Acme Incorporated. He wants to know when his membership expires and how many invoices he needs to pay for. You panic. This information is all over the place. You ask him to hold while you run around your office collecting everything. If only this info was in one location.

Well, now it is with SilkStart’s new Company Account Details page. Look up a company in your database and you immediately know the most important information.

Figure out if the company is a current member. Find out if the member has an outstanding balance. Quickly see the company’s membership history. See who is the primary contact and who pays the bills (the account holder). Take some brief notes about your conversation. When the company calls again, you are prepared.

There are several ways to access the account details page:

If you are navigating from the directory page, click on the company’s name.

Once you are on the company page, click on the gear button and select “Account Details”.

If you are on the manage companies table, you can also quickly access the account details page.

Open up the manage companies panel from the admin panel. Enter either the Membership Number or Company Name into the search boxes. Then simply, click on the company name link.

And you are there!

Whether a member of a company calls to request a benefit of membership, or to find out when the company’s plan expires, use the Company Account Details page quickly find what you need. With the Company Account Details page, you’ll never be left in the dark again.

Have you had an awkward situation with a member who called out of the blue? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Manage your relationships with the new Company Account Details page appeared first on Membership Management Software | SilkStart.

Event Categories:

If you have a large number of events in your organization and your calendar is becoming full, you can sort your events into different categories to make it easier for your members to find events that interest them.

You can create different categories for recurring events, affiliated events, clinics, socials, lectures, or any category fits with your organization.

Want to add categories? Here’s how:

First, contact support@silkstart.com. You’ll need the title and the color for each category. For the example below, that would be “Non-SilkStart Events” and “Green”. You can also use a hex code as well – if you don’t know what Hexcode is, no problem! We’ll get you sorted out.

Once the categories are set up, go to your events and categorize them.

And that’s it! Now your members can distinguish between different events, like ones put on by your organization and events run by your partners.

Is your Organization’s Information correct?

You’ve sent out a group email, but did you check your footer first? If your information isn’t up to date, your members may have trouble contacting you. Keeping your organization’s information current on SilkStart is an important part of ensuring your system works for everyone.

To fill out your Organization’s information, click on your “admin” button while signed into your SilkStart site.

Scroll down to the “Advanced Settings” area and click on “Edit My Organization’s Information”

Fill in the information for your organization and click save. You are done!

QuickTips are here to give you insight into the small but mighty features of SilkStart. Have a specific feature you want us to cover? Let us know in the comments!

The post QuickTip: Event Categories & More appeared first on Membership Management Software | SilkStart.

Good things also come to those who wait, but why make them? Create early bird tickets to reward your members!

You can easily set up early bird tickets for your event on SilkStart, which is useful if you want to set a discounted early bird price or offer members exclusive early bird access.

First, go to the event you want to create an early bird ticket for and navigate to the tickets section:

Then, add a new ticket under the ticket section and enter the name of the ticket:

Click on Settings and then choose the start and end date for your ticket:

Click save, and you’re done!

In this example, we set up early bird tickets that are only accessible to members in your organization, which is a benefit to being a member. You could also edit this to be accessible to everyone, if you wanted to build anticipation for your upcoming event and give a reward to those who sign up early.

The post QuickTip: Creating Early Bird Tickets appeared first on Membership Management Software | SilkStart.

Get started by viewing our tutorial: 

The post Setting Up Your Company Profile Page appeared first on Membership Management Software | SilkStart.

Does your event run for multiple days, or is split up into different sessions? With SilkStart Conferences, your members can register and pay for the entire event, or have the flexibility to sign up per session, giving them more options and potentially boosting your attendance.

During registration, members can choose which sessions they’d like to attend, giving you valuable data to respond to. Is a session becoming full very quickly? Now you can consider moving a popular event to a larger room or offering more availability. Another session not filling up fast enough? Promote it to more of your members in your next newsletter or through your social media accounts. You can even make sure that members don’t sign up for the same session twice!

SilkStart Conferences builds off of SilkStart Events and includes all the features you’re accustomed to when managing events for your organization:
•    Create tickets for members or non-members, and different price points
•    Open up registration for anyone, or just members registered on the site
•    Set reminders for members to come to the conference.
•    Let members see who is coming to your event
•    Upload a logo to define your event
•    See the location with a handy Google Map
•    Pay Online
•    & more!

SilkStart Conferences will help your organization to stay on top of registrants, fees, and speakers by providing you with the information you need to book adequate space, offer more tickets, and stay organized for the main event.

Here’s how to get started:

1. To enable Conferences, email Kellan at kellan.higgins@silkstart.com and he’ll be happy to set them up for you.
2. Create your event by selecting “conference” on the event calendar page.
3. Set pricing for general registration tickets. This is a ticket to all sessions
4. On the event page, add your sessions for your conference, add a description and photo for each and set ticket options for that individual session.
5. Remember, a conference wide ticket is a set price for the entire event, or members can choose to purchase individual tickets for specific sessions, or even all the sessions if you aren’t offering a conference-wide option.
6. Invite attendees. Whether you’re inviting your entire organization, active members, or a select few, it’s time to share the news about your event and get the ball rolling!

How will conferences help your organizational management? Let us know in the comments below.

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