“We want to move to Salesforce. What’s the best AMS option?”
We hear this question all the time. The truth is, a Salesforce AMS isn’t a single product you can buy off the shelf. Instead, Salesforce is more like a plot of land — a strong CRM foundation that can be built on in different ways.
Building on a Salesforce plot, now think of your Salesforce AMS as a home for your association’s data, transactions, and member experience. Like houses, these association-based systems come in different styles, each with its own strengths.
- Some associations move into a prebuilt house, ready for immediate use.
- Others choose to design and build a house using Salesforce’s own products.
- And others take a modular approach, starting with Salesforce at the center and adding on rooms or features as they go.
The key is choosing the building style that best matches your budget, complexity, and ownership preferences.
Style 1: The Prebuilt House (AMS Built on Salesforce)
These AMS platforms are like move-in ready houses. The Salesforce vendor has already designed the core rooms — membership, events, billing, committees — so you can get up and running quickly.
But not all prebuilt houses are the same.
Older Homes (Salesforce Pioneers): Fonteva and Nimble AMS were among the first systems built on Salesforce, going back over a decade. At the time, Salesforce lacked many of today’s features, so these companies filled the gaps with custom code. The result was robust systems with broad functionality that many associations have relied on for years. They’re proven and mature, with large user communities — but like older houses, they can be more complex, harder to customize, and slower to modernize.
Newer Homes (Modern Salesforce Builds): MemberVerse, Advanced Communities, and Element AMS are built with Salesforce’s latest tools, such as Experience Cloud, Revenue Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and other products. They use less custom code, which makes them lighter, easier to update, and more aligned with Salesforce’s roadmap. These homes feel modern, efficient, and intuitive — though they’re newer to the market, with smaller client bases and shorter track records.
Pros
- Faster implementation than a custom build
- Preconfigured modules for common AMS functions
- Vendor handles updates, roadmap, and support
- Established peer communities for older homes
Cons
- Flexibility limited by the vendor’s design choices
- Older homes can feel heavy and complex
- Newer homes may still be maturing with fewer live clients
Style 2: The Custom House (Salesforce Products Only)
In this approach, Salesforce provides both the foundation and the building materials. You build your AMS entirely with Salesforce products: Experience Cloud for portals, Revenue Cloud for dues and transactions, Commerce Cloud for online purchases, Sales Cloud for CRM, Service Cloud for support, and Marketing Cloud for events, and digital campaigns.
These products are built to work well together, and Salesforce maintains the platform and continuously delivers new features.
Your role (often with a Salesforce partner) is to maintain and update your specific house:
- deciding how membership and billing should work
- configuring portals and automations
- keeping data clean
- testing changes when Salesforce releases updates
- providing ongoing training to your staff.
In short, Salesforce keeps the neighborhood in great shape so you can focus on managing your home’s interior (back office), exterior (member experience) and its daily operations.
Pros
- Maximum flexibility — tailor the system to your exact needs
- Seamless use of Salesforce’s full ecosystem
- Continuous innovation as Salesforce invests heavily in these products
- Designed to scale with you
Cons
- Higher upfront cost and longer implementation
- Requires Salesforce expertise to configure and maintain
- Strong governance needed to keep it sustainable
Examples
Salesforce Products: Experience Cloud, Revenue Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Nonprofit Cloud, Data Cloud. The full list of Salesforce products.
Style 3: The Modular House (Hybrid Approach)
This style keeps Salesforce as the main structure but adds modules for specific needs. There are two main ways to do this:
Third-Party Apps
The are specializes application that focus on events/conferences, payments, or learning that connect into Salesforce. This lets you pick the best tool for each function while still keeping Salesforce at the center.
Examples: Cvent or EVA Events for event management, Chargent for payments, Maple LMS for learning, Blackthorn Events for registrations and logistics.
Developer Prepackaged Code
Instead of starting from scratch, some developers offer starter kits of prepackaged code, that address a specific function, that can be modified to address a complex membership structure, or events registration. These code packages are like prebuilt rooms or floorplans that can then be customized to fit your association.
This approach offers more flexibility than a fully packaged AMS, but less risk and cost than designing everything yourself.
The tradeoff: updates and maintenance depend on the developer, not Salesforce.
Example: FusionSpan’s FusionCore.
Pros
- Flexibility to choose best-in-class tools
- Can evolve as your needs change
- Balance of vendor-supported features and Salesforce core
Cons
- Integrations and custom code add complexity
- Dependence on outside vendors for updates and maintenance
- Costs vary depending on the mix of apps and development work
So, Which Style Is Best?
There isn’t one “best” Salesforce AMS. The right style depends on your association’s size, complexity, budget, and appetite for ownership.
At Ellipsis Partners, we help associations sort through these choices every day. Sometimes the best fit is a prebuilt house. Sometimes it’s a custom house built entirely with Salesforce products. And sometimes it’s a modular home that evolves over time.
The key is clarity before commitment.
