A Little Help Hosting for Community Media

Most community media organizations are able manage their web presence using the free, open source software like Drupal or WordPress. These sites are often limited to "brochure-ware" content about the organization. Often after mastering the process of publishing a Content Management System (CMS), a group will slowly increase amount of interaction with members online. Different groups have had varying degrees of success based in large part on the skill level of staff managing the site.

This ALH hosting package is designed to balance the need to support the more complicated features while still encouraging a DYI approach to Drupal and CiviCRM that makes open source a more cost effective option for feature rich websites and membership management. Hosting is available in 3 sizes:

  • 1 hour of support training per month
  • Dedicated virtual server
  • Updates to core and supported modules
  • Ability to add modules and customize the configuration
  • Nightly and on-demand backups
  • Option to restore from backup or revert changes at any time
  • Everything included in the Small package
  • 1 additional hour of support training per month (total of 2)
  • SSL for secure credit card processing of donations and payments*
  • Everything included in the Medium package
  • Customized media management workflow
  • Support for dedicated, on location server

Some sites already using ALH for community media include:

Some of the Features Included in ALH Hosting:

  • Basic publishing and "brochure-ware" content managed using Drupal.
  • Membership renewal, class sign-ups, and certifications are managed using CiviCRM
  • Member Self Service or Staff Managed Equipment Checkout and Facility Reservations using Reservations API module
  • Projects move from proposal to public page with staff approval. Once approved, Producers, Reservations and Shows are grouped together using the Project module
  • Shows are submitted by Producer using the Show module
  • Members find a crew of volunteers with the skills they need with Crew Connect module