Online membership and renewals for a 1909-founded breed association

What the site is

The website for the Dartmoor Sheep Breeders Association (DSBA), which has been responsible for safeguarding the purebred Greyface Dartmoor sheep since 1909. The site serves 366+ members with breed information, show calendars, sale listings, flock registration and a members area. It also handles online membership applications, renewals and recurring payments.

The challenge

I took over the existing site from another developer in 2020. At that point membership and renewals were fully manual: forms went out in the post and came back with cheques or cash, and someone had to process every one by hand. The association needed members to be able to sign up, renew and pay online with as little admin as possible, and the membership build followed once I’d taken over the running of the site. The secretary also needed a way to email the whole membership at once.

What I built

Automated membership system. Custom forms for membership application and renewal with integrated online payment processing. Members can sign up, renew and manage their accounts directly on the site.

The form that replaced the one that went out in the post.

The joining fee is worked out from the date and taken on the same form, so nothing arrives by cheque.

Recurring payments. Automated recurring payment functionality for annual membership renewals.

Members set the renewal up once and it’s taken every January, with nobody chasing it.

Members area. Custom members-only section with account management.

Bulk email. Configured Microsoft Outlook for the secretary with bulk BCC capability for sending communications to the full membership.

Ongoing management. Site maintenance, plugin updates, hosting management, and ongoing development as the association’s needs evolve.

Why it matters

The before-and-after is stark. Membership used to mean paper forms in the post, cheques and cash coming back, and hours of volunteer admin to process it all. Moving sign-ups and renewals online has saved the association serious admin time every single year, the kind of saving that pays for the build many times over, and more with every year it runs.