[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":171},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-oease-is-free":3,"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-oease-is-free-surround":160},{"id":4,"title":5,"authors":6,"badge":12,"body":14,"date":147,"description":148,"extension":149,"image":150,"meta":152,"navigation":153,"path":154,"seo":155,"stem":158,"__hash__":159},"posts\u002F3.blog\u002F2.why-oease-is-free.md","Why We Made OEASE Free — And Always Will",[7],{"name":8,"to":9,"avatar":10},"Charlene Huang","\u002Fabout",{"src":11},"\u002Fassets\u002Fimages\u002Fteams\u002Fcharlene.png",{"label":13},"Company",{"type":15,"value":16,"toc":137},"minimark",[17,22,26,29,32,36,39,42,45,58,61,65,68,71,74,77,81,84,87,90,94,97,124,127,131,134],[18,19,21],"h2",{"id":20},"the-math-that-doesnt-work","The Math That Doesn't Work",[23,24,25],"p",{},"Here is a scenario that plays out constantly. A community nonprofit with 50 members needs to manage attendance, track\ndonations, coordinate volunteers, and communicate with supporters. They look at the available tools and find that member\nmanagement software costs $15 a month, the payment platform charges $20 a month, and the event tool adds\nanother $10. That's $540 a year — for a group that might collect $3,000 annually in contributions.",[23,27,28],{},"The math doesn't work. So they default to spreadsheets, Venmo, and group texts. Not because those tools are good enough,\nbut because they're free.",[23,30,31],{},"We built OEASE to fix this equation.",[18,33,35],{"id":34},"how-we-stay-free","How We Stay Free",[23,37,38],{},"OEASE is free to use. Every feature — member management, role-based access, recruitment, financial tracking, events,\ndigital presence — is available to every organization from day one. No paid tiers. No feature gates. No \"upgrade to\nunlock\" prompts.",[23,40,41],{},"So how does the platform sustain itself? Through a small 1.3% platform fee applied to transactions processed through\nStripe on the OEASE platform. This sits on top of Stripe's standard processing rate of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction.",[23,43,44],{},"Here is what that means in practice:",[46,47,48,52,55],"ul",{},[49,50,51],"li",{},"A sports league collecting $75 registration fees pays about 97 cents per transaction to OEASE — roughly the same as\nthe loose change in their concession stand tip jar.",[49,53,54],{},"A nonprofit running a $5,000 fundraiser pays $65 in platform fees. The alternative — paying monthly subscriptions for\nseparate fundraising, member management, and communication tools — would cost far more over the course of a year.",[49,56,57],{},"A student organization that never processes payments through OEASE pays nothing. Zero. Not now, not ever.",[23,59,60],{},"This model means our revenue is directly tied to the value we provide. If organizations aren't using OEASE to process\ntransactions, we don't earn anything from them — and that's fine. The platform still works fully for those\norganizations. They still get every feature.",[18,62,64],{"id":63},"why-competitors-charge-more","Why Competitors Charge More",[23,66,67],{},"Most platforms in this space use a tiered pricing model. The free version gives you just enough to get started — maybe\n25 members, maybe basic event creation. Then the features you actually need — financial reporting, custom roles, bulk\ncommunications, integrations — sit behind a paywall.",[23,69,70],{},"This model works well for the software companies. It does not work well for organizations.",[23,72,73],{},"A community group evaluating tools shouldn't have to predict their future size to pick the right pricing tier. A\nnonprofit running its first fundraiser shouldn't hit a paywall the moment it wants to send a receipt. These friction\npoints discourage adoption and push organizations back toward the fragmented free tools they were trying to escape.",[23,75,76],{},"We chose a different path. Every organization gets the full platform, regardless of size, budget, or transaction volume.",[18,78,80],{"id":79},"aligned-incentives","Aligned Incentives",[23,82,83],{},"The subscription model creates a subtle misalignment. The software company gets paid whether or not the organization is\nthriving. A community group paying $20 a month for member management software pays the same amount during months when\nengagement is high and months when nobody logs in.",[23,85,86],{},"Our transaction-based model reverses this. We earn when organizations are actively using the platform to collect dues,\nsell event tickets, process donations, or handle registration fees. If an organization is thriving and growing, our\nrevenue grows with it. If they're in a quiet period, they owe us nothing.",[23,88,89],{},"This alignment matters. It means we're incentivized to build features that drive real organizational activity — not\nfeatures designed to justify a price increase.",[18,91,93],{"id":92},"who-this-is-really-for","Who This Is Really For",[23,95,96],{},"We think about OEASE in terms of the organizations that need it most:",[46,98,99,106,112,118],{},[49,100,101,105],{},[102,103,104],"strong",{},"The volunteer nonprofit with 50 members"," that manages everything through a combination of Excel, Zelle, and word of\nmouth. They need a roster, a way to track contributions, and event coordination — but they can't justify a software\nbudget.",[49,107,108,111],{},[102,109,110],{},"The nonprofit running quarterly fundraisers"," that currently uses GoFundMe for donations and a separate tool for\ndonor management. They need integrated financial tracking but don't have staff to manage multiple platforms.",[49,113,114,117],{},[102,115,116],{},"The sports league handling 200 registrations per season"," that still processes sign-ups through Google Forms and\npayments through Venmo. They need a streamlined registration flow with automatic payment tracking.",[49,119,120,123],{},[102,121,122],{},"The student organization with 30+ active members"," that rebuilds its infrastructure every year when leadership turns\nover. They need persistent, organized data that survives transitions.",[23,125,126],{},"None of these organizations should have to pay for the privilege of being organized. The tools should meet them where\nthey are — and where they are is on a tight budget, with limited technical resources, trying to do something meaningful\nfor their community.",[18,128,130],{"id":129},"the-bottom-line","The Bottom Line",[23,132,133],{},"We made OEASE free because the organizations we serve can't afford the alternative, and because we found a sustainable\nmodel that doesn't require them to. The 1.3% transaction fee keeps the platform running and growing. Everything else —\nevery feature, every update, every improvement — is available to everyone.",[23,135,136],{},"If your organization has been settling for \"good enough\" tools because the right ones cost too much, that tradeoff no\nlonger exists.",{"title":138,"searchDepth":139,"depth":139,"links":140},"",2,[141,142,143,144,145,146],{"id":20,"depth":139,"text":21},{"id":34,"depth":139,"text":35},{"id":63,"depth":139,"text":64},{"id":79,"depth":139,"text":80},{"id":92,"depth":139,"text":93},{"id":129,"depth":139,"text":130},"2025-04-10","Community organizations shouldn't choose between paying for software and funding their mission. Here's how we built a sustainable model that keeps OEASE free.","md",{"src":151},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1529156069898-49953e39b3ac?w=800&auto=format",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-oease-is-free",{"title":156,"description":157},"Why OEASE Is Free — Free Club Management Software, Forever","Student clubs and nonprofits shouldn't pay for management software. Here's how OEASE stays free while providing unlimited members, events, and finance tools for every organization.","3.blog\u002F2.why-oease-is-free","a0mYn_hE2sD-Xd1zD54mrjHkznc5GiuyeLufHokYpBI",[161,166],{"title":162,"path":163,"stem":164,"description":165,"children":-1},"Why We Threw Everything Away and Started Over","\u002Fblog\u002Fintroducing-oease-v2","3.blog\u002F1.introducing-oease-v2","After two years of learning what community leaders actually need, we rebuilt OEASE from scratch. Here's the story behind v2 — and why starting over was the only honest choice.",{"title":167,"path":168,"stem":169,"description":170,"children":-1},"Your Recruitment Process Is Broken — Here's How to Fix It","\u002Fblog\u002Frecruitment-ai-screening-launch","3.blog\u002F3.recruitment-ai-screening-launch","Applications in Google Forms. Decisions in group chats. If your organization still runs recruitment this way, you're losing good candidates and burning out your team.",1775569043256]