Services
Design • Content • Programs • Community • Outreach
Members • Donations • Registration • Payments • Database
If your synagogue uses ShulCloud for membership management, donations, event registration, payments, or other administrative functions, you don’t have to use ShulCloud for your entire public-facing website.
In fact, many of the synagogues we work with use WordPress for their main website and ShulCloud for the member and administrative functionality it does best.
It’s a combination that gives your synagogue greater flexibility in the design and organization of your public website without giving up the ShulCloud tools your staff and members already use.
Think of your synagogue’s website as having two important roles.
Your WordPress website is your public-facing digital home. It’s where prospective members discover your congregation, members learn what’s happening, families explore your programs, and visitors get a sense of who you are.
ShulCloud can continue to handle the database-driven functions connected to your synagogue’s membership and administrative systems.
That can include things like:
We bring the two together so visitors can move between them as naturally as possible.
Your primary domain – www.yoursynagogue.org, for example – can point to the WordPress website we design and build for you.
Your ShulCloud portal can then live at a separate address or subdomain. Links and buttons throughout the WordPress website direct visitors to the appropriate ShulCloud pages whenever they need to interact with functionality that lives there.
Someone visiting your website might click Donate, Register, Member Login, or another call to action and be taken to the appropriate page within ShulCloud.
To the visitor, it’s simply part of using your synagogue’s website.
Behind the scenes, however, each platform is doing the job it’s best suited to do.
We can customize the appearance of your ShulCloud portal so that it feels visually connected to your new WordPress website.
Depending on ShulCloud’s available customization options, we can coordinate elements such as your synagogue’s logo, colors, typography, and other visual details.
There will still be differences between the two platforms. A ShulCloud page isn’t going to have exactly the same structure and flexibility as your custom WordPress website.
The goal isn’t to pretend they’re the same system. It’s to create enough visual consistency that moving between your WordPress website and ShulCloud feels like a natural part of the same synagogue experience.
This is an important distinction: WordPress and ShulCloud remain separate systems.
Your WordPress website does not directly become part of the ShulCloud database, and content entered into WordPress doesn’t automatically become ShulCloud data.
Instead, we create a thoughtful connection between the two platforms.
When information needs to interact with your ShulCloud database – such as a donation, registration, payment, member login, or other ShulCloud-driven function – visitors are directed to the appropriate ShulCloud page.
That allows your synagogue to continue taking advantage of ShulCloud’s database functionality while giving you much greater freedom over the design, content, organization, and overall experience of your main website.
ShulCloud is an important operational tool for many synagogues. But the goals of a public-facing synagogue website extend well beyond database management.
Your website needs to introduce your congregation to people who may know very little about you. It needs to communicate the personality of your community, showcase your programs, make information easy to find, and create a welcoming first impression.
WordPress gives us the flexibility to design that experience around your synagogue, rather than designing your synagogue’s website around the limitations of a particular platform or template.
That gives us greater freedom with:
Most importantly, we’re able to think about the website first as a communication and engagement tool – while allowing ShulCloud to continue doing the important administrative work happening behind it.
Using WordPress for your public website doesn’t mean abandoning ShulCloud.
Your synagogue can continue using the ShulCloud functionality you rely on. We’re simply changing where your main public website lives and determining the best way for visitors to reach ShulCloud whenever they need one of its tools.
During the planning process, we’ll talk with your team about exactly how you’re using ShulCloud today – your calendar, forms, registrations, donations, member portal, payments, and other features – and determine the best approach for each one.
Your synagogue’s primary domain can be used for your new WordPress website.
Your ShulCloud portal can then use a ShulCloud address or an appropriately configured subdomain, depending on your setup.
We’ll help plan that structure as part of the project so visitors know where to go while the technical distinction between the two systems stays largely behind the scenes.
Absolutely.
We’ve worked with many synagogues that use ShulCloud while maintaining their primary website in WordPress. We understand the relationship between the two platforms and the questions that come up when determining which functionality belongs where.
That experience is important because this isn’t simply about connecting a few links.
It’s about thinking through the entire visitor experience – what belongs on the public website, what should remain in ShulCloud, how people move between the two, and how to make that transition feel as seamless as possible.
You don’t necessarily have to choose between a great website and the synagogue-management tools your organization already depends on.
With the right approach, WordPress can provide the flexible, welcoming, custom-designed public website your community needs while ShulCloud continues to handle the membership and administrative functionality your synagogue relies on.
Let each platform do what it does best.
If your synagogue uses ShulCloud but you’re ready for more flexibility from your public website, we’d love to talk.
Tell us how you’re currently using ShulCloud, what you’d like to improve about your website, and what you want your new site to accomplish. We’ll help you determine the best way for WordPress and ShulCloud to work together.
Give us a ring at 919-438-2180 or send an email to You can also fill out the following form and we’ll be in touch right away.
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