Frequently Asked Questions

1. Product Questions:
1.1 What if we don’t have a website?
1.2 Can we import our old information?
1.3 Can we track donations and staff?
1.4 Do you just do online registration?
1.5 So how do the photos really work?
1.6 Do we have to use all of your services?
1.7 Why is integration so important?

2. Pricing and Partnership Questions:
2.1 How does your support work?
2.2 Is our data secure?
2.3 How much does it cost?
2.4 How do we save money?
2.5 Do we need an Internet connection?
2.6 Do you work with groups like ours?

3. Technology Questions:
3.1 What happens if a virus hits your database?
3.2 Will your technology provide a competitive advantage?
3.3 What happens when our programs, pricing, business, or website need changes?
3.4 What happens as we grow and want new features and tools?
3.5 How does an organization know if Thriva can meet their specific needs?

4. Company Questions:
4.1 What is Thriva’s History?
4.2 What if new programmers know a different software and want to rebuild the system?
4.3 What if Thriva goes out of business?

1. Product Questions:

1.1 What if we don’t have a website?
You can offer online registration without a website. We can give you a link for online registration to be used in your marketing materials and emails. Alternatively, we do provide website design and hosting services. A website is a great, if not crucial, tool for marketing and getting information out to interested registrants, alumni, interested donors and more.

1.2 Can we import our old information?
Yes, you can import all of the information from your previous years. You simply email or mail over your previous database and our developers will create a custom bridge that allows us to upload your history and alumni database. The cost varies by the amount of development work.

1.3 Can we track donations and staff?
Yes, the system is built to allow you to track donations, staff, inquiries, volunteers and really any group that you might want or need to. You can take any form that you currently have in paper form and offer it online. Within the same management system you can then track that entry whether it be a simple camper inquiry or a thousand dollar donation.

1.4 Do you just do online registration?
Thriva is a full service event technology solution. Online registration is one piece of the overall solution that also includes a complete management software, payment processing, online accounts for customers, picture services for customers, web design and more. We strive to provide a complete solution to allow you to fill in whatever holes or needs you have.

1.5 So how do the photos really work?
The LivePix service requires you to take pictures at your event and with a just couple of clicks, upload those pictures to your database. The automated parts of the management system do the rest. The pictures do have to be taken with a digital camera.

1.6 Do we have to use all of your services?
While all of our services are designed to be fully integrated with every other service, they can also be used on their own. Our services are designed to fulfill any need your organization has. This means you have the option to utilize just one of our services or any combination of services in order to match your specific needs.

1.7 Why is integration so important?
Integrating all of our different features saves time and simplifies things for both the customer and your organization. Integration allows a customer to have a single password to access their registration and their photos (if you offer that feature). Integration allows online registration to look at the real time capacities from the management software. Integration allows real time credit card processing both online and through the management software. Integration is important because it makes it possible to create solutions that make sense.

2. Pricing and Partnership Questions:

2.1 How does your support work?
Within the Thriva software you have access to a Microsoft-style help system that allows you access to answers about every part of the system. More importantly, when you come on as a customer you are given a personal account manager who works through your setup and really becomes a consultant that can answer product questions and offer suggestions on ways to maximize your use of the system. The most re-assuring thing about our support is that there is 24-hour 7 day-a-week support so that if you need it you can talk to someone.

2.2 Is our data secure?
By providing the services we do, security has to be our number one commitment. From the second of registration all information is held on a secure server with 128-bit encryption. Your information is backed up on multiple servers in different locations on an hourly basis and backed up onto tape on a nightly basis. This means that if anything was to happen to your personal computer or our database or at our co-location facility or even at some combination of facilities, your information is secure and safe.

2.3 How much does it cost?
The cost of the service is done per-registrant based on a couple of different factors. The first is the number of registrations you have on a yearly basis. The second, whether you are a profit or non-profit -- there is a non-profit discount. The third is the length of the service agreement, as you would expect the longer we agree to work together the lower the cost. This is something we need to talk to you about because it does depend on your needs.

2.4 How do we save money?
Organizations utilize our services in a number of ways to both save money and increase revenue. Big money savers include:

• not having to setup a payment gateway which is required to process credit cards on the Internet and cost hundreds of dollars up front and requires a monthly fee,
• utilizing confirmation e-mails to replace the printing and mailing required for welcome packets,
• utilizing the mass e-mail tool to send off invoices, “bring lists,” and all sorts of messages that would typically require printing and mailing,
• obviously the use of online registration alone is a huge time-saver because the information is automatically entered into your database,
• Photo and Emailing services which allow you to provide additional services to parents which actually creates a new source of revenue, and
• in addition, we have found that the ability to offer product sales during online registration also increases the number of purchases and, of course, the overall revenue from those purchases.

2.5 Do we need an Internet connection?
Thriva is an online software solution. Do you need an Internet connection? Yes. This is not a good solution if you can’t access the Internet. However, assuming you can access the Internet, this is by far the best solution because you can access the management system from any computer with Internet connection whether that is at camp, at the office, at church, from home or from Starbucks -- anywhere with Internet connection.

2.6 Do you work with groups like ours?
Thriva works with organizations of all sizes throughout the country. For example, Thriva provides services to some of the largest camps in the country as well as small organizations. With that said, each organization has unique needs. This is why the flexibility of our software and the expertise of our account managers makes us the ideal choice for so many groups and allows us to deliver on our promise of customer success.

3. Technology Questions:

3.1 What happens if a virus hits your database?
We have multiple databases with data spread across each. Thriva’s servers are secured and protected with top-line firewalls (see related security question above).

3.2 Will your technology provide a competitive advantage?
If your competitors use Thriva, maintaining an in-house system will create a competitive disadvantage as your time may be stolen by technology problems. With Thriva, we guarantee increasing the ability of your business to operate more efficiently and effectively, integrating all aspects of your administrative needs into a single platform.

3.3 What happens when our programs, pricing, or business needs change?
Our software includes tools that all members of your organization can use to be able to manage your business without knowing how to code.

3.4 What happens as we grow and want new features and tools?
Simply talk to us. If it makes sense, we’ll add it. We want to become your technology and administrative partner. We want to do what we can to help make your organization better. Because we work closely with our clients, many of the tools we've made were at the request of a particular organization.

3.5 How does an organization know if Thriva can meet their specific needs?
This is the most complicated aspect and one that we believe we have solved far better than anyone else. Besides seeing the product first-hand, the best way to feel comfortable is to understand that Thriva provides the software and services that run events of all sizes.

4. Company Questions:

4.1 What is Thriva’s History?
Thriva was founded in 1999 by a former camp director. After growing All Star Camps, a multi-sport camp in Washington, to a large, multi-site operation, it become apparent just how difficult and time-consuming managing registrations can be. The company was born in an effort to provide online registration and management solutions for all types of events. Over the last five years our services have continued to grow and evolve through constant brainstorming with our customers and the power of new technologies. Thriva is now one of the leading providers of online registration and management software and provides the comprehensive technology solution in which all of the pieces are integrated into a real-time system.

4.2 What if new programmers know a different software and want to rebuild the system?
As technology advances (and by now, we all know how quickly that can be) and older databases, code, and systems become outdated, we will continue to reprogram our old software to realize the benefits of new technologies –at our own expense.

4.3 What if Thriva goes out of business?
We believe that this is extremely unlikely because we are profitable, we provide technology that powers so many organizations throughout the country and are partners with major corporations both public and private. Needless to say, they have done their research to find the best technology solution. Additionally, we have access to a line of credit that covers five years of operating expenses. However, as a valid concern, we meet it head on. If we go out of business, we will keep our servers running through the end of the calendar year and then provide rights to the software and code to all clients.