Three Rings is 10 years old in 2012! And, to celebrate our birthday and our Nightline roots, we’re giving every organisation using Three Rings a discount: every invoice issued in 2012 will be at our ‘unaffiliated Nightline’ rate of just £40!
Back in 2002, Three Rings was a tiny project intended to help the 10 or so volunteers that ran Aberystwyth Nightline. But word of mouth soon spread, and more and more Nightlines began to adopt Three Rings, and each new organisation wanted to tell other organisations about us…
The login page for Three Rings v0.721. Codenamed "Aloha", this was the first version to provide the Wiki feature.
…Now, ten years later, Three Rings supports over ten thousand users, at more than a hundred and twenty separate organisations, including Nightlines, Samaritans, and similar support networks around the UK and Ireland – and some even further afield.
Throughout that time, our aim has been the same: to streamline helpline administration so that volunteers can devote more time helping their callers, and less time to paperwork. We’ve aimed to provide the highest quality service, and the best, most flexible system we can make, at the lowest price we can afford so that every Three Rings client – from the largest Samaritans branch to the smallest Nightline – gets the best deal available, and can save more resources to devote to things like training and publicity.
We’ve always been open about our pricing structure: individual Samaritans branches pay £150 a year, with no extra set-up charges or support fees, and Samaritans regions get a discount rate of just £120 per branch and access to our powerful suite of Regional Tools to support collaboration between neighbouring branches. Meanwhile, we support the Nightline Association by providing Three Rings free to affiliated Nightlines, and for £40 a year to non-affiliated Nightlines.
We’ve been able to keep these charges low thanks to our own dedicated team of unpaid volunteers – including our grassroots champions and advocates amongst our users – and through the use of the same free, trusted technologies used by Internet giants such as Amazon and Google. Right from the start, we worked to ensure a scalable architecture and a strategic business model that meant Three Rings would become increasingly sustainable as its popularity grew, rather than risking the company overreaching itself with rapid expansion.
With our scalable business model, and over 120 organisations using Three Rings, we're able to continue to improve the system and still reward your faith in us so far.
Thanks to that scalable structure, each new organisation we bring on board helps to sustain and improve Three Rings for all the others and, as we enter our 10th year, we think it’s time we gave something back. We’ve been planning to do this for a while, and it’s the best way we can thank you for helping us to help everyone:
To celebrate our 10th Birthday, and to reflect our support for the Nightlines that helped inspire and improve early versions of Three Rings, every invoice we issue during 2012 will be for the ‘unaffiliated Nightline’ rate of just £40 per organisation. That means our standard rate for Samaritans Branches, for non-affiliated Nightlines, and for any other comparable organisation, will be just £40 for the whole of 2012 (unless you’re a Nightline affiliated with the Nightline Association, in which case we still won’t charge you anything!).
If you already use Three Rings, you’ll be invoiced on your usual date. Every organisation will be issued an invoice for just £40, as if they were an unaffilitated Nightline, even if they’d normally pay £150. Samaritans Regions will be invoiced at £40 per branch, instead of the usual discount of £120 per branch. And, if you’re an organisation that decides to start using Three Rings in 2012, you’ll still get our standard full calendar month trial, and an invoice for £40 if you’d like to keep using the system after that.
An early version of Three Rings being presented at a Nightline conference in 2003
A decade ago, we never dreamed this project could get so popular with Nightlines, let alone with organisations like Samaritans, but our aims haven’t changed: we still want to make it easier for you to get volunteers on shifts. It’s thanks to the support of our existing clients that we’re doing so well in achieving that goal, and it’s thanks to our future clients that we’ll be able to build on our successes in the future.
So this is our way of saying thanks, not just to the Nightlines that nurtured us in the past, but to the Samaritans that continue to suggest enhancements today, and to the organisations curious about what we can do for them over the coming months. It’s a thank-you not just for the support you’ve given to us, but for the assistance you’ve given your fellow Three Rings users, and the vital support you continue to give your callers. Enjoy this year’s celebratory discount, and have some cake on us!
Thanks guys.
Your normal fee is easily the best £150 we spend. £40 is fantastic value for a system which makes so much difference to the way we run our branch and the saving will more than cover our costs for one day’s operations in 2012.
Keep up the good work.
Coventry & District Sams
Thanks, Roger! It really means a lot to us to know that we’re helping you a little “on the front line”, too, by reducing your costs for the year.
To all the Three Rings Team
Although we only came onboard this year Three Rings is making a fantastic difference, really appreciate your generous offer to an already very low charge – will make sure at least some of our volunteers enjoy a slice of cake.
Thank you again
Taunton & Somerset Sams
Hi Ian,
It’s great to hear we’re making a difference for you – thanks for the kind feedback!
To all the Three Rings Team
Congratulations on your 10th anniversary! What an achievement!
It is almost our 1st anniversary and what a difference Three Rings has made to us with our rota, communications and much more. It has all been made possible through your dedication and your fantastic support – thank you!
We have always considered this to be money well-spent but this is such a very generous offer especially at a time when costs are rising!
Slough Maidenhead and Windsor Samaritans
Thanks Katherine! I know there’s a lot of people feeling the pinch right now, especially in the third sector, so I suppose this is pretty well timed! We couldn’t have done it without the support and encouragement from our users, though, so I really appreciate knowing we’re helping, and I’ll make sure the rest of the team know, too!
Have a great year!
We started using 3 Rings in June, and as everyone says it makes a huge difference – everyone is using it – we even have one volunteer who had never ever used a computer, and since we gave her access to 3 rings she has bought a laptop and has an email address – so you are changing lives.
Great value, and very generous to offer a discount this year.
Congratulations, you are a great team.
Jenni, Basingstoke Samaritans
Thanks for the feedback: it’s always great to hear success stories like yours! It’s been a “hidden bonus” to us that, for some volunteers, Three Rings is the thing that finally makes computers accessible to them, and empowers them to bring the Internet into their day-to-day lives, if they want.
To all at Three Rings
As a new user this year we would have written to say how great the rota system is and how helpful and responsive all of the team are. I don’t think I have ever used a system that is so easy to use and so easily accepted by all of the members of Kettering Branch.
In additon to this you are now only going to charge us £40 and all we can say is that we are very grateful and will ensure that the £110 is used wisely.
We at Kettering & District Samaritans would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Properous New Year