Friends General Conference

Nurturing faith and Quaker practice

Quaker Cloud - Frequently Asked Questions

How much will it cost?

 

Paid monthly

Paid annually

Setup fee

Meetings with less than 50 members and attenders

$12/month

$120/year

None

Meetings with 50 or more members and attenders

$24/month

$240/year

None

Quarterly meetings

$24/month

$240/year

Starts at $60

Yearly meetings and other Quaker groupsContact FGC to talk about your specific needs

The setup fee for Quarterly Meetings will be determined by FGC based upon an assessment of the complexity and setup needs for the Quarterly Meeting. 
In identifying which size meeting you would be for this pricing model, members are anyone your meeting recognizes as a member, attenders are people who regularly attend worship but are not members.  We know this will be a fuzzy number, it will be no less than your total number of members.
Annual payments can be by check or credit card; monthly payments must be by credit cart.

I'm not very techy - can I still use the cloud?

The Quaker Cloud is built for average people to use and administer, you don't have to be a geek, you don't have to write code.  If you are comfortable filling out a form online, you can update your meeting's website.  If you know HTML and really want to write code, there's space for that as well.  

Are there examples you can share of meetings using the cloud?

These websites are under construction, though these meetings have agreed to share their work thus far.
Durham Friends Meeting in Durham, NC
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting in Philadelphia, PA
Clear Creek Friends Meeting, Richmond, IN
Stillwater Friends Meeting, Stillwater, OK

I have a web address already registered for my meeting, can I still use it?

Yes, you can set that web address to redirect visitors to your meeting on the Quaker Cloud.  This is a change you will need to make with the company who is providing the web address to you.  FGC will have document to help you through this in the future.

Can I just move our entire website to the Quaker Cloud?

Yes and no.  We have found that there is an easy home for almost all the content that meetings typically have on their websites in the Quaker Cloud, but the site structure is likely to be different, which will mean you will need to move your content page by page.  This becomes a good opportunity to conduct a content review and verify everything you have on the web is current and accurate.  

Will the Quaker Cloud include a listserv?

At launch it won't.  We are considering our options in this area, as it is a very common request.  One possibility would be to build an integration with www.verticalresponse.com or a related service provider.  Shortly after launch we will have system such that meeting members and attenders will receive notification when content is added to the meeting website, which may meet the listserv needs of many meetings.

Do you use Dreamweaver?  Wordpress? Drupal? Some other system?

The Quaker Cloud is built on Drupal.  If you're interested in more of the techy details, here they are.   

How will the Quaker Cloud connect with social media tools like Facebook and Twitter?

The cloud allows for you to easily create links from your meeting's homepage to your meeting's presence on Facebook and Twitter.  

What about privacy and security?  

The Quaker Cloud is built with security and privacy in mind and we are confident that storing your data in the Quaker Cloud will be dramatically more secure than storing your data on the personal computer of one of your members and distributed via email.  

With everything you post to the Quaker Cloud, you can decide if it is private (accessible only to members/attenders of your meeting), accessible to Quakers who are using the Cloud or accessible to the world.  Content set to private is inaccessible even to FGC fundraising staff.  Behind the scenes, we have taken a wide variety of steps to properly secure the server.  If you have questions on what specific measures we have taken, there are lots of the techy details here.

Who is providing support for the Quaker Cloud?  Has it been outsourced?

The support staff for the Quaker Cloud are all FGC employees.  The primary support is provided by the Communications and Cloud Support Associate, Erin Mullaney.  Second-tier support is provided by FGC Communications and Web Manager Chris Pifer who is also the primary system administrator for the Quaker Cloud.  

What limits are there on my account?  How much storage, how many users, administrators, page-views can we have?

You can have unlimited storage, an unlimited number of users, administrators, page views, etc.  You are limited to a maximum upload size of 3Mb per file, but you can upload as many 3Mb (or smaller) files as you like.  

Can I upload a custom theme, or modify the template?

At the moment we don't support custom themes.  This is something we may offer in the future if there is a strong demand.  Within the body of any page, you can insert almost any HTML tag or inline style you would like.  

What will the meeting directory tool include...?

We will be launching the Meeting Directory tool later in the spring, so we are still establishing the specifics.  There are two features which are at the core of the meeting directory tool that we are clear that it will include:

  • Members and attenders will be able to login, update their own information and look-up information for others in their meeting
  • A directory editor will be able to export the current directory information to prepare a printed directory

Does the Quaker Cloud use a responsive design that resizes for mobile devices?

At this point it does not, but this is a feature that is a high priority for FGC to add at some point in the future.

Don't see your question here?

Contact us and ask it.