Charities Institute Ireland chooses ReadyMembership to transform membership management

Charities Institute Ireland (CII) has selected ReadyMembership as its new membership management platform, marking a significant step forward in how the organisation serves its charity sector members across Ireland.

The organisation, which supports charity leaders through professional development, events, and an annual awards programme, chose ReadyMembership after an extensive procurement process to replace their current system that couldn't support their organisational membership model.

"We knew what we didn't want, and that was always a good place to start," said Áine Myler, CEO, who led the selection process. "The shortcomings in our current system were clear. What we needed was something that was actually built in a way that reflects our needs, and ReadyMembership delivered that from the ground up."

CII’s digital growth had been held back by the inability to link individuals to their organisations, a lack of financial system integration, and only a basic events functionality. The organisation's previous platform also didn't have a development plan that matched CII's requirements.

Why purpose-built architecture made all the difference

The decision to select ReadyMembership came down to several key factors, with the platform's purpose-built architecture for membership organisations being the most important.

"When we had the opportunity to see something that had been built from open source platforms specifically for membership organisations, that really stood out," Myler explained. "For a small organisation like ours, we wanted one provider doing all of that development work themselves. That wasn't our position at the start, but it certainly was at the end."

CII was particularly impressed by ReadyMembership's comprehensive understanding of what membership organisations need. "You'd ironed out a lot of the kinks," Myler noted. "You'd seen what organisations needed and developed solutions for that. It was the clarity of what you were doing that really impressed us."

Personalised member engagement: a game changer

The ability to deliver tailored content and communications to different member segments emerged as a crucial requirement. Currently, CII sends generic communications to all members, but the new platform will enable them to speak directly to CEOs, finance directors, HR leaders, and other specific roles within member charities.

"We're really looking forward to being able to deliver on behalf of members," Myler said. "We understand it puts a new responsibility on us to create sufficient content to make sure that personalisation stays fresh and relevant, but that's exactly it. The time we're saving on manual processes frees us up to do more for our members."

Forward-thinking AI strategy sets ReadyMembership apart

Unlike other vendors evaluated during the procurement process, ReadyMembership's clear roadmap for AI integration proved to be a significant differentiator.

"We were concerned that other organisations had no clear roadmap for AI," Myler revealed. "We were impressed that there was already a trial going on in terms of agentic use, and that the direction of travel was very much towards having AI agents for finance, marketing, and other functions in two or three years. We need to work with people who think ahead for us."

Better member experience from day one

CII's current member portal has been limited and the team has avoided promoting member logins due to the suboptimal user experience. The new platform will change that approach entirely.

For members, the first improvements will be immediately noticeable. "We want members to feel the benefits at a relatively early stage," said Myler. "Very early on, we want them to feel that this is speaking to me, rather than just speaking to my organisation. We have to be able to address people more directly in their roles and what they want and need."

Moving forward together

Charities Institute Ireland's selection of ReadyMembership represents a strategic investment in purpose-built technology that understands the unique needs of membership organisations. With its commitment to complete system adoption, focus on member personalisation, and partnership with a vendor that's thinking ahead about AI integration, CII is well positioned to deliver significantly enhanced value to Ireland's charity sector leadership for years to come.