ERAPPA, serving educational facilities professionals in the Eastern United States, is my best example of a non-profit organization using Joomla content management system for regional, chapter and conference sites.

Regional sites commonly benefit the most from:

• Content Management
• Multiple Editors
• Custom Forms
• Document Management 
• Event Calendar 
• Member Directory
• Newsletters

Chapter sites commonly benefit the most from:

• Content Management 
• User Management 
• Member area
• Event Calendar 
• Event Registration
• RSS Feeds

Conference sites commonly benefit the most from:

• Photo Gallery 
• Online Registration
• Conference Schedule 
• Content Management 
• Contact Form

Similar to many other non-profit organizations, ERAPPA has a much longer tradition than 6 year old Joomla CMS. However, based on the stats below, you will see that the Joomla adoption by ERAPPA chapters, conferences and regions is significant and still growing:

27% of erappa chapters are already using Joomla CMS:

• http://www.erappa.org/NJAPPA/
• http://www.erappa.org/nne/
• http://www.mddcappa.org/
• http://www.dvappa.org/
• http://www.erappa.org/KAPPA/
• http://www.erappa.org/SNEAPPA/
• http://fm.dal.ca/aappa/ 
• http://www.nyappa.org/
• http://ocfma.ca/ 
• http://www.oappa.com/events.htm
• Quebec chapter (no website)

2 out of last 5 conference sites are Joomla based:

• http://www.erappa2012.org (under development)
• http://www.confersense.ca/erappa2011/
• http://www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/erappa-2010/
• http://erappa2009portland.org
• http://www.erappa2008baltimore.org

ERAPPA is one of APPA's main regional sites that has been using Joomla for several years now:

• http://www.erappa.org/
• http://srappa.org/
• http://www.m-appa.org/
• http://www.cappaedu.com/
• http://rma.appa.org/
• http://www.pcappa.org/

As seen by ERAPPA’s examples, Joomla CMS can meet versatile needs of non-profit organizations. What are your biggest questions and concerns when using Joomla CMS for your non-profit organization?

Ogy Nikolic
Joomla Consultant