AlumDeck
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Works with

Works with what you already have.

AlumDeck is built for ordinary shared hosting, so it leans on things every host and every committee already has: a mail server, a spreadsheet, a phone. Here is every connection it makes today, and the ones it does not make yet.

Open the live demoSee what is planned

RSS · /news/feed.xml

JSON-LD for every article

sitemap.xml, generated

Connected today

Twelve things AlumDeck works with.

Each tile says what the connection does and, where it matters, what it needs from you.

  • Your cPanel host

    PHP 8.3, MySQL or MariaDB and one cron line. Installs through six screens in a browser, on your own domain or in a subfolder.

  • Any SMTP server

    Or the host's own sendmail. Set it up in the admin, the password is stored encrypted, and "Send a test email" proves it works.

  • Cloudflare Turnstile

    A free bot check on the join, contact and sign-in forms, beside a hidden honeypot field. Two keys in the .env file.

  • CSV import

    Members, with column mapping and a dry run first. Your old school register, up to 20,000 rows, for matching applicants.

  • CSV export

    Members, gifts, event attendance, survey results and the newsletter list. Cells that look like spreadsheet formulas are defused.

  • Your newsletter service

    Export the members who opted into updates as a CSV, and load it into the email service you already use.

  • RSS readers

    A news feed at /news/feed.xml, for feed readers and for any site that wants to show your news.

  • Search engines

    sitemap.xml, robots.txt, editable titles and descriptions, and JSON-LD for your organisation, events, news and people.

  • WhatsApp, from your phone

    Filter members, then tap one wa.me link per member to send from your own phone, message pre-filled. A CSV of numbers too.

  • Your own domain

    Runs on any domain or subfolder you install it on. No vendor subdomain, and no DNS handed to anyone.

  • YouTube video albums

    Video albums beside your photo albums. The .htaccess shipped today blocks YouTube frames on Apache; a fix is planned for release 1.1.

  • Your analytics tags

    GA4, Tag Manager, Meta and LinkedIn IDs as settings, loaded only after a visitor accepts cookies. The shipped Apache policy blocks them until the fix planned for 1.1.

Does not connect to yet

  • Payment gateways: Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay Planned: release 1.2
  • Accounting: Xero, QuickBooks Planned: release 1.2
  • Calendar files (.ics) Planned: release 1.3
  • Meeting links for online events Planned: release 1.3
  • The WhatsApp Business API Planned: release 1.4
  • Web push to the installed app Planned: release 1.4
  • A REST API and webhooks Planned: release 2.0
  • Zapier and Make Planned: release 2.0
  • Single sign-on and social login Planned: release 2.0
  • SMS Planned: release 2.0
  • Native CRM sync
  • Student record systems
  • Off-site backup storage
See the roadmap

How each one works

Set up in the admin, not in code.

Only the bot-check keys live in a file. Everything else is a settings screen.

Email

Mail goes out through your own server.

AlumDeck ships with mail set to "log", so a half-finished install never sends anything to anyone. Point it at your host's SMTP server in the admin, send yourself a test, and every reminder, receipt and campaign goes out from your own address.

  • SMTP or sendmail, chosen in the admin, no file to edit
  • The SMTP password is stored encrypted
  • Campaigns send in batches of 60 a minute, gentle on shared-host limits

Spreadsheets

Bring your old list in. Take any list out.

The import wizard maps your columns (it recognises headers such as "rollno" or "studentid"), runs a dry run that lists every problem, then commits. Email is the match key, so importing the same file twice updates members instead of doubling them.

  • About 22 fields can be mapped
  • Files up to 8 MB, committed 200 rows at a time
  • Duplicates inside the file are flagged before anything is written

WhatsApp

A WhatsApp list, sent from your own phone.

Choose a class-year range or some cities, write the message once, and AlumDeck builds a list with one "Open chat" link per member. Tap, send, come back, tap the next. No WhatsApp Business account and no per-message fee.

  • Nothing is sent by the server: you send each one yourself
  • Set your country code and local number length so every number gets a link
  • Every list is logged, and the numbers download as a CSV

Search engines

Found on Google without a plugin.

Every page has a title, description and share image you can edit, with a live preview. Events, news, people and your organisation carry JSON-LD structured data, and sitemap.xml and robots.txt are generated for you.

  • Per-record canonical and noindex settings
  • News publishes an RSS feed
  • Search-engine verification codes are settings
See a news article in the demo

Questions

About connections.

Does AlumDeck connect to our CRM?

Not directly. There is no native sync with Raiser's Edge, Salesforce, HubSpot or a student records system, and none is planned: those connectors need a partnership with each vendor. What works today is CSV: export members, gifts, attendance or survey results and import them wherever you like.

A REST API and webhooks are planned for release 2.0, which would let your own IT team, or Zapier and Make, connect any system.

Can donors pay online through AlumDeck?

Not yet. AlumDeck records gifts and emails numbered receipts, but it has no payment gateway. Online donations into your own Stripe, PayPal or Razorpay account are planned for release 1.2, with no platform fee.

Can we use Mailchimp or another newsletter service?

Yes, by file. Export the members who ticked "updates" at sign-up as a CSV and load it into the service you already use. AlumDeck's own campaigns go out through your SMTP server, so you can also skip the extra service entirely.

Do we have to use Cloudflare?

No. Turnstile is Cloudflare's free bot check, and it is optional: your site does not need to be on Cloudflare to use it. Without the two keys the forms still work, and a hidden honeypot field still catches the simplest bots.

Can our IT team pull data out automatically?

Not yet. There is no API today; every export is a CSV an admin downloads. A REST API and webhooks are planned for release 2.0.

Does AlumDeck send our data anywhere?

No member data ever reaches us. The only calls AlumDeck makes, and what each one carries, are listed on the security page: a licence check with your key and hostname, plus the services you choose to switch on.

Open the live demo. It puts itself back every night.

Sign in as an admin or a member and click anything. Nothing you do can break it.

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