Basic Membership Information
Membership Process and Modules OverviewWithin AssociationSphere, memberships are transactions that are purchased to join a group or receive membership benefits. Memberships typically have a cost and an expiration date, however Lifetime Memberships can be created that do not have an expiration date. Benefits include t…How do I run a report on my memberships?You can create custom reports using the Queries, Filters, and Sorts features on the Summary and Details grid. You can also find report features in the View Builder, Actions menu, Dashboard and a special option for First Membership Date from the Constituents grid. View Builder Th…What is a Membership?Within AssociationSphere, memberships are transactions that are purchased to join a group or receive membership benefits. Memberships typically have a cost and an expiration date, however Lifetime Memberships that do not have an expiration date can be created. Benefits usually i…What is a Primary Contact?The Primary Contact is the person listed as the primary contact for the organization when a company constituent purchases a membership. If no Primary Contact is identified in the company's constituent profile page, this field will be blank.What types of memberships can I create?Types of Memberships Within AssociationSphere there are two basic types of memberships, individual or group. Individual Memberships – one constituent, whether that is an individual or company, purchases and owns the membership and just one constituent enjoys the membership benef…What is a Group Membership?A Group Membership is any membership that contains multiple constituents connected under the same transaction and membership level, such as a corporate or family membership. In the setup of any Membership Level, you can set how many Primary and Secondary members can be included…What is a Gift Membership?Gift Membership is a setting that can be turned on during the setup of your Membership form and can allow for one Constituent to purchase a membership for another Constituent. The purchaser, or Giftor, will pay for the membership and provide the contact information for the recip…What Membership Expiration options are available?Each membership level can only have one type of expiration date and there are several options including: Monthly Memberships - monthly memberships expire at the end of each month and automatically renew for the next month via a credit card. The member would need to reach out to…What is a Rolling Membership?Rolling memberships have a duration entered, typically 365 days, set in the Duration (Days) field. This means if you purchase the membership on May 15th, it will expire on May 14th the following year. Rolling memberships also have an option to extend them to the last day of the…What is a Hard Membership Expiration Date?A hard membership expiration date is a set date in the Expiration Date field for everyone who purchases this level, such as June 30th. Membership levels with Hard Expiration Dates are not renewed in the same membership level, a new membership level or page must be created each y…What does the Membership Dashboard show?The Membership Dashboard consists of 4 graphic panels displaying information collected within your Membership Transactions. The first (top left panel) shows a Pie Chart displaying how many constituents are subscribed in each of your Membership Levels. The second (top right panel…What are the Menu options under the Membership module?Under the Membership module, you will find 9 menu options. Below is a description of each option listed. Memberships – Main membership grid having both a Summary and Detail view so you can see all the specifics related to any membership transactions. Membership Pages – This is w…How do I send a membership renewal reminder?You can set up auto-reminders for membership renewals. You can learn more about auto reminders in this article "How do I set up a membership auto reminder?" You can also manually send reminders using thePrint/Email Mail Merge feature in the Membership Summary grid's Actions menu…Can I auto-renew a membership with a hard expiration date?Yes, you can set your membership page settings for auto-renewal, even with a hard expiration date. For memberships with hard expiration dates, a new membership page must be created each year. Be sure you have your new page created when you are getting close to your renewal date…Can I change what membership page an auto-renewal goes into?Yes. For organizations that have special situations like a different membership page for first time members that require one-time fees or applications, you can choose which other membership page will be used for an auto-renewal. Be sure to have the other page setup with all the…How do I create email lists for my membership?You can create email lists for your members using the Membership grid's Actions menu. If you would like to create different lists based on their levels or status you can add filters to the list first, or use the Quick Queries to identify the group. With the grid filtered as need…Membership CardsIssuing Membership Cards at Registration or Renewal You can activate a feature to automatically send membership cards to members when they register. The membership owner will receive all of the member's cards via an email. You can activate sending membership cards from the membe…Why aren't all company contacts listed as members?Company Contacts are individuals who are identified as employees of the company record. This employer-employee relationship information is independent of memberships. So you are able to identify all the employees at a company, without all of those employees also being part of th…Do all employees or company contacts automatically become members if the company has a membership?No, individuals listed as Company Contacts (employees) do not automatically get assigned to a membership. The company must have a membership and membership level that allows for group memberships. Those individuals who will be participating in membership activities must also be…