How East York Probus Club Streamlined Operations and Enhanced the Member Experience with WildApricot – Case Study

For a club for retirees, East York Probus gets a lot done. Between coffee hours, events and plenty of activities, club members like to stay busy — and they need extra capable software like WildApricot to help them do it.

In this case study, we spoke to Gaylen Racine, an initiating member of the East York Probus Club and a big part of getting WildApricot integrated into the club’s operations.

“The software is excellent for us; it’s almost like it was designed just for us,”

Gaylen said, and the more we dug into the club’s story, the more his words rang true. Gaylen told us all about East York Probus, what motivated them to seek out association management software, and how WildApricot has helped them reduce manual tasks and run operations more efficiently than ever.

Before WildApricot

When the Toronto Probus Club began attracting more members than it could accommodate, East York Probus Club was formed to take in the overflow. As it turned out, so many people were interested that the second club grew much larger than initially expected.

“At our first meeting, we were going to limit membership to 150 people, but we filled up immediately,” said Gaylen. “We’ve now increased our membership limit to 300, with about 150 on the waitlist.”

Probus clubs are places where retirees can gather to socialize, share their interests, and participate in activities like cooking, hiking and Scrabble. East York Probus Club is no different.

Now 300 members strong, the club was ready to start connecting members with groups and activities that matched their interests. There was only one problem: efficiency.

“When we first started our club, we’d have tables set up all around the room, and the person in charge of the walking group, for example, would collect everyone’s name and email address to see if they’re interested in that, and everyone else who convened an activity would have to do the same thing. Not only that, but at the same time they’re collecting membership payments, so everybody had to give a check to the treasurer in the same meeting,” Gaylen explained.

The meetings were getting frazzled and even a bit frantic. It was clear something had to change.

“I had heard of membership software before,” Gaylen said. “The Toronto Club had a homemade piece of software that gave them their website and some functionality but not much, and it was a one-man band. So, we put together a committee of the two clubs to look at various forms of membership software, and there are a lot of them out there. We narrowed it down to three, then did a detailed analysis of each. WildApricot came up as the preferred candidate because it was a Canadian company, the price was good, and it provided all the functionality that we needed very well.” So, Gaylen led the charge to onboard WildApricot and bring East York Probus into the digital age.

Onboarding process

Due to the demographics of the club — retirees and semi-retirees — some members expressed reluctance about moving operations online. That quickly changed when they saw how much easier WildApricot could make their lives. With everything online, volunteers no longer wasted time chasing down members to submit dues payments, fill out renewal applications or sign up for events and activities.

Everything would be through WildApricot’s robust, capable software rather than on paper, making operations not only smoother but infinitely more secure.

Despite an initial adjustment period, WildApricot’s user-friendly interface proved agile and easy to use while maintaining a high level of functionality. “Initially, there was a fair amount of training for members and volunteers,” Gaylen said. “But now we just have quick online tutorials for things like how to join and leave a group because it’s just that simple. It’s been smooth going all around.”

In addition to the software itself being intuitive and easy to use, Gaylen shared that WildApricot’s support website made the process even more straightforward.

“WildApricot has a great website. It’s just extraordinary. You can find anything on there,” Gaylen said. Whenever Gaylen or other members had questions, help was easy to find.

Benefits and functionality

Gaylen’s top benefit of using WildApricot and his best advice for other organizations are one and the same: the protection of volunteers.

“It really comes down to protecting your volunteers,” Gaylen said. “It’s hard to get volunteers these days. Everybody’s got stuff going on. They want to participate, but they don’t want to get stuck doing grunt work.”

Before WildApricot, East Probus volunteers were tasked with quite a bit of grunt work: activity leaders had to set up tables and get members to sign up for activities manually, while the treasurer had to collect checks from each member and haul them to the bank once a month.

Thanks to WildApricot, the club has all but eliminated manual tasks, freeing up volunteer time to focus on driving value where it counts. Core operations like renewals, payment processing, and signing up for events and activities have all migrated seamlessly online. Monthly meetings are no longer a mad dash to collect checks and sign up for activities, allowing members and volunteers alike to use the time to socialize and catch up with friends instead.

“The coffee hour can actually be a social hour now,” Gaylen said. “You get to see people and talk to people instead of worrying about whether anybody’s going to join this activity you set up. It enhances the amount of social interaction we have, which is great. And we weren’t even thinking about that when we chose WildApricot, but it’s made a huge difference. People can converse now instead of grabbing their coffee and lining up for the three different activities that they want to sign up for.”

Of course, the club’s treasurer no longer has to make monthly trips to the bank thanks to automatic payment processing. “I think the treasurer actually benefits the most from all of this,” Gaylen said, chuckling.

Setting up events was also a Herculean effort without association management software. “Before, everyone would have to make up their own email list to invite people to a particular activity, then collect responses and find out who’s going to be there and deal with all that. So, there was a lot of manual work associated with that too,” Gaylen said. Now, the club sets up all events and activities using pre-made templates, simplifying processes, cutting back manual effort, and increasing the number and kind of events members can participate in thanks to the increased bandwidth.

“The set-up is all there, all I have to do is fill in the pictures and the dates, then off it goes. I just sit there and wait for responses to come back. I don’t have to chase anybody down or anything like that. Being able to set up events is a big deal for us,” Gaylen said.

Advocating for WildApricot

East York Probus has derived so much value from WildApricot that Gaylen has become its unofficial advocate. On his own time, Gaylen gives presentations to other Probus clubs in Canada and beyond about WildApricot and how it can help streamline their operations. Titled “What WildApricot can do for your Probus Club,” the presentation highlights the features and benefits of the software and demonstrates to other organizations how WildApricot can simplify processes, cut down on grunt work, keep members in the loop, and help things run more efficiently all around.

“I’ve done a fair amount to try to promote WildApricot because the software is so good, Gaylen said. “It’s been excellent for us. It’s almost like it was designed for us. And everybody I know has found it very useful.” Thanks, Gaylen!

Advice to other organizations

As a seasoned volunteer and advocate for Probus clubs, Gaylen understands the challenges organizations face in managing operations smoothly and securely. Reflecting on the value that WildApricot has brought to East York Probus, he shares his top piece of advice for other clubs considering an association management solution:

“Number one, save your volunteers. Number two, save your club, because what you’re doing is consolidating everything. All your history is sitting in there, all your activities, all your historic membership roles, everything. Without this software, it tends to be distributed in all these systems that do not interact. And it’s inefficient, but it’s also insecure. WildApricot covers both: it’s secure, efficient, and then some. You only have to enter an email address one time. It’s just slick. It’s really slick.”

East York Probus Club’s experience shows how the right software can totally transform an association’s operations. With WildApricot, the club has significantly reduced manual tasks, streamlined event management and empowered volunteers to focus on meaningful interactions rather than administrative work. The intuitive interface and robust support resources have made it easy for club members to embrace digital tools, creating a more efficient, connected and enjoyable environment for everyone involved.

For East York Probus, WildApricot has truly been a game-changer — providing them with the tools they need to run smoothly and focus on what matters most: building a vibrant, more connected community where everyone has time to do the things they love.

To see how WildApricot can benefit your organization, try a 60-day free trial today and discover the difference it can make in streamlining your processes, protecting your volunteers and enhancing your member experience.