Summary
A secure membership portal that ICR owns
ICR needs one official membership record, self-service for members, control for administrators, and a clean list of eligible voters for board elections. We recommend building this as a dedicated portal linked from ICR’s existing website, rather than adding plugins to WordPress.
Our recommendation: the custom portal. It fits ICR’s membership and election rules exactly, keeps member data separate from the public website, and costs about the same or less than WordPress over three years.
The brief
What ICR asked for
These four outcomes come from ICR’s technical document. Both options below are measured against them.
One official member record
Members, households and membership history in one place, replacing scattered spreadsheets and lists.
Self-service for members
Join, renew, update contact and household details, and check membership status from any phone or computer.
Control for administrators
Approve or reject applications, process renewals, keep notes, run reports, and email members.
A clean voter list
A validated list of eligible members, one entry per person, ready to export to ElectionBuddy for board elections.
The options
Two ways to build it
We looked at both routes in detail before recommending one.
WordPress membership plugins
Install Paid Memberships Pro on ICR’s current website, with Wordfence for security, UpdraftPlus for backups and WP Mail SMTP for email. Then add custom code for everything the plugins don’t cover.
- Familiar WordPress admin screens
- Builds on the site ICR already has
- About 60% of ICR’s needs still require custom code
- Four plugins to license, update and keep compatible
- Member data sits inside the public website’s database
Custom membership portal
A dedicated, secure portal on its own address (for example members.ICR’s domain), linked from the website’s Join, Renew and Login buttons. The public website stays on WordPress, unchanged.
- Built around ICR’s exact rules and statuses
- Member data kept separate from the public website
- No plugin licences or plugin conflicts
- ICR owns its copy of the code and all of its data
What WordPress plugins cover, and what they don’t
| ICR requirement | With WordPress plugins |
|---|---|
| Accounts, login and password reset | Covered |
| Membership levels and expiry dates | Covered |
| Application approval | Paid add-on |
| Households: spouse and children | Custom code |
| Eight membership statuses with full history | Custom code |
| Voting eligibility, with reasons | Custom code |
| One verified voter per person (unique ID) | Custom code |
| Reports and data-quality checks | Custom code |
| ElectionBuddy voter export | Custom code |
Because most of the portal is custom either way, WordPress saves little build time while adding plugin licences, updates and risk.
Our recommendation
Why custom development is the way to go
| Option 1 · WordPress plugins | Option 2 · Custom portal | |
|---|---|---|
| Fit to ICR’s rules | Plugin features, with custom code bolted on | Built around ICR’s statuses, households and voting rules |
| Member data | Shares a database with the public website | Kept in a separate, dedicated database |
| Security exposure | Any vulnerable plugin or theme on the site can expose member data | Small, purpose-built system with database-level access rules |
| Build cost | About $2,000 (estimate) | $1,700 fixed |
| Software licences | About $817 a year (four plugins) | None |
| Running cost | Licences, on existing hosting | About $52–65 a month for managed services |
| Upkeep | Monthly plugin updates and conflict checks | Light: automatic security updates, backup checks |
| Future growth | Likely needs a rebuild later | Ready to extend (mobile access, new features) |
| About 3-year total | About $4,450 | About $3,800, or $4,500 with the recommended firewall |
Three-year totals include the build and three years of licences or running costs. Option 1 would likely also need a rebuild later, which isn’t included.
In short
For about the same money over three years, the custom portal gives ICR a system that fits its rules exactly and protects member and children’s data far better.
Scope
What’s included
Everything below is included in the $1,700 fixed price.
For members
- Sign up with email verification, secure login and password reset
- Membership application with category: Individual, Family, Student, Senior, Lifetime Individual, Lifetime Family
- Profile and household management (spouse, children)
- Status and expiry date on the dashboard, renewal request
- Membership documents, and links to ICR’s existing donation pages
- Works on phones, tablets and computers
For administrators
- Review applications: approve, reject or request more information
- Search and filter members, edit records, add notes
- Activate, deactivate and archive memberships
- Renewals, with “membership fee paid” marked and referenced
- Full membership history and an audit log of admin actions
- Import and export of member data
Statuses and renewals
- Eight statuses: Pending, Active, Expiring Soon, Expired, Inactive, Rejected, Lifetime, Archived
- Expiring Soon and Expired update automatically every day
- Approvals, rejections and eligibility changes are manual and logged
Reports and voter export
- Membership summary and breakdown by category
- Data-quality, contact and governance reports, on screen and as CSV
- ElectionBuddy voter list with eligibility filters and duplicate checks
- Voting rules (per household or per adult, minimum membership period) as admin settings the board can change
Email and announcements
- Automatic emails: verification, application received, approved, renewal, expiry reminders and more
- Announcements to filtered groups of members, with preview and a send log
- Sent from ICR’s own domain, set up so emails reach inboxes
Launch and handover
- Import of ICR’s existing member data, with a trial run and reconciliation
- Membership page, Join / Renew / Donate buttons, FAQs and QR codes on the website
- Testing of every feature and every role, plus board testing
- Documentation and a training session for administrators
The portal is built with modern, AI-assisted development and reviewed and tested by our engineering team, which is how we keep the price low without cutting the safeguards.
One person, one vote
Unique voter ID without storing licence numbers
ICR wants each member to be a unique person on the voter list, using their driver’s licence. Licence numbers are valuable to identity thieves and fall under New York’s data breach laws, so the portal is designed to check them without keeping them.
1. Entered once
At signup, each adult member enters their driver’s licence (or state ID) number and issuing state.
2. Checked for duplicates
The portal checks that no other member has used the same licence. A duplicate is blocked and flagged for an administrator.
3. Never stored
The portal keeps only a secure one-way fingerprint of the number, which can’t be turned back into the licence number, plus the last four digits, encrypted, for administrators.
Result: every voter is unique, and if the database were ever exposed, no licence numbers could be read from it. Administrators can also record that they checked a member’s licence in person.
Security and privacy
How member data is protected
Proven sign-in
A trusted, hosted sign-in service with strong password rules, blocked breached passwords and automatic sign-out.
Two-step sign-in for admins
Administrators must use an authenticator app, and re-confirm it before revealing sensitive details or exporting.
Members see only their own record
Enforced inside the app and again inside the database itself.
Extra encryption on sensitive details
Children’s details and ID information are encrypted again, hidden by default and kept out of exports.
Everything logged
Every view, reveal, export and change is recorded, with alerts for unusual activity such as repeated failed logins or large exports.
Nightly encrypted backups
Kept for 35 days, with a restore test before launch. All data stays in the United States.
Access by role
| Role | Can | Cannot |
|---|---|---|
| Member | See and update their own profile, household and documents; request renewal | See other members, change their own status or eligibility |
| Membership Administrator | Manage members, approvals, renewals, reports and exports; reveal sensitive details one record at a time | Change technical settings or other admins’ roles |
| Website Administrator | Manage settings, email templates and admin accounts | View member data or sensitive details |
The portal is designed to support ICR’s duties under New York’s SHIELD Act. We’re developers, not lawyers: ICR should confirm its notice, consent and data-retention obligations with its own counsel.
Timeline
Launch in about five weeks
Week 1
Setup and signup
Accounts opened in ICR’s name; sign-in, member signup and dashboard on a test site.
Week 2
Admin and renewals
Admin panel, approvals, statuses and renewals.
Week 3
Reports and data
Reports, ElectionBuddy export, emails and a trial import of member data.
Week 4
Testing
Security and permission testing, then board testing and fixes.
Week 5
Launch
Final data import, go-live, restore test and admin training.
The timeline assumes the board’s decisions below arrive before Week 2, member data arrives by Week 3, and testing feedback comes back within 2 working days per round.
Investment
Build price and running costs
Fixed price for everything listed in “What’s included”.
Protected from day one
Automatic security updates, nightly encrypted backups and activity alerts run from launch.
Monthly running costs
Paid by ICR directly to each provider. Every account is opened in ICR’s name, so ICR owns them.
| Service | What it does | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Database and sign-in | Member data, secure sign-in and documents, with daily backups (US) | $25 |
| Application server | Runs the portal (US) | About $7–18 |
| Email service | All portal emails and announcements | $20 |
| Off-site backups | Nightly encrypted copies, kept 35 days | About $0–2 |
| Required total | About $52–65 | |
| Firewall upgrade Recommended | Advanced web firewall rules against common attacks and stronger bot protection | $20 (paid yearly) |
| Password manager Recommended | Keeps admin logins and backup keys safe and shareable among admins | About $4 per admin |
| Restore to any minute Optional | Restore to any point in time, instead of the last nightly backup | About $100 |
Why we recommend the firewall upgrade
For about $20 a month, it adds managed protection against the most common web attacks and automated bots before they reach the portal. For a system holding members’ and children’s details, we think it’s worth it, but the portal is fully secure without it.
For the board
Decisions we need from ICR
These set the portal’s rules. Most can be changed later as settings, but we need answers before Week 2.
Voting eligibility
One vote per household or per adult? Any minimum membership period or paid-up cutoff date?
Shared email addresses
ElectionBuddy sends each ballot by email, so every voter needs their own address. How should couples who share one be handled?
Renewal cycle
One fixed renewal date each year, or each member’s join anniversary? This one is costly to change later.
Fees
The fee for each category, and who confirms that a payment was received.
Members without a driver’s licence
Which other IDs are accepted (for example state ID or passport), and how are they verified?
Children’s details
Collect children’s names, or only the number of children?
Record retention
How long should archived and inactive member records be kept before deletion?
Deadline
Is there an election date the portal must be ready for?
Terms
What ICR provides, assumptions and exclusions
ICR provides
- Member data in our import template, merged into one sheet
- FAQs, membership terms, privacy notice and email wording (we supply drafts to edit)
- Website admin and domain access, and a sending address for emails
- One contact who signs off decisions and testing
Assumptions
- Up to 2,000 member records
- Two rounds of board testing, feedback within 2 working days each
- English only, matched to ICR’s colours and logo
- New features or rule changes after sign-off are quoted and approved before work starts
Not included
- Payment processing (links to ICR’s existing donation pages only)
- Direct ElectionBuddy connection (CSV export only)
- SMS, mobile apps, website redesign
- Legal review of the privacy notice or terms
Ownership
ICR owns its portal, its copy of the code, and all of its member data, with a full data export available at any time. All service accounts are registered to ICR. IT Walay keeps its own copy of the underlying code for future support and development.