Keeping Groups Safe and Secure

One of BigTent’s main goals is to provide a secure online place for community groups to call home. Depending on your group, the notion of security can take on a variety of definitions. For a parents group, it might mean giving members a way to upload photos of their children — and having peace of mind that only other trusted members will see the images. For an alumni group or professional association, security might mean the ability to restrict the roster and other networking resources to members who are paid-in-full. For all groups, it means protecting members from spam and other unwanted intrusions.

Here are three ways we’ve set things up to fortify BigTent against prying eyes:

1. Restricted access. The only way members can join a BigTent group is through a special email invitation from a group leader. The leader may invite a member directly, or the member may cruise over to the group’s website and use it to request an invitation. To see this in action, check out our public page for the demo mothers’ group, Bay Town Mothers’ Club. If you look in the upper righthand corner, you’ll see a mini-form for potential members to request group membership:

Keep in mind that invitations are single-use only, and can’t be forwarded to unauthorized recipients.

2. Site encryption. We use https to keep outsiders from accessing your data when it’s in transit between your computer and our servers. All pages that contain sensitive personal information are encrypted and are as secure as a banking website. Every page of the manage area is encrypted as well.

3. Individual logins. A lot of groups that switch to BigTent are used to maintaining their own admin-only website areas, where the whole group shares a single username and password to log in. Sharing login information creates a problem whenever a member leaves (or gets banned) from the group, since that person can still access protected data.

On BigTent, each member of your group uses his or her own email address and password to gain access. Members can change their email addresses at any time, and can even use them to join multiple BigTent groups.

Stay tuned for another post that covers the tools we offer admins to guard the gates of group information.

Can’t wait to learn more about BigTent? Sign up for a live web demo, or drop us a line at hello@bigtent.com.

BigTent: Management Magic for Your Multiples Group

It all started in August 2006, when a local club, the Marin Parents of Multiples Club, became the first group ever to adopt BigTent. Supporting close to 300 members in Marin County, Calif., the group and its leadership team were seeking a better way to manage its membership, including tools to organize a special sub-group for parents of twins over five.

Today, BigTent currently hosts many parents of multiples groups that span 15 states, with new states coming into the pipeline each month.

So what fuels the passion that multiples groups have for BigTent? In some ways, the proof is in the pudding — or rather, the increased rate of participation. Mica Garretson is Newsletter Editor for St. Petersburg Parents of Twins and Supertwins in St. Petersburg, Fla. Mica loves the fact that Big Tent has streamlined membership renewals for her group.

“This time last year, we had 16 people pay their dues on time,” she says. “This year we have 33. Thank you so much, BigTent, for making this process so much easier!”

Wondering what BigTent can do for your group? Just check out the screenshots below for more examples. You can also sign up to attend a live web demo, or start setting up your group today.

Membership forms

With BigTent you can design a custom membership form to collect vital information for your club. Find out who’s interested in volunteering, who’s on bedrest, and more:

Database reports

Use our secure, admin-only database to look up information for your group! This will allow you to contact members and support them more efficiently:

Sub-groups

Want to organize playgroups and hobby clubs for your group? You can create sub-groups to your heart’s content on Big Tent. Plus, you can make private sub-groups for your board and other special commmitees:

Have questions about starting a group on BigTent? Just email learnmore@bigtent.com for more information.

 

Extra, extra! Community Coach wins award in Hollywood

The reasons for celebrating keep rolling in! This time we’d like to applaud our team’s very own Jaine Murphy, who was honored as one of Nabisco’s 100 Extraordinary Women this past weekend in Hollywood. The national contest sought out women who strive to improve their surrounding communities, and Jaine received the award for founding Moms and Tots San Diego (MTSD), a large parent support group in San Diego, Calif.

“Being chosen was a total shock,” said Jaine. “While my members always send me notes telling me about how the group has touched their lives (which is validation enough), it felt really nice to be spoiled a little in recognition for all my hard work.”

Jaine started the group in May 2006, anxious to find support from other moms adjusting to their lives as caretakers for fragile newborns. Today, Moms and Tots has 675 members on Big Tent, connecting 24/7 to chat and share advice. In fact, Moms and Tots members generated over 5000 discussion messages in June alone!

Accompanied by her husband, Brad, and their toddler daughter, Alexis, Jaine jetted off to L.A. for a weekend of pampering and fun. Somewhere between photo shoots, a private screening of Phoebe in Wonderland, and dancing a conga line with two nuns (who also won the contest), Jaine also managed to squeeze in some fine dining. According to her, “The chocolate dipped strawberries with cheesecake filling were to die for!”

Jaine is now back in San Diego, single-handedly (wo-)manning MTSD and helping BigTent launch new groups in her role as a Community Coach. Reflecting on her weekend, Jaine says, “I was truly humbled and proud to be in the presence of so many great women.”

Look for Jaine and her 99 extraordinary cohorts in an upcoming edition of People magazine.

Jaine and Alexis, watching Daddy guest star as a dinner show pirate

Jaine with Bill Pullman, who’s starring in Phoebe in Wonderland

Jaine on YouTube, selling the benefits of Moms and Tots (and a very vintage version of BigTent!)