Dear Spar members and supporters,
As you may have heard, Spar has undergone a complete website redesign.
The new site offers a number of benefits for you, for the Spar Board and for the community in general. Given the fact that we are now a 100% volunteer organization, and will be for some point into the future, we needed a platform that will do much of the work of our previous support staff. Now our site integrates membership, communications, events, volunteer coordination, and much more all in one place. On top of that, it’s designed to integrate our social media life seamlessly.
Visit the new sparcouncil.org and see for yourself.
There are several important differences between this site and our old, clunky, never-used behemoth.
> The site is set up to organize people and the things that need to get done. Check out Action Committees to see what Spar is working on, or to join a specific area. Please note there are many more good ideas than we have people to support. We need help.
> You can view the site anonymously, which is good, or you can sign in with your email address, or with your Facebook or Twitter logins. Signing in unlocks the true power of the site and allows you to comment, volunteer, add suggestions, connect with other members and supporters, and more. If you choose to sign in with your Facebook or Twitter accounts, you will have to grant access to Nationbuilder one time, the platform behind our new site.
> Supporters accounts – if you’ve followed @SPARJax, you may already have a supporter account at sparcouncil.org. Try logging in to Twitter and then navigating back to sparcouncil.org and see. Supporter accounts are free and allow you to interact with the site in just about every way that member accounts do. You just can’t see any member-only content.
> Member Accounts – if you’re a current Spar member, now just $25 for individuals or $40 for a Family membership, we’ve already created a login for you. For security reasons, simply visit sparcouncil.org and click on the Forgot Your Password link. That will allow you to change your password to something you can remember. A member account provides everything a supporter account does, plus gives you access to any member-only content.
> However you choose to sign in, consider linking your social media accounts to our site. That makes it easy to spread the word throughout the neighborhood and in your circles. Not to mention, easier to sign in.
> Once you’ve signed in, take a moment to visit your public profile by clicking on the Settings item in the right menu. Here you can customize your experience, control your preferences and highlight why you support Spar. If we don’t have an email address, or a phone number, consider adding them. As you can imagine, coordinating everyone’s information can be a full-time job, so give us a hand, will you?
> Member expiration dates can be checked at any time by clicking on Membership>Join. When it comes time to renew, you can do it right on the site. No forms, no paper required. Members, take a moment to verify your current information. You can also extend your membership at any time.
> Finally, and probably most importantly, the site is different in the fact that we will actually use it to communicate with you, and hopefully, in return, you will use it to communicate with us and your fellow neighbors. We hope the new website becomes a valuable tool for you, and that you help us make it better by providing your feedback and ideas. Consider it a work in progress that we’ll improve over time.
If you require any assistance, or you see something that’s not quite right with your membership or anything else, please reach out to sparoffice@sparcouncil.org.
Sincerely,
The Spar Board of Directors
