The Royal Society

Formed in 1660, The Royal Society is one of the four national academies, including the Academy of Medical Sciences, the British Academy and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and with Fellows such as Sir Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking and Sir Tim Berners-Lee is also the longest continuously established membership organisation in the world.

The Society went to market in late 2019 with a comprehensive and competitive tendering programme, eventually selecting C2 Software with Subscribe360 from a long list of other suppliers. We kicked the project off in March 2020, unfortunately coinciding with the first UK COVID lockdown, so development was switched to run remotely using Teams.

Some of the areas the project looked to address were: 

 
  • Disconnected Systems: The Royal Society had been using 3 disparate systems, leading to inefficiencies and a disjointed experience for their fellows  
  • Events Management & Booking: The client aimed to establish a future-ready platform for events, encompassing both internal and external activities, such as the popular Summer Soirees. A dedicated portal and mobile app was also essential for a user-friendly experience and on-the-day management. 
  • Comprehensive Member View: A unified view of members, seamlessly integrating data from various sources, was crucial for a holistic understanding of each member.
  • Data Migration: The Royal Society required a smooth transition from their previous fundraising platform, ensuring that all historical data seamlessly migrated to the new system.
  • Renewals & Communication: Streamlining the renewal process and centralizing communications were vital for maintaining engagement.

The initial pilot went live at the end of 2020, with around 100 users on Subscribe360 Fundraising and Subscription apps, together with ClickDimensions. C2 Software carried out a full data migration from The Royal Society’s previous fundraising platform. With the Royal Society previously using different platforms for membership, fundraising and events, we designed the new system as a single platform covering all aspects of the Royal Society, creating a seamless experience for staff and fellows alike.
Following a successful pilot, we then worked to incrementally get more users at the Society using the systems, went live with Events in 2021, and launched anonymised Ethnicity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) data captures during early 2022.

Events functionality went live in 2021, enabling The Royal Society to offer full event booking through their online portal for both in-person and online events. Fellows have access to exclusive events, while non-fellows can browse the public events. The Society has complete control over different pricing options, such as early bird and member discounts, and has used it to organise its annual Summer Soirees using the Events App.

The new system allows for staff at the Society to have one view of the Fellow, with all relevant information on their membership available at their fingertips. Renewals are issued automatically through Subscribe360, and all marketing and communications are managed through Subscribe360 and ClickDimensions, which is fully integrated for a streamlined subscription management experience. Renewals are now quick and easy to carry out, saving staff valuable time and allowing them to focus on other tasks.


The Royal Society had been using Survey Monkey to capture applications for their annual Medals and Awards, so C2 was commissioned to re-write this using Dynamics and PowerPages for a successful go-live in October 2022, ready for applications to start in November. An extension of the Medals and Awards functionality, along with work implementing Single Sign-On consolidated our first 3 years of working together, resulting in a further extension to the contract, Royal Society moving to the Managed Service and an upgrade to the licensing model.
We are continuing to work with the Society on further events and portal work, their UK-wide Young Academy project, and following an initiative with the National History Museum and funding from the Governments Department for Education, C2 were asked to develop an application process in Dynamics for the Climate Action Awards for live running in early 2024.  

Summary:
  • One single platform covering all of the Royal Society’s membership needs, with Single Sign On across apps
  • Full event planning and booking functionality, with complete control over all future events
  • Online portal for member self-serve and event booking, with Fellows-only areas
  • Integration with ClickDimensions for marketing automation
  • One view of the Fellow with Subscribe360, with all relevant membership information at the Society’s fingertips
  • Automated membership renewal process
  • Re-designed Medals & Awards functionality with user applications