I was the membership chairperson for a local club for quite a while.  I had to keep track of members' address and phone information, print phone lists, print selected labels for various groups, send renewal forms and lists of members sorted by breed.  Since I write computer applications, I decided to create a program to handle these tasks.  Previously this program was called K9-Membership.  Recently I modified this program to make keeping track of multiple clubs easier and to provide customizing tools for membership types and areas of interests.

K9-Club is designed to help you keep track of your dog club's membership information and simplify the printing of reports, labels, envelopes and renewal forms.  It not only stores addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, seasonal addresses and breeds but you may also record payments, keep membership status and meeting attendance on an annual basis.

The program may be used by any club member with a PC.  Members may print their own lists and address labels.  All you do is e-mail the latest data file to your members.

There is a quick reference guide available in Adobe Acrobat format at http://k9ped.com/k9clubhelp.pdf .

There are two options to download the program.  You may download a self-extracting, self-installing file or you may download a zip file containing the single exe file.  The self extracting file is about 660 KB.  The zip file is about 500 KB.

To download the self extracting file click here and save the file to your desktop.  Double click on the desktop file to install.

If you are familiar with extracting files and making shortcut icons, you can download the zip file by clicking here.  Unzip the file into the desired directory.  Make a shortcut and place it on the desktop.  Repeat this process for multiple clubs.

Why is it free?  I am the author of K9-Ped, a pedigree research program.  I have been told by its users that it is the easiest to use and fastest pedigree program available.  I hope when you experience the ease of use of the membership program you will want to try K9-Ped.

Are there any annoying promotional ads or pop-up screens?  The first time you use the program you will be asked to send an e-mail to register as a new user.  Your e-mail will be added to the K9-Membership mail list on YahooGroups.  You can remove your e-mail address from this list at any time.  Use of this list is restricted.   It will only be used to notify you of program updates.  The fifth time you use the program you will be asked to visit the K9-Ped web site.  After you visit the site you will no longer see this message.

Will it interfere with my system or other programs?  No! The program is a single, standalone exe file.  It neither installs nor uses any system files, support files or registry entries.  It can be completely uninstalled by deleting a single folder and desktop icon if you added one.

Can I use it for more than one club? Yes.  You can switch between multiple club files.  Unlike the earlier version (K9-Membership) you do not need to do multiple installs or have multiple folders for multiple clubs.

Do I have to share all of the information when I send it to club members?  From the "Print" form you can select "Make Share File" and produce a "club" file with the just the selected members without status, payment or attendance data.

What are the membership types?  Default members types are Full, Family, Associate, Assoc Family, Life, Associate Life and Potential.  Members listed without a membership type are included when "All Members" is selected for a report.  Membership types may be changed or added on the "Modify | Selection Types" form.

What happened to the City, State and Zip address fields?  The City, State & ZIP information is now listed in a single field.  This speeds data input and allows for international addresses.

What are the Interests?  Default interests are Mail Newsletter, E-Mail Newsletter, Breeder Referral, Conformation, Obedience, Agility, Show Committee, Match Committee an Board Member.  Lists, labels and envelops can be generated based on any number of interests.  Interest types may be changed or added on the "Modify | Selection Types" form.

How do I print renewal forms?  Renewal forms are printed for any member whose "Paid" box contains no data for the covered year.  To generate renewal forms set the year to next year.  Enter "0", or the amount already paid, in the paid box for any member who should not receive a renewal form.  The zero value may be used for Life members or Newsletter "subscribers" who receive your newsletter for free.  The "0" amounts do not show up on the "Payment Report".  On the renewal form the member's name and address are located in the correct location to use a window envelope.

How are attendance records are kept?  Attendance information is kept by member, not by household.  Records are kept for twelve months and four "Events".  This list may be printed in a grid format and taken to your meetings to record attendance.

Do I need a fast system?  No.  The program will run on any PC running Windows 95 or later.  It is fairly small and does not require a high speed processor.  The program and data files will fit on a single floppy.

Can I run the program on a floppy?  You can run the program from a floppy but loading the program may take up to 45 seconds.  Once loaded, the program will run at normal speed.  You may find it faster to keep the program and the k9c.ini file on the hard disk and just have the data file on the floppy.  You can copy the files in the K9-Club folder (Program plus two data files) to a floppy disk and run the program using another system's floppy disk.  Remember to copy the data files back to your main system if you make changes.

What is a "Breed List"?  This is a list grouped by breed with a listing of the members for each breed.  Members can be listed as having multiple breeds by separating the Breed names by a comma, semicolon or ampersand.  This list can be printed with all members listed or just those with "Breeder Referral" checked.

Can I print meeting notice postcards?  Yes,  K9-Membership will print both sides of "four-up" postcards.  You can use 8.5 x 11 index stock and cut it in quarters after printing as a low cost alternative to laser perforated postcard stock.  First print the member's address and return address.  Turn the paper over top-for-bottom and print the contents of the PostCard.rtf file.  The PostCard.rtf can be modified with WordPad or any other Rich Text File (RTF) editing program.

Why don't I see a place to enter seasonal address information?  The fields to enter seasonal information are only visible when the member has a value for both the season start and season end.

How do I move around the fields?  You can use the Tab or Enter key.  Holding down the Shift Key reverses the order.  You can toggle the attendance data from blank to "X" by double clicking the box.  When the cursor is in an attendance box the space bar will toggle the value.  The Page Up and Page Down key move to the previous or next member without changing the cursor location.  Using the space bar, arrow keys and Page Up Page Down can makes it very easy to enter attendance data for the current month.

I have a high resolution Monitor.  Can I adjust the size of the screen?  Yes.  You can change the form width in 80 pixel increments by clicking the "Size" menu item (ALT-S)  The program will always start with the previous setting.  This has no effect if the monitor setting is 640 x 480.

Will it run on a MAC?  It will not run on a regular MAC.  There is no reason it will not work on MAC Virtual PC.  If you try it and it works let me know what version you are using.

What is "Club Information" and how is it used?  Club information includes the club name, a "care of" and address for the return addresses and additional information used for the renewal form.  The club name appears on reports.  The return address information appears on envelopes and post cards.

How do I get help?  Use of the program is quite intuitive.  If you can fill out a form you can run the program.  Click the "Options | Show Hints" to enable or disable hints.  Click here to view the Adobe Acrobat quick reference guide.  Send questions, comments and ideas for additional features to k9softhelp@azdogs.com.