Wild Apricot Web-Site Builder
March 20, 2009 — Wild Apricot is not the companion film to Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries. But if Ingmar Bergman were on the board of his co-op or condo association, why, we're sure he'd want to use the software and web-hosting company Wild Apricot to help him create a website for his building or complex. Because while lots of companies offer website-building software and site-hosting, this one keys in — get it? "keys in"? — on co-ops, condos and homeowners associations specifically. Heh. "Keys in"! We kill us!
For a monthly cost of anywhere from free (though you have to carry ads) to $200 a month, plus additional costs for optional things like custom graphic design, you get membership-management software that lets you build a website you can use for communication with residents, billing and fee-payment, e-mail blasts, downloadable forms, database maintenance and more, all tailored for co-ops, condos and HOAs. Pre-made templates and a step-by-step, menu-driven format (see below) guide you through the process.
Features include an event calendar and online registration, to help you manage board meetings, community events and the like; online community tools, to let you create discussion forums, blogs and e-newsletters; secure online-payment capability; and a centralized contact database, to let you keep track of resident contact information, other pertinent records. The software also lets you create private-access web pages for things like board and committee communications, or sensitive information restricted to residents.
Finally, Wild Apricot is a Canadian company, a division of the software firm Bonasource. And the way things are going in the U.S. economy lately, we should probably start making friends with as many Canadians as possible.
Wild Apricot • 144 Front Street West, Suite 725, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2L7 • (416) 410-4059 • toll-free (877) 270-4268 • sales@wildapricot.com