Web Design | Membership Website | Alumni Association
Griz Football Players Association
A website for former Griz football players to reconnect, join the association, and stay involved. Built on Squarespace and Outseta, with a year of ongoing work as GFPA grows.
- Client
- Griz Football Players Association
- Industry
- Alumni association, nonprofit
- Location
- Missoula, Montana
- Platform
- Squarespace & Outseta
- Working together
- July 2025 to present
- Website
- grizzlyfpa.com
- 150+members as of September 2026
- 7 weeksfrom approval to launch
- 21 minutesto get a new events page live
- 3lifetime memberships sold in one month
“Website Golf Event Registration page is live! John rocked it.”
Background
Bringing former Griz players together.
The Griz Football Players Association started in 2025 to help former Montana Grizzlies reconnect across generations, support the current team, and help fellow players through the Curt Colter Memorial Foundation.
When they reached out, they already had a launch date. The association would officially kick off on September 12, 2025, at a dinner honoring the Don Read era at the Adams Center.
At that point, their online presence was a ticket page for the dinner. They needed a website that explained the association and let former players sign up and pay their dues. It all needed to be ready that night.
Process
Getting ready for September 12.
Shalon Baker, a board member I’d worked with before, arranged our first call in July. A week later, founding president Brian Toone gave me the go-ahead. We had about seven weeks to get everything built and tested.
The board shared decades of Griz football photos, which gave me a good starting point for the design. I used the program’s maroon and copper, tall lettering, and a little texture to tie the site together with the older photography.
We initially tried MemberSpace for memberships, then switched to Outseta before launch. Having membership plans, payments, logins, and member records together made it a better fit for what GFPA needed.
The board tested signups on September 10, and the site went live on the 12th. That afternoon, I set up payment notifications so they could keep track of sales as people joined.
Two weeks later, GFPA had 53 members.
Design
Making it feel like Griz football.
The photos, colors, and history gave the site its personality. My job was to bring those pieces together and make it easy for people to find their way around.
I built the site with custom code on Squarespace, using shared fonts, colors, and styles across every page. That gives me room to build the features GFPA needs while keeping the design consistent as we add to it.
The board can edit the copy through Squarespace, and new pages start with the same design foundation.
Membership
Joining is one part. Managing your membership matters too.
As GFPA headed into its second year, we added four membership levels:
- CopperFree
- Silver$150 per year
- Gold$500 per year
- Lifetime Legacy$3,700 once
Each level runs through Outseta. Members who upgrade receive credit for what they’ve already paid.
One thing we heard from members was that they couldn’t see their level or figure out how to change it after signing up. I built a members hub to give them a clear place to do that.
After logging in, members see their name, contact information, membership level, and renewal date. From there, they can open their account settings to update billing, upgrade, or cancel.
That information comes directly from Outseta, so it stays connected to their membership account.
Custom Development
Keeping the member wall up to date.
The GFPA Member Wall recognizes members by level, starting with Lifetime Legacy. New members appear automatically within an hour of joining.
The goal was to keep it current without asking someone on the board to maintain another list.
I connected the page to GFPA’s membership records through a secure connection. It keeps the account’s access key off the public website and passes along only the information the wall needs: each member’s name, years played, and membership level.
- Membership recordsEvery member’s account and level
- Secure connectionKeeps the access key off the website
- What gets sharedName, years played, and membership level
- Member WallGrouped by level on grizzlyfpa.com
I also gave the membership levels their own treatment. Lifetime members have a dark maroon card with a subtle gold highlight. Gold members have a foil effect, and names appear as you scroll down the page.
Getting the full list to show up.
The first version of the wall showed 55 of GFPA’s 137 members. The problem was in how the membership data was being requested and returned.
I worked through the requests, adjusted how the records were collected, and added a check against the total member count. If the numbers don’t match, the system makes additional requests in smaller batches.
By that afternoon, all 137 members were on the wall. The count check also makes it easier to catch a problem if one comes up again.
Member names are blurred for this case study. See the live member wall.
Events & Fundraising
Building what GFPA needs throughout the year.
The work has continued as the association adds events, fundraising programs, and ways for members to stay connected.
In June 2026, GFPA announced its first golf tournament, the Hack. I set up registration and hole sponsorship payments through Outseta, worked through changes with the board, and removed the pages after the tournament in September.
A few other additions from the year:
Eli Gillman Touchdown Pledge
For Eli Gillman’s final season, GFPA committed $100 for every touchdown he scores and invited fans to make their own pledges.
I built a page where supporters can choose an amount per touchdown or make a one-time pledge. The form changes based on their choice and sends a thank-you email after submission.
There’s no charge at signup. GFPA handles invoicing through Stripe at the end of each month.
Washington-Grizzly Stadium’s 40th Anniversary Weekend
The board needed a page for the October 15–17 anniversary weekend, with a daily schedule, ticket information for former players, and a way to call for reservations.
I had it live 21 minutes after the request came in. Having the site’s design and page structure already in place made that turnaround possible.
Cussin’ & Discussin’
I added a page for GFPA’s podcast with Ty Hobbs and DJ Colter, including a guest list and embedded Apple Podcasts and Spotify players.
The players update as new episodes are released, and adding guests is a quick update.
Ongoing Work
Still working together a year later.
I’ve supported GFPA every month since launch. Board members reach out with updates, questions, and ideas, and I help get them onto the site. Many requests are finished the same day.
First call with the board, followed by a proposal and approval within a week.
Website, memberships, and payments ready for the launch dinner. GFPA reaches 53 members in two weeks.
New membership levels, plus registration and sponsorships for the Hack golf tournament.
Sponsorship checkout updates based on board feedback, along with the 40th Anniversary Weekend page.
The Eli Gillman Touchdown Pledge, podcast page, members hub, and member wall.
Tournament pages come down after the event. Membership passes 150.
What went into the website.
Custom Squarespace design
Custom sections with shared styles, so the site stays consistent as new pages are added.
Outseta memberships
Membership plans, logins, billing, upgrades, and a members hub connected to each person’s account.
An automatically updated member wall
A secure connection keeps the wall in step with GFPA’s membership records while keeping the account’s access key private.
Forms and follow-up emails
Squarespace forms with fields that change based on someone’s answers, responses saved to Google Sheets, and automatic thank-you emails.
Payments and donations
Outseta and Stripe handle membership dues and add-ons. Squarespace Payments handles donations, with payouts to GFPA’s bank account.
Monthly support
Page updates, member questions, board account support, and new features as they’re needed.
Where Things Stand
More than 150 members, and more to come.
A year after launch, GFPA has a place where former players can join, manage their memberships, register for events, support fundraising efforts, and find each other.
As of September 2026, the association has more than 150 members. More than 120 have joined or renewed since May, and the board is working toward 500 members by the start of 2027.
I’m continuing to work with them as the association grows and they figure out what comes next.
“It helps a ton to see how words work on the page and overall design, which is really clean.”
“John has been working hard to get us ready and prepared for our launch.”
“Everything is already pretty much laid out and looks awesome!”
Need a website for your association or club?
I help organizations put their websites, memberships, and payments together in a way that makes sense for the people using them.
I’m a Squarespace Platinum Partner based in Missoula, Montana. Tell me about your group and what you need. I’ll help you figure out the setup and give you a clear idea of what it would take.
Planning one yourself? Start with my guide on how to plan a membership website on Squarespace.
406-381-8981