What this does: Walks you through annual dues billing from setup checks to sending invoices, so dues go out correct the first time.
Applies to: GrowthZone associations that bill membership dues, mainly fixed-renewal memberships (billed at the same time once a year). Most steps also help if you bill monthly. Steps for fixed renewal only are labeled. You need staff access to Finance and Memberships settings.
Before you start: Agree on your business rules (see Decide before you start) and know your billing month.
Time needed: Start 6 to 8 weeks before your billing month. The run itself takes an afternoon.
On this page
Why this matters
Most of this guide focuses on fixed-renewal membership billing (memberships billed at the same time once per year), but almost all of the processes are also useful if you bill your members monthly. Steps specific to fixed renewal memberships are clearly labeled.
If you have questions about whether a particular setting or workflow is right for your association, contact GrowthZone Support. If you have successfully run billing in the past using different settings and processes, keep doing what works for you.
Terminology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Association dues / membership | Any fees for a membership that a member pays on a regular basis. |
| Fixed Renewal membership | A membership type where all members are billed at the same time. |
Decide before you start
Before you begin your billing prep, gather your team and decide on the following business rules:
- What date does our membership year start, and are we billing in advance or in arrears? (This drives every date in Phases 2, 5, and 6.)
- Are dues increasing this year? If so, on what effective date should the new pricing take over?
- Do we want the system to charge stored payment profiles automatically, and on what date — and do members get an invoice first?
- What is our policy on applying existing member credits to dues invoices, versus letting members choose where their credit goes?
- Do our dues deductibility statement and other required disclosures need to change from last year?
- Who on staff owns billing questions and bounced-email notices, and whose address goes in the From field?
Work through these six phases in order. Phases 1 through 4 are preparation you can do well ahead of your billing date; Phases 5 and 6 are the billing run itself.
Phase 1: System Setup Review
Turn the right features on and the wrong ones off. Because dues are typically billed once a year, these recommendations favor giving your team control over your billing instead of automating the process.
1.1 — General Billing Settings
Go to Finance, Administrative section, click Billing Settings and select General Billing Settings.
| Setting | Recommendation | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Logo for Invoices and Statements | Confirm one is uploaded | The logo here is used in the <logo> merge field on your invoice and statement templates. If you need precise placement and sizing, insert your logo directly onto your invoice template(s) — go to Settings, General section, click Document Generation Templates. Note: in that case you would remove the <logo> merge field from your template. |
| Use Automated Billing | Disable | Automated Billing is useful if you frequently bill members for a small set of items. When you have a variety of dues and fees billed on different schedules, it can complicate your process by requiring you to constantly monitor when members will receive invoices. When enabled, this feature hides advanced controls to set the invoice date and due date of your dues invoices. |
| Lead Time Days | Set greater than zero (15 suggested) | This field restricts access to Invoice Before Autopayment when set to 0. The exact value only matters if you are using automated billing. Since you are not, set this to 15 — a reasonable default if you choose to use automated billing in the future. |
| Invoice Before Autopayment | Enable | With this enabled, invoices that indicate the invoice will be paid by payment profile (on a specific date) generate when you run your upcoming billing. You can set the date these automatic charges happen when generating your membership dues invoices. |
| Auto-Apply Credits to Newly Created Invoices | Disable | This should be disabled if you frequently credit members for specific items. If it is enabled when running your billing, credits for things like event registrations or sponsorships will be applied to membership dues. Members may have been planning to use a credit for something similar in the future and could be unpleasantly surprised when they discover it was already used. |
Phase 2: Membership Pricing Changes and Configurations
Configure your membership types so the system follows your membership year, and schedule any dues increase in advance instead of editing prices on billing day.
2.1 — Enforce Date Rules on Fixed Renewal Month Memberships (fixed renewal only)
Go to Memberships, click Settings, then select General Membership Settings and enable Enforce Date Rules on Fixed Renewal Month Memberships under Miscellaneous Options.
This setting prevents you from unintentionally changing the Next Bill Dates for scheduled billing items linked to memberships that renew on a certain date. It prevents most situations where a member does not receive a membership dues invoice when they should have.
2.2 — Fixed Renewal Memberships: Membership Type Settings (fixed renewal only)
Fixed renewal membership types for association dues should be set to have everyone renew on the start date of the membership period. Even if you bill for memberships in advance or in arrears, this date should be the start date of the membership term (often the start of your fiscal year or the start of a new year).
Go to Memberships, click Settings, then select Membership Types and edit each association dues membership type.
| Field | Set to | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Term Length | 12 (months) | All association dues membership types should be set to a term length of 12 months. |
| Renewal Pricing | Do not recalculate price | You may have previously configured your membership types to recalculate. The newer feature for dues increases (see 2.3 below) is faster and easier. Set your membership to “Do not recalculate price” so you can use it. |
| End Type | Manually ended | GrowthZone can automatically drop members who have not paid for a set number of days after their original invoice date. We strongly suggest setting your membership to “Manually ended” for association membership types. |
| Renew Everyone On | January 1st | This setting helps the system follow the membership year as defined by your association. Adjust if your membership year does not begin January 1. |
2.3 — Fixed Renewal Memberships: Membership Pricing Changes (fixed renewal only)
This feature allows you to define when to charge increased membership dues and have the system automatically bill at that new rate for charges on or after a certain date. You can set this for one or more fee items on a membership. This feature does not yet work with formula-based pricing.
To set new prices for a membership on a certain date:
- Edit the membership type’s pricing.
- Enable Change prices on…
- Pick your desired date for new pricing to start.
- Enter new prices in the Price on <date from step 3> column. Note: leaving a field blank in this column carries the current price forward. (If using levels, see the note below.)
- Save your changes.
- Repeat for each affected membership type.
For associations using Levels within Membership Types: set the Change prices on… date within the Membership Type pricing screen, then make pricing adjustments on the Level(s) itself.
To use this feature, please ensure:
- Your membership type is set to a specific “Renew Everyone On” date (see 2.2 above).
- Membership recalculation is disabled (see 2.2 above).
- Formula-based pricing is disabled.
Phase 3: Verifying Your Data
Catch unintended issues before you run billing, not after members receive the wrong invoice.
3.1 — Review Next Bill Dates (fixed renewal only)
We built a tool to help associations identify members (if any) that may have the wrong next bill dates for their annual scheduled billings. Because your association has set the “Renews On” date to Jan 1 for association memberships, the system can use that information to flag next bill dates that don’t align with the expected date. Use this tool to double-check that members will be billed and charged on the dates you expect.
To use this tool:
- Go to Finance, Administrative section, click Mass Updates and select Review Next Bill Dates.
- Review the members listed (if any). Members listed here have next bill dates that aren’t expected — meaning the current Next Bill Date is different from the “Renews On…” date set on each membership type. Notice the Current Next Bill Date and Proposed Next Bill Date columns.
- Filter results (if needed) by Status, Membership Type, or Current Next Bill Date. Then click Load to see the proposed results.
- Click Update to kick off a mass change for those filtered results, updating Current Next Bill Date to Proposed Next Bill Date. This updates all scheduled billing with incorrect next bill dates even though only the first 500 are listed. If you have more than 500, use the Download button at the top of the screen to review every scheduled billing item that will be changed.
3.2 — Review Reports to Validate Membership Billing
Use the reports listed below to confirm that your data is complete and accurate. Verifying this data — though sometimes time-consuming — catches unintended issues before you run billing. Save your reports so you can easily run them each time you prepare to generate upcoming billing.
| What to confirm | Report to use | If it’s wrong |
|---|---|---|
| All active members have scheduled billing | Membership Report | If the member doesn’t have a scheduled billing, use the upgrade/downgrade options to assign one. |
| All scheduled billing is set for the correct amount | Membership Report | If the scheduled billing amounts are not correct, use the adjust membership option to update the schedule. |
| Dropped members do not have scheduled billing | Membership Report | If a dropped or non-member has a scheduled membership billing, this is rare and will require our support team to fix. |
| Members have an email address to receive their invoice | Membership Report | If the membership does not have a billing contact or address information, use the adjust membership option to assign this information to the membership. |
| No expired payment profiles | Stored Payment Profiles Report | If updates are needed, contact your members to access the Info Hub to update. |
- → Review Next Bill Dates
- → Check scheduled billing before you run billing
- → View Report of Active Members Scheduled Billing Accuracy
- → View Report of All Dropped/Non-Members With a Recurring Billing
- → View Report of Active Members Missing Billing Contact and Billing Email
- → Stored Payment Profiles Report
- → Adjust a Contact’s Membership
Phase 4: Communication and Messaging Review
Make sure the documents and emails your members receive say what you want them to say this year — and that your staff sees the alerts when something goes wrong.
4.1 — Review Invoice Template(s)
We suggest creating a new invoice template for each year’s association dues billing. This gives you a chance to review your dues deductibility statement and update other policies that may have changed since last year. Go to Settings, General section, click Document Generation Templates to review and update your template.
4.2 — Review Email Template to Send with Invoices
Creating a new email template for each year’s association dues billing makes it easy for you and your staff to collaborate on your billing preparations. Using a new email template can help trigger discussions around dues deductibility statements or other policies you want members to see both in their dues email and on their invoice document. Go to Marketing & Communication, Communication section, click Settings and select Email Templates to review and update your email templates.
4.3 — Review Member-Facing Automated Messages
The following emails are sent to members throughout the invoicing and payment process. Review the templates below to make sure they accurately describe your association’s processes and follow your brand standards.
- The Online Payment Receipt email template is sent when the system successfully charges a saved credit card, or when a member pays an invoice with a credit card.
- The Recurring Charge Failed email template is sent if a member has saved a credit card, but the payment processor has an issue charging it.
Note: whether you’ve created a new email template or just want to double-check which template will be sent, set the correct email template in Automated Messaging — go to Marketing & Communication, Communication section, click Settings and select Automated Messaging.
4.4 — Ensure Staff Enable Billing-Related Notifications
Make sure you and your staff receive the right notifications to keep your billing process running smoothly. Just like an airplane safety video, set your own notifications before assisting the rest of your team with theirs. To modify your notifications, click your name in the top right of the screen, then click My Notifications. View all billing-related notifications by setting the Category to “Billing/Finance.”
| Notification | Sent when |
|---|---|
| Auto Payment Failed | The payment processor cannot charge a saved credit card. |
| Charge Capture Failed | Very rare. Sent if the payment processor successfully authorizes a charge with a card but cannot capture the payment. (Credit card lingo 101: an authorization is sometimes called a “hold” and checks if a card is valid and can accept a charge for the total amount. A capture is a request to move money from the credit card bank, e.g. Visa, to the payment processor.) |
| Duplicate Charge Detected | A member tries to pay the same amount twice in a short period. Guardrails on the invoice payment page and in the Info Hub usually prevent this, but sometimes members find a way. |
| Failure to Send Receipt | A GrowthZone issue prevents a member from receiving a receipt. Members can access receipts from the Info Hub, or you can email the member a receipt from the contact record’s Billing tab, using Actions next to the payment. |
Phase 5: Run Upcoming Billing
You are now ready to generate your invoices for membership dues. The steps below use an example of a membership year that begins on January 1st and is billed several months in advance — adjust the dates as needed for your association and by-laws.
5.1 — Filtering Scheduled Billing Items
Go to Finance, Billing section, click Upcoming Billing. Click the filter (funnel) icon next to the search box — or select Customize Results… at the bottom of the Month dropdown — to filter to the memberships you want to generate invoices for.
- Set the Month dropdown to your billing month and year (example: January – 2024).
- Select your association membership type(s) from the Membership Types dropdown.
Notes:
- The system will only generate invoices for the scheduled billing items displayed from your filtering.
- If using the Change prices on… feature (from 2.3 above), you’ll still see the old pricing in the amount column on Upcoming Billing. An icon next to the amount indicates the price will change. The effective date pricing will be used when you run billing.
5.2 — Generate Invoices
Click the arrow next to ADD BILLING and choose Run Upcoming Billing. A few fields to set on this screen:
- Enable the Advanced Options checkbox to reveal the Overrides fields.
- Set your desired Invoice Date (example: 10/1/2023).
- Set your desired Due Date (example: 11/1/2023).
- Set your desired Scheduled Payment Date (example: 11/1/2023). This is when members with saved credit cards will be charged for their association dues.
- Select the Invoice Template you created or reviewed earlier.
- Click Run to generate your invoices.
Phase 6: Deliver Invoices
Get the invoices you just generated into your members’ inboxes, all at the same time.
Once invoices have been generated, deliver them from All Sales/Invoices — go to Finance, Billing section, click All Sales/Invoices. Members who have saved a credit card for dues billing will receive an invoice noting that their card will be charged on the Scheduled Payment Date you selected when running billing. All other members will receive a traditional invoice.
Note: we recommend using All Sales/Invoices to deliver your invoices. However, if you have previously sent invoices from Unsent Invoices (formerly the Pending Delivery tab), feel free to continue using that process. Just be sure to clear out Unsent Invoices before running upcoming billing.
6.1 — Filter to Select Invoices
To deliver the newly generated invoices, go to All Sales/Invoices, click the filter (funnel) icon, and customize your filters:
- Set the Invoice Date to 10/1/2023 (or the date your association desires).
- Set the Fee Item to be one of the line items of your membership. This will include all your membership dues invoices but exclude any other invoices created with the same invoice date.
6.2 — Email Invoices
After filtering the invoices, prepare to send them by clicking the arrow next to NEW INVOICE and selecting Email Invoices / Statements.
- Set the Template field to the email template you previously created.
- Set the From email address where you’d like to receive billing questions or notices about bounced emails.
- Check Select All to send all membership dues invoices (if shown). This is critical if handling more than 500 invoices — it ensures that all of your members receive their invoice at the same time.
- Review the message to make sure everything looks correct.
- Click Send to email your invoices.
Consultant pro-tip: Bill one member before you bill a thousand
The most expensive dues-billing mistakes are the ones that go out to every member at once — a stale invoice template, a wrong scheduled payment date, a dues increase that didn’t take. Before your real run, filter Upcoming Billing down to a single member, generate that one invoice, and read it end to end: the amount, the dates, the deductibility statement, the autopayment language. Five minutes there saves a week of apology emails. And do your Phase 3 data verification early enough that you still have time to fix what it finds — a missing scheduled billing discovered in November is routine, and the same one discovered on billing day is not.