Building a service provider directory with CiviCRM

Does your organization have members who'd benefit from being listed in a publicly searchable directory?

Think about it:

• The data is already in your CRM.

• Your members are probably already keeping it up to date themselves.

• Making (some of) that data searchable and publicly available is not especially difficult.

If your members are offering services to the public, making some of that information in a public directory is one way your organization could provide a significant value to your members.

A couple of examples, both powered by CiviCRM data:

• The Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation offers visitors their Find A Mediator directory to search for family mediation providers by geography, area of practice, certification, and name.

• The New Mexico Respite Provider Registry allows respite care providers to create and manage their own public listing, which site visitors — folks in New Mexico who are actively seeking respite care — can search by name, geography, areas of specialization, and more.

Each of those examples relies on standard out-of-the-box CiviCRM features, plus some custom development to make it work "just right" per the organization's needs.

Here's the thing:

If you've got professional members who'd benefit from additional exposure to a curated audience that you can attract, then building a directory from your existing CRM data is within your reach — and could be a major point of value in your membership growth plan.

All the best,
A.