For more than two decades, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has helped campuses around the world turn climate initiatives into measurable, actionable progress.

“We have over 900 colleges and universities that are members of AASHE; they’re the institutions we primarily serve.”

As one of the largest global networks dedicated to sustainability in higher education, AASHE supports institutions in embedding sustainability into every layer of campus life, from academics and operations to research, events, and community engagement.

Fully virtual and globally connected, AASHE runs year‑round programs, webinars, workshops, and conferences that bring together participants from across regions and time zones. As the organization’s programming expanded, so did the complexity of managing registrations, calls for proposals, agreements, evaluations, and documentation at scale.

That growing operational complexity led Daita Serghi, PhD, AASHE’s Senior Education Manager, to seek a solution that could bring structure, flexibility, and automation to their workflows without sacrificing ease of use for a global audience. That search led AASHE to Formplus.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about AASHE and how you discovered Formplus?

“AASHE, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, is a non‑profit membership organization that works with colleges and universities to support and advance sustainability efforts within the education sector,” Daita explains.

“Our members are primarily higher education institutions, and we provide them with resources, programs, events, and tools to support their sustainability journeys. We’re a fully virtual organization, so our team works remotely, and we engage with participants from all over the world.

Each year, we organize many online programs, events, and initiatives focused on sustainability in higher education. Because of the volume and variety of proposals, registrations, agreements, and data we manage, we needed a reliable way to collect, review, and process information at scale. That’s what led us to explore and eventually adopt Formplus.”

The team needed more than a basic form tool. They needed a platform that could handle complex logic, branding, payments, documentation, and collaboration, while remaining intuitive for users across different regions and technical backgrounds.

Q: How does Formplus fit into your daily workflows, and what challenges has it helped solve?

“Formplus is a core part of how we manage proposal submissions, registrations, and agreements for our programs and events,” says Daita.

1. Flexible, Branded, and Intelligent Forms

With Formplus, AASHE builds highly customized, branded forms that reflect its identity and guide users through complex processes without overwhelming them.

Forms are broken into multiple pages and use conditional logic to dynamically show or hide questions based on user responses. For example:

• Registration forms adjust automatically depending on how many people are being registered.
• Questions change depending on whether someone is registering as an individual, a group representative, or a student.
• Pricing logic updates in real time based on participant type, membership status, or number of attendees.

“Instead of one very long form, everything is broken down into pages,” Daita explains. “The form adapts as people answer questions, which makes the experience much clearer for them, and much cleaner for us.”

2. Built‑In Calculations and Payments

Formplus allows AASHE to calculate fees directly within the form and display them back to users before payment.

“Not only does it calculate the registration fee,” Daita says, “but it shows people exactly what they’re going to pay based on what they’ve selected.”

Those calculated totals flow seamlessly into Stripe, which AASHE uses to collect payments securely. This eliminates manual invoicing and reduces errors, while creating a smoother registration experience for participants.

Q: What about using Formplus has been particularly helpful and made the biggest difference for your work? 

“The biggest benefit has been ease and simplicity,” Daita says. “It’s straightforward for people submitting their information and for us on the backend managing it. Before, collecting proposals and responses could feel messy and disorganized, but Formplus brought structure to the process. Another important part is how customizable the forms are. We’re able to tailor them to different events or programs without needing developer support. And the fact that it’s all online and works well for a remote team like ours is a big plus; everything is centralized, and our workflow is smoother.”

1. Secure File Collection at Scale

AASHE also relies on Formplus for collecting files such as headshots, logos, and presentation materials. Unlike tools that require submitters to log into specific accounts, Formplus allows anyone to upload files in multiple formats, with restrictions applied as needed.

“This was especially important for calls for proposals,” says Daita. “We needed an easy way to collect files from people all over the world, without forcing them to have a Google account or log into a different platform.”

2. Automated Documents: Certificates, Agreements, and More

One of the most impactful features for AASHE has been Formplus’s form‑to‑document functionality. Using document templates created in Word, AASHE can automatically generate:

• Certificates of participation for webinars and workshops
• Facilitator and speaker agreements
• Sponsorship and partnership agreements

Participants simply submit a form, and Formplus generates a personalized document using their responses. Certificates can be generated instantly by participants themselves, while agreements are emailed automatically as signed documents.

“We used to create certificates manually,” Daita explains. “Now, we don’t have to touch that process at all. People enter their information, and the certificate is generated and sent automatically.”

Built‑in e‑signature fields make agreements feel official and remove the need for third‑party tools like EchoSign, simplifying workflows and reducing costs.

3. Complex Applications Made Simple

For sponsorships and exhibit applications, Formplus supports highly complex, multi‑section forms with:

• Conditional options based on sponsor level
• Embedded images and descriptions of sponsorship packages
• Automatic fee calculations
• Signature and payment steps

“All of these features can live in a single form,” Daita notes. “It’s powerful, but still manageable.”

4. Data, Integrations, and Visibility

Every Formplus submission automatically feeds into Google Sheets, giving AASHE complete control over their data. From there, the team can:

• Share submissions with reviewers
• Track evaluations and selections
• Send personalized follow‑up emails using tools like YAMM – a mail merge addon for Google Sheets
• Analyze participation trends

Formplus also provides analytics, capturing form views, partial submissions, and completion data.

“It even lets us see partial submissions,” Daita explains. “So if someone started a form but didn’t finish, we can follow up or even submit on their behalf if needed.”

Custom links, email notifications, and embeddable forms further extend Formplus’s usefulness. AASHE embeds forms directly into its website, including membership pricing calculators that dynamically adjust based on institutional data.

Q: Looking ahead, how do you see Formplus supporting your plans or helping you scale your services? 

“We see Formplus continuing to support us as our programs and membership base grow,” Daita shares. “With more institutions joining AASHE and more proposals coming in, scalability and reliability will be even more important, and Formplus already supports that.“

A Central Hub for Global Collaboration

By adopting Formplus, AASHE replaced scattered spreadsheets, long email threads, and manual document creation with a single, centralized system.

“Formplus gives us structure without limiting flexibility,” Daita says. “It supports everything from simple registrations to very complex, multi‑step workflows, and it scales with us as our programs grow.”

For a fully remote, globally engaged nonprofit like AASHE, Formplus has become more than a form builder. It’s a core operational platform that enables efficiency, consistency, and professionalism across every stage of their sustainability programs.

With Formplus, your organization can:

• Create custom digital forms for any program or event,
• Collect files, e-signatures, and structured submissions,
• Use conditional logic to personalize participant experiences, and
• Generate clean, branded documents instantly with Form2Doc.

👉 Streamline your operations and focus on your mission with Formplus. Try it today →