Linked Memberships and Subscriptions

netFORUM allows the linking of a chapter membership or subscription with a National membership. When memberships or subscriptions are linked, the following actions will occur:

  • Membership dates will by synced for both the National and Chapter membership even if the Chapter membership is purchased at a later date than the National membership. This also means, for example, that when you renew your National membership, the Chapter membership will also be renewed as result.
  • Chapters may be prorated when added mid-term if desired.
  • Subscription dates will also be synced. If the customer already has the subscription, it will be pro-rated (if the pro-rated flag during Subscriptions Setup is selected).
  • You will no longer be able to renew the subscription manually (through the Renew button on the subscription profile) since it will now be tied to the Membership renewal.
  • Please note that this does not automatically link existing memberships and subscriptions.

Getting Started

Set-Up for Linked Memberships & Subscriptions

In order to link memberships and subscriptions, some set-up must take place as follows:
  1. Ensure that your entity has set the SyncChapterAndSubscriptionDatesWithNational system option to true.
  2. To link a Subscription to a National or Chapter membership upon purchase, you must select the allow sync flag check box (seen below) when setting up the subscription price under the subscription prices child form on the Subscription Profile.
  3. The Subscription that you want to link must be a date-based subscription and not a track-by-issue based subscription.

Once you have completed the set-up tasks necessary for membership and subscription linking, you may complete some of the more common tasks.

Linking a Chapter Membership to a National Membership

When selling a Chapter Membership, you can link the membership to any of the member's existing National memberships assuming that the set-up steps described in the previous section have been followed correctly. When a Chapter membership is linked to a National membership, the membership dates are synced - even if the National membership has been purchased previously - so that, during renewal, they are also renewed concurrently.

To link a Chapter membership with a National membership:
  1. In the Chapter Membership Wizard (on iWeb in COE), select the National membership the Chapter should be linked with in the linkable membership drop-down. This is seen in the image below.
  2. The linkable memberships drop-down will contain all the National memberships the member has already purchased and that are active.
  3. Notice in the image below that the Chapter membership dates are now synced with the National membership dates even if the Join dates differ. Further, the chapter membership child form specifies if a Related Membership has been linked.
  4. The same information is detailed on eWeb under the My Transactions link including a specific note when Chapter Memberships have been linked to a National Memberships under the Related Membership heading as seen in the image below.
  5. Further, take note that the Renew link only appears next to the National membership. As noted, the National membership controls the membership dates and, as such, the renewal cycle. When the National membership is renewed, as seen in the image below, the Chapter or related membership, will also have the option of being renewed as well.

Linking a Subscription to a Chapter or National Membership

When selling a Subscription, you may link the Subscription to any of the member's existing Chapter or National/Association Memberships assuming that you have followed the correct set-up steps described in the previous section for Subscriptions. When a Subscription is linked to a Chapter or National membership, the subscription dates are synced with the Chapter or National membership dates. This means that the Renew button on the Subscription Profile will no longer be present since renewal of the subscription is now tied (or linked) to the renewal of the membership you have linked it to.

To link a Subscription to a Chapter or National membership:
  1. In the COE Add Subscriptions window (from iWeb), select the Chapter or National membership the Subscription should be linked with in the link membership drop-down. This is seen in the image below. If this drop-down is not present, view the set-up section above.
  2. On the add payment form, the line item detailing the subscription will also note that the subscription has been linked to a membership (and the specific member type) under the Addl Info heading. For example, the subscription below was linked to the Regular membership.
  3. Notice in the image below that the Subscription dates are now synced with the National membership dates (in this case).
  4. Further, notice that on the Subscriber Profile, the Renew button is not present. The Subscription will be renewed in the future with the membership it is linked to.
  5. If a member is purchasing the subscription from eWeb, he or she will also have the ability to link the subscription to any memberships (National or Chapter) currently in place through the link membership drop-down, seen below.

    Note: When selling a National and Chapter membership together, you may choose to link the memberships together in the Shopping Cart. Further, if the SyncChapterAndSubscriptionDatesWithNational is set to true, then syncing will automatically occur when purchasing together and they are placed in the Shopping Cart.

Additional Information

The Drop Membership process has additional enhancements as well such as the ability to drop linked memberships at the same time. If you terminate a membership that has linked memberships (such as a national membership that has linked chapters) but do not select the drop related memberships check box to terminate the linked memberships at the same time, the national membership will be dropped as specified and the chapter membership will be automatically unlinked - but not dropped. View the topic on Dropping Memberships for more information.

Tip: Memberships do not need to be unlinked before they can be transferred.