Add a Membership

From Memberships, select Add a membership to add a single membership transaction. You can enter and save a single membership transaction. When you save the Add a membership screen, the membership and the membership revenue transaction are immediately created.

To enter multiple memberships at one time, you can use the Enter membership dues batch. Batch entry gives you added convenience, control, and audit trail than the one-off screen. For more information, see Add Membership Dues Batches.

Note: If you are adding a membership to a program whose payments are made in another system, several fields and sections on this screen are not available. In the What are they paying for section, the payment options do not appear. The Is there a discount or promotion section does not appear. The Do they want add-ons section does not appear. The Are they also giving a donation section does not appear. The How are they paying section does not appear. In addition, the Do not receipt, Tax deductible amount, and Total amount fields do not appear. For information about these types of programs, see How to Set Up a Program for Memberships with Revenue in Another System.

From Memberships, select Add a membership under Tasks. The Add a membership screen appears. For information about the items on this screen, see Add a Membership Screen.
If your organization configures multiple generalledger account systems and implements site security, and you have rights to work with multiple account systems, the Account system link appears. To select the account system to apply the payment toward, select the link.

Warning: After you save the payment, you cannot edit its account system. To apply the saved payment to another account system, you must delete the payment and add it again.
Select whether to create the dues for a membership for the constituent or toward a gift of membership for another constituent.

If you select Giving a membership to someone else, enter information about the gift of membership.
1. In the Name field, search for and select the constituent to receive the membership as the primary member. You can search for the constituent by name, lookup ID number, or telephone number.
2. In the Send renewal to field, select whether to send renewal notices to the giver, the primary member, or both.
3. Select whether the constituent pays for the gift of membership anonymously.
Under Who is paying for this?, enter information about the constituent who pays the membership dues.
1. Search for and select the name of the constituent who pays the membership dues. Or, if you receive the payment in response to a membership renewal effort, enter the finder number from the reply form to identify the constituent.
2. In the Date field, select the date of the payment. For example, select the current date or the date you receive the payment.
3. If you receive the payment in response to a membership renewal effort, search for and select the effort to track its effectiveness.
  
  Note: If you identify the constituent by finder number or source code, the Effort field automatically displays the membership renewal effort and appeal.
4. Under Transaction notes, enter any additional information to track about the membership transaction.
Under What are they paying for?, enter information about the membership to apply the payment toward.
1. Select whether to use the payment to add, renew, or upgrade a membership.
  
  Note: If you are upgrading a member to a higher level or longer term, certain fields are not displayed. For information, see Mid-term Upgrade for a Membership.
2. If the membership program allows you to pledge its dues, select whether to pay for the transaction in full, pay only the first installment, or create an installment plan without making any payments.
3. If the payment amount includes additional revenue to apply toward the next installment, select Pay other amount and enter the amount to apply. If you want any additional amount to count as a donation instead of a payment toward the next installment amount, you can still use the "Are they also giving a donation" fields on the screen.
4. Select the program, level, and term of the membership transaction.
5. By default, the Expires on field displays the expiration date of the membership, based on the transaction date and term of the program. Edit the expiration date as necessary.
6. By default, the Amount field displays the cost of the membership dues, based on the program, level, and term. Edit the membership amount as necessary. If you want to reduce the amount of the transaction, consider using promotions instead of manually changing the transaction amount.
Select whether to apply a membership promotion to the transaction. If you select to apply a promotion, enter the applicable promotion code.
If the membership program allows add-ons such as guest passes, select the add-ons to include in the transaction.
If the selected program level allows multiple members, under Who should be included on this membership?, search for and select the constituents to include as members. If the membership program allows child members, under Number of children, search for and select the constituents to receive child memberships.
Under Which members should receive a card?, select the members to receive membership cards. For each member selected, enter the name to appear on the card and adjust the expiration date as necessary.
If the payment includes a donation to your organization in addition to the membership dues, enter information about the donation.
1. Under Are they also giving a donation?, select Add a donation of, enter the donation amount, and select whether the constituent gives the donation anonymously.
2. To apply the donation to a major giving plan opportunity, search for and select the opportunity.
3. Search for and select the designation to which to apply the donation.
4. In the Category field, select the category for the donation amount, such as Membership Giving. Your system administrator configures the selections available for this field.
5. In the Campaigns field, the default campaigns for the selected designation appears. To apply the donation amount toward other campaigns, select Edit. On the Campaigns screen, search for and select the campaigns to apply the donation toward.
6. If you set up solicitorcredit rules for major giving in Prospects, the Solicitors field displays the default solicitorfor the selected opportunity. To credit other solicitors with the donation, select Edit. On the Solicitors screen, search for and select the solicitors to associate with the donation and how much credit each receives for the donation amount.
7. In the Recognition field, the default recognition credits for the constituent appear. To edit the recognition credit associated with the donation, select Edit. On the Recognition credits screen, search for and select the constituents to receive recognition credit. For each constituent, select the type, effective date, and amount of recognition credit received and the designation to which to apply the credit.
If the constituent pays for the first installment or creates an installment plan without making a payment, set up the installment schedule.

Tip: If you have an irregular installment schedule that is similar to one of the "regular" schedules (such as annually, quarterly, or monthly), you can select the regular frequency first. The payment schedule and amounts default according to the frequency you select. You can then modify the dates and amounts to meet your needs. For example, if you want a 12-month installment plan with a first payment of $50 and subsequent monthly payments of $5, you can first select a frequency of monthly. The 12 monthly installment dates and amounts will default into the schedule with the amounts evenly divided. You can then easily modify the amounts to reflect your payments.
1. In the Frequency field, select the frequency of the installments, such as Monthly or Single installment.
2. In the Starting on field, select the due date of the first installment.
3. In the No. installments field, enter the number of installments into which to divide the payments.
4. Select Send reminders to make installment plan reminders available to be included in pledge reminder processes.
5. The grid displays the regular schedule for the membership installment plan, based on the frequency, start date, and number of its installments. To set up an irregular installment, such as if the constituent requests to skip a month, edit the Date and Amount columns as necessary.
6. Under How are they paying?, enter information about how you receive the payment, such as by check or credit card. If this is a recurring membership and you chose to create the recurring gift, but not make the first payment, you can still enter credit or debit card information. The token will be saved to use for future recurring gift payments for the membership.
7. In order to process direct debit payments in euros from a constituent with a bank account which uses the "Europe (SEPA)" banking system, the organization must have a signed SEPA mandate on file from the constituent which authorizes the organization to draw funds from the constituent's account. In the Mandate field, select an existing mandate or select Add to add a new one.
8. Select whether to send an acknowledgement to the constituent for the payment.
  
  To send an acknowledgement, select the letter to send the constituent when your organization includes the payment in an acknowledgement process.
  
  To apply the revenue to a tribute, search for and select the tribute.
The Total amount field displays the total amount of the payment. In the Tax deductible amount field, enter the monetary value of the payment, such as for a receipt. For example, if the constituent receives benefits for the payment, this amount is the total amount minus the total benefit amount.
Your organization may run a receipt process to automatically generate a receipt for the payment. To exclude the payment when you run this process, select Do not receipt.
Select Save. The record of the payment appears and the membership record has been created.

For information about the items on the payment record, see the Revenue Guide.