Industry — Membership & associations
Websites and portals for member bodies
Peak bodies and associations carry a harder brief than most: a public site that argues a position, a members-only area that has to be genuinely useful, and often decades of material that needs to stay findable. We have built all three.
- 2018
- building since
- 70+
- designers, engineers and product people
- 5
- regionsAustralia, Europe, the Philippines, the Middle East and the USA
- 6,500+
- commits across six repositoriesthe three SES aviation platforms we build and still run
What member bodies need
Public site and member area, one platform
The public site makes the case for the sector; the member area does the work. We build both on one platform so your team publishes once, with membership tiers deciding who sees what.
Gated content that stays usable
Submissions, guidance notes, research and event material behind a login — with search that works across the whole library, not just the last few uploads. Access rules follow membership category rather than a manually maintained list.
Searchable archives
Associations accumulate decades of material. We build archives that make it genuinely navigable — as with Australian Mutuals Archives, where the custodian of Australia’s mutual banking history got a searchable online archive alongside a new brand.
Member data where it belongs
Integration with the CRM or membership database that is already the source of truth, so renewals, categories and contact details are not maintained twice and drifting apart.
The proof
Work we have shipped, not a capability deck.
- Customer Owned Banking AssociationA modernised website and member portal for the peak body representing Australia’s customer-owned banking sector.Read the case study
- Australian Mutuals ArchivesA new brand and a searchable online archive for the custodian of Australia’s mutual banking history.Read the case study
Common questions
Can you build a members-only area?
Yes — permissioned content, member directories, document libraries, event registration and self-service account management. This is application work rather than publishing, so it usually sits on Laravel with a CMS alongside for the public site.
Can it work with our existing membership database or CRM?
Yes, and it usually should. The association database generally stays the source of truth for membership status; the portal reads from it rather than becoming a second, competing record. We build the integration so neither system drifts.
Our current portal was built by someone else and is not working. Can you take it over?
Yes. COBA's website and member portal came to us from a previous agency, not meeting members' or administrators' needs; we reviewed, rebuilt and still support both. See project rescue for how a handover works.
Trusted by
“We partnered with Shakewell in 2024 to help improve and maintain our website technology. The team are friendly, diligent and routinely demonstrate a breadth of technical understanding that is hard to find. Their support has put us in a much stronger position to scale and enhance our web presence.”
Aidan Arentz
Digital Product Owner of Merivale
Engagement models
How we work
Four straightforward ways to engage us. Pick the one that fits, or mix them as your needs change.
Staff Augmentation
Add experienced Shakewell developers, designers or specialists directly to your own team. Engagements typically run three to twelve months, but can be as short or long as you need — you get the skills without the commitment and cost of hiring full-time.
About staff augmentationFixed-Scope Projects
Have a defined outcome in mind? We scope it, price it and deliver it as a project — a clear timeline, agreed milestones and a single point of accountability from kickoff to handover.
Embedded Delivery Teams
For larger or longer-running work, a cross-functional Shakewell team — development, design and delivery management — plugs in as your delivery arm, working to your priorities and your reporting cadence.
Support & Maintenance
Already live? We keep websites, stores and apps secure, updated and performing through ongoing retainers — business-hours support as standard, with 24/7 coverage available for critical issues.
About support & maintenance