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Add a Membership to a Contact

Updated
The Goal: Add a membership to an existing contact, organization or individual, directly in the database, generating the member's first invoice.

Before You Begin:

  • You need staff permission to add memberships and create invoices.
  • The membership types you plan to assign must already exist. See Add a New Membership Type and Add Levels to a Membership Type.
  • A membership added to an organization is inherited automatically by the individuals associated with that organization.

The steps below are the same whether you are adding a membership to an organization or to an individual.

Open the Add Membership screen

  1. Open the contact's record. On the Overview tab, find the Memberships section in the right-hand column and click the add (+) icon.
    Contact record Overview tab with the add icon on the Memberships section boxed in red

Fill in the Details section

The page opens as Add Membership. Work down it section by section.

  • Business/Individual: Already filled in with the contact you are adding the membership to.
  • Type: Required. Select the membership type. The list holds the types configured for your system. See Add a New Membership Type.
  • Level: If the type you chose has levels, pick one. See Add Levels to a Membership Type.
  • Term: Fills in from the membership type.
  • Chapter: Shown if you use chapters. Select the chapter.
  • Courtesy: Tick this for a courtesy membership. The status becomes Courtesy instead of Active and no scheduled billing is set up.
  • Sales Rep: Optional. Record which member of staff was responsible for the sale.
  • Join Reason: Optional. Pick a reason, or add one with the + button. You can report on join reasons to understand what new members want from you.
  • Referred By Contact: If an existing contact referred this member, name them here. The referral is noted on the member's record and on the Activity tab of the person who referred them. You can analyze all referrals with the Membership Referral Report.

Add Membership screen showing the Details section with Business/Individual, Type, Level, Term, Chapter, Courtesy, Sales Rep, Join Reason and Referred By Contact

Set pricing, billing and dates

  • Information for Dues Calculations: If the membership type uses custom fields, they appear here. Fill in any that dues calculation depends on, or pricing cannot be worked out.
  • Fee Items: Three grids — Recurring Fee Items, Recurring Once Per Term Fee Items and One Time Fee Items. They fill in from the membership type, level and chapter you chose. Override any of them if you need to.
  • Frequency: Required, at the top of Recurring Fee Items. Choose how often the member wants to be billed.
  • Next Bill Date: Required. Defaults to today and sets up the member's scheduled billing.
  • Membership Start Date: Defaults to today, as the member's join date.
  • Invoice Options: Tick Print, Email or both to set how invoices are delivered by default. Then set Billing Contact (required), Billing Address, Billing Email, Invoice Terms and, if you want one, an Invoice Message. The address and email lists hold the ones already on the contact; the + button adds a new one.
  • Membership Dates: Expiration is required. It is worked out from the term of the membership and whether the membership renews on its anniversary or on a fixed date, both set on the membership type.

Important: dates can be locked

If Enforce Date Rules on Fixed Renewal Month Memberships is turned on under Memberships > Settings > General Membership Settings, you cannot change Next Bill Date or Expiration here. They are driven by the membership term and the renewal option instead.

Add Membership screen showing the Invoice Options and Membership Dates sections and the Advanced Options check box beside Cancel and Done

Optional: Advanced Options

Tick the Advanced Options check box, next to Cancel and Done at the foot of the screen. Three more controls appear.

  • Override (in Details): Overrides price recalculation for this member. Select Do Not Recalculate Price if this member's dues should not be recalculated in future. Leave it empty and recalculation follows the membership type. See Recalculated pricing: how it works and how to turn it on.
  • Initial Membership Status (in Details): Defaults to Active. Change it to Pending Approval if the membership should not go live yet.
  • Project Creation: Tick Create Project and pick a Template to start a project from a template when the membership is added. This needs the project management module.

Add Membership Details section with Advanced Options ticked, showing the Override and Initial Membership Status fields boxed in red

Save the membership

Click Done. The membership is activated and an invoice is generated.

Note: who becomes the primary contact

The organization's default Primary individual contact becomes the primary contact for the membership. If the organization has no individual primary contact, the organization itself is used. To change it, see Change Organization Membership Primary Contact.

Common Pitfalls

  • Locked bill and expiration dates: With Enforce Date Rules on Fixed Renewal Month Memberships turned on, Next Bill Date and Expiration follow the membership term and renewal option and cannot be edited here.
  • Missing membership types: The Type list only shows types already configured. If the one you want is missing, set it up first. See Add a New Membership Type.
  • Pricing that will not calculate: If the membership type uses custom fields that dues calculation depends on, pricing stays blank until you complete them under Information for Dues Calculations.
  • Looking for Override before ticking Advanced Options: Override, Initial Membership Status and Project Creation are hidden until the Advanced Options check box is ticked.

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