A community app is a safe place where people gather to discuss and share. For a community service, that matters even more. Some of the people you support can’t be seen in a public group, your budget doesn’t grow with every new person you help, and the person writing the funding report also runs the Tuesday session. Able2 gives your organisation its own private app, with your name and logo on it, built for the way this work actually happens.
Help more people without a bigger bill
“We want to reach more people without our costs going up”
A lot of software charges by the number of contacts. So when a grant lets you help another two hundred people, the bill goes up too, and it’s tempting to keep some people on a separate paper list to stay under the limit.
Every Able2 plan includes as many members as you like, the free plan included. There’s no charge per person on any plan, so everyone you help can be in one place, and you can see the whole picture.
A safe, private place to connect
“We want the people we support to feel safe joining in”
A public social media group is free and easy, but everyone can see who’s a member. For some people, simply being seen in the group is a risk.
Your app can be unlisted and invite-only, so it doesn’t appear anywhere for strangers to find. People join from a link or a QR code you give them yourself. Inside, forum groups can be private and invite-only, with a moderator, and a group can have every post approved before it appears.
Feeling safe is what lets people join in.
One up-to-date copy of every resource
“We want everyone working from the latest service guide”
The service guide is often a PDF in a shared drive, a printed copy at reception and an attachment in an old email. Staff keep their own copies to be safe, and it’s easy to send someone to a service that has moved or closed.
Keep the guide in the app’s resource library, with one copy you update in place. It’s on the phone of whoever is helping, so when it changes, it’s changed everywhere. Post updates in the news feed so staff and volunteers see what’s new.
Funding reports from real records
“We want funding reports to be quick and accurate”
Attendance is often on a sign-in sheet, feedback on a paper form and outcomes in someone’s notebook. At report time, someone types it all up, and a few sheets always seem to go missing.
Run each session as an event. People say they’re coming, you check them in on the day, and you have a record of who came, with a spreadsheet export. Forms and surveys collect feedback as answers you can export too. It won’t write the report for you, but the numbers come from real records.
Good reports start with good records, not a pile of sign-in sheets.
The right access for every role
“We want coordinators and frontline staff to see what they need”
Sharing one admin login is the quick fix, but then everyone can see everything, and people worry about changing something by mistake.
Admins set up the app, managers can see what’s happening without changing the setup, and members see what you’ve shared with them. The app belongs to your organisation, so it stays with you when someone moves on.
When we are not the right answer
Worth saying plainly, because signing up for the wrong reason helps nobody and we would rather you knew now.
- You need a case-management system. Client records, case notes, risk assessments and statutory reporting need specialist software. We don’t do that, and the people on those records deserve the right tool.
- You need a donor database. Gift histories, receipts and fundraising campaigns belong in a fundraising CRM. We don’t do that at all.
- People don’t know about you yet. That’s a job for a website and a communications plan. Able2 is for the people already coming through your door.
- It has to work with no internet. The app needs a phone that gets online at least sometimes. If your work happens somewhere that never does, this is the wrong tool.
If any of those describe you, we would rather point you somewhere better. If none of them do, the free plan will tell you the rest without costing you anything.
