FAQ
Straight answers for you and your board.
Getting started
What makes HeartLynks different?
Spark connects activities with practical follow-up, recognition, and member summaries—all inside your branded community and included in the core price.
How much can we customize?
Change your branding, welcome content, menu names, and feature settings. Enable or disable individual features as your community develops.
Can we start small?
Yes. Begin with a few relevant groups and activities, then expand as your members find their rhythm.
Do we need to book a meeting?
No. Explore the demos and start yourself. A conversation is available whenever you want one.
Will our members actually use it?
Find out before you pay. Invite one chapter or committee during the trial, post a Spark, and your dashboard shows who joined and who took part. Yes, it is one more place, so it asks little: no app store download, one tap to join a Spark, and a notification when someone replies.
We already have a Facebook group. Why move?
You do not have to close it on day one. Keep the group for reach and post a Spark play link there. Anyone can play, then join your community, where the member list is yours and members ask, help and get thanked.
Does this replace our membership database (AMS)?
No. HeartLynks works next to it. Upload your member list as a spreadsheet, and upload it again when it changes. Member types and renewal dates update. When someone does not renew, you decide whether they keep access.
How much staff time does it take to run?
It is built for a small staff. Welcomes, question routing and board numbers run on their own. Your part: post a Spark now and then, approve Challenge entries, review reported posts and check the "Waiting for an answer" list. Chapter and group leaders can start Sparks too.
Participation and privacy
What if our members are not competitive?
Choose Gentle mode: no public ranking, and progress stays private. Many Sparks are not contests anyway. Build together credits every contributor, and a Collective goal fills one shared progress bar.
Is our members' data private, and ours?
Each community's data is kept separate from every other community's. No Pulse answer is shown with a name. Needs stay private unless a member shows them. You can export your member data at any time. We do not sell it.
Pricing, trial and cancellation
What does it cost?
The core is $179/month, including Spark and the member-value features. Your 30-day trial includes all four add-ons; afterwards, each add-on you keep costs $5/month.
Card required. Cancel unwanted add-ons or the entire subscription before the trial ends. Platform sales carry a separate 0.50% fee plus payment gateway charges.
Can we see it before we pay?
Yes, twice. Open any demo community, no sign-up needed. Then start the free trial with your own members: 30 days, card required, not charged during the trial, cancel online any time before it ends. No sales call at any point.
Why do you need a card for a free trial?
So your community, and the members you invite, keep going on day 31 with no break. Your card is not charged during the 30 days, and we email you before billing starts. Everything you set up during the trial stays.
Could we end up paying more than $179 a month?
Only if you choose to. Two things can add to it: add-ons you pick, $5 a month each, and a 0.50% fee on sales through your community, plus the processor's fee. If you never sell through the platform, you never pay that fee.
How do I explain the cost to my board?
With your own numbers. The Member value page shows how many members took part, helped each other and were welcomed, in plain sentences ready for your board report. The cost is easy to show too: paid yearly, the core plan comes to about $1.72 per member per year for a 1,000-member association.
What happens if we cancel?
Cancel online in your admin dashboard, with no call. Cancel during the trial and you are never charged for the plan. Cancel later and your plan runs to the end of the period you paid for. Export your member data before then.