Membership Forms

From Web, you can create and manage web forms to allow website users to purchase memberships from your organization. These membership forms complement your organization’s existing website. For example, you can create membership forms and post links on your website. Other than the links, this requires no changes to your website, and if a membership program ends, you can exclude the membership program to remove the form from the web.

Note: Each form appears on a web page with a standard design and format. Each form also shares a shopping cart, home page URL, and acknowledgement email message. To configure these settings, go to Web and select the tasks under Configuration. For information about these options, see Design Web Pages, Browser Settings and Home Page URL, Web Payment Settings, and Design Acknowledgement Email.

To create membership forms, go to Web and select Manage membership forms. The grid displays your organization’s membership programs and their membership levels. You can access membership program and level records, edit membership programs and levels, approve membership programs and levels for the website to create web forms, and edit the membership form options for your web forms.

Under Membership programs, your organization’s membership programs and their membership levels from Fundraising appear. For information about membership programs, see the Fundraising Guide. Under Live on website, green checkmarks appear for the membership programs and levels that have web forms. When you select an entry in the grid, details about the membership program or level and its web form appear.

To create membership forms and manage existing web forms, select membership programs or membership levels in the grid and use the buttons on the Manage Membership Forms page.

  • To open a membership program or membership level record, select the name in the Name column. The membership program or level record appears.

  • To edit a membership program or level’s properties, select Edit. For a detailed explanation of the options on this screen, see the Fundraising section of the help file.

  • To create a membership form for a membership program or membership level, select Approve for website. If the membership program is active, Altru creates a membership form and a green checkmark appears under Live on website. The URL appears with the membership program or membership level in the gird. On the membership form, website users can purchase memberships. If the green checkmark does not appear under Live on website, check the membership program’s status to confirm that it is active.

    Note: Membership forms are only available for annual membership programs with dues-based membership levels. Other types of membership programs, such as recurring or lifetime memberships, may appear on the Manage Membership Forms page, but the Approve for website button is disabled when you select them.

  • To remove a membership form, select Exclude from website. The membership program or level still exists in the database, but its form is no longer active. If users attempt to access the form, Altru redirects them to the home page you designate on the Website URL screen. For information about the home page, see Browser Settings and Home Page URL. Also, if you exclude a membership level but not its membership program, users can not select that level on the web form for the membership program.

  • To configure membership form options such as the fields to include, select Options. When you approve a membership program or level for the website, it inherits the default membership form options. With the membership form options, you can adjust the settings for each membership form. For more information, see Membership Form Options.

  • To filter the membership programs and levels in the grid, use the filter tool. You can filter by membership program name or by whether the membership programs are active.

  • To configure renewal form options such as the fields to include, select Renewal options under Configuration. The settings on this screen apply to all membership renewal forms. For more information, see Membership Renewal Options.

    Note: If an existing member purchases a membership for a membership program that only allows one membership per person, the membership form automatically renews the membership. But if the membership program allows multiple members, the membership form adds an additional membership to the patron record.

    Warning: If a membership program has too many members available for a web form, you may encounter performance issues or a poor user experience. If these occur, reduce the number of possible members on the Levels tab of the membership program record. We recommend allowing no more than 10-15 members per level.