Setting up a Member Type

Before selling a membership, you must create a Member Type Profile and add a Dues Rate for the member type. You have the option to create several different types of memberships: lifetime memberships, calendar-based memberships, or anniversary-based memberships.

1. Click the Administration hyperlink located on the Module Menu to launch the Administration module.
2. Click the Member Types group item to view the list of available actions and click Add Member Type.

3. The Membership Type Information form will appear. On this form you will be able to enter information about the member type, its availability for sale, and online information.

Entering Membership Type Information

Enter basic information about the membership type in this section of the Membership Type Information form (seen below). You may select a merchant account in this section and indicate qualifiers such as lifetime membership status, membership term length, allow benefits flow down, and more.

1. Enter a Member Type Code (required).
2. Enter a Product List Order number. This number indicates where this membership type will appear relative to other items in the Shopping Cart or Online Store.
3. Select a Merchant Account from the drop-down menu. This drop-down is available when you want to use separate merchant accounts to designate multiple payment processing options.
4. In the Member Type Name field, enter a name for the membership (required).
5. Enter a Description for the membership.
6. Select the Customer Type from the drop-down menu that my purchase this member type (required). Options include All (individuals and organizations), Individual , or Organization customer types.
7. Select an Affiliate from the drop-down menu. The Affiliates module may be used to define those chapters, special interest groups, sections and so forth affiliated with a member type, committee, event, etc. An affiliate group may be thought of as a more permanent data grouping with its own Website and resources than just a member type or event group. For more information, view What is the Affiliates Module.

8. To make this membership type a lifetime membership, click the Life Time Membership check box (seen below). This indicates that the length of the membership term is indefinite. When this check box is clicked, the Length of Membership Term drop-down menu disappears.
9. If the Life Time Membership check box is not clicked, select a membership term length from the Length of Membership Term drop-down menu.
10. Click the Calendar Based check box to indicate a calendar based membership. When this check box is selected three drop down menus with options specific to calendar-based memberships appear: Month to Start Term (required), Sell for next year after month, and Sell for next year after day. Use these drop-down menus to indicate the month in which to start a calendar-based membership term, as well as on what month and day to sell the membership type for the following year if purchased after that date.
    
    The Prorate Dues check box also appears when the Calendar Based check box is clicked. It replaces the Start Membership Immediately check box under the Calendar Based check box and specifies that dues should be prorated.

11. If the Calendar Based check box is not clicked, the Start Membership Immediately check box displays. If the Start Membership Immediately check box is selected, Anniversary Based memberships will begin immediately on the purchase date.  If it is not selected, the membership will begin the first day of the following month after purchase. For example, if the Start Immediately check box is clicked and a member joins on 4/01/2012, their expiration date will be 3/31/2013.
    
    Keep in mind that the date on which the membership begins is dependent on the number selected in the Percent Paid drop-down menu. For example, if Percent Paid is set at 100%, the membership purchase must be 100% paid before it will become active, and member dates will reflect the date on which 100% of the purchase payment was paid. Also, if the Start Immediately check box is checked, Percent Paid is set to 100%, and the member does not make a complete payment at the time of purchase, assignation of the membership start date and status will be delayed until the membership is completely paid.
12. Click the Allow Benefits Flow Down check box (seen below) if membership benefits should flow down between linked organizations and individuals.

13. In the Grace Period field, enter the number of days the member has to renew the membership after it expires. For example, if the membership expires on 12/1/12 and the membership drop process is run on 12/15/13, even though the membership has technically expired, the member won't be dropped because they still have a grace period in which to pay. If the member has not paid as of January 1, when the January drop process is run, the member will be dropped, because the grace period is over.

14. When Auto Drop is selected for a Membership Type, an overnight process terminates any membership and child membership which has an expiration date equal to the expiration date plus the grace period. The overnight process also fills in terminate date, removes the member flag and receives benefits flags, and terminates any child-related memberships.

    Also, when Auto Drop is selected, the Auto Drop Terminate Reason and Auto Drop Member Status drop down lists display. Select the reason and status for display in the Membership Information and Demographic Information for the member.

15. Select the Member Type Status that will be assigned when this member type is purchased or renewed.
16. Select the Percent Paid payment amount to determine when the membership term starts and ends. If "0%" is selected, the end date of the membership will increment on any (first) payment. If payment in full is a requirement for membership, select "100" as the percent paid requirement. If half of the payment is required, select "50", and if the customer is not required to make a payment in order to gain member status, select "0" as the percent paid requirement
17. Enter several Keywords for the membership type. Separate keywords using commas.
18. Select a Confirmation Template from the drop-down menu.
19. The Members Only check box to the right of the Membership Type Information section allows you to specify whether the membership type being created is available to members only. When this box is checked, the View by Non-Members check box appears, enabling you to make the membership viewable to non-members even though it is members only.
20. Clicking the Force Renew check box to the right of the Membership Type Information section force renews the existing primary membership.

In the Membership Type Information section you may set up several different types of membership: a Lifetime Membership, a Calendar-Based Membership, and an Anniversary-Based Membership. Please visit the linked help topics for more information on each of these membership types.

Entering Membership Type Availability for Sale

In the Membership Type Availability for Sale section, you can indicate whether the membership is active and specify dates of availability.

1. To mark the membership as inactive, click the Inactive check box. If this check box is checked, the membership type will not be available for purchase.
2. Enter Member Type Available From and To dates to indicate the time period in which the membership is available for purchase.
3. Enter Show as New From and To dates to indicate the time period in which the membership should be marked as "new".
4. Enter Featured Product From and To dates to indicate the time during which the membership should be shown as a featured product.

Entering Membership Online Information

This section allows you to specify whether the membership should be sold online and for how long. You may also indicate whether to exclude the membership from the external directory.

1. To mark the membership as inactive, click the Inactive check box.
2. To sell the membership online, enter Sell Online From and To dates in the calendar fields.
3. If the membership should not be included in the external directory, click the Exclude in External Directory check box.