Introduction to Membership Programs

From Memberships, you can manage your membership programs A membership program is a way your constituents can connect with and support your organization. Membership programs can be annual, recurring, or lifetime. Depending on the program, memberships may be awarded to constituents after they have contributed a certain amount of money or memberships may be purchased by constituents.. You can also access membership-related reports and tasks.

There are three types of membership programs.

• Annual programs are for memberships of a specific length with an expiration date.

• Recurring (or sustaining) programs are for memberships with no expiration date as long as a set amount is paid on a recurring basis.

• Lifetime programs are for memberships with no expiration date as long as a set amount is paid in full within a specific timeframe.

In addition to the membership program types, you must determine how people obtain the membership: by payment of dues, by contributions above a certain level, or a combination of both. Revenue for dues-based memberships A dues-based membership is one that constituents purchase. is typically reported as membership revenue and posts to ledger accounts specifically for memberships, whereas revenue for contributions-based memberships A contributions-based membership is one that is awarded to constituents based on the cumulative amount of their contributions. is typically reported and posts as contributions or donations. You might also have a membership program that is a hybrid of these. Lower levels may be dues-based, while some higher levels, like giving societies, may be awarded based on cumulative contributions.

Note: Currently, recurring and lifetime membership programs can be dues-based only, not contributions-based.

When you add a membership program, you complete a series of tabs with information about the program. As you make choices and enter information about the program, the tabs and fields change to reflect the information needed for the specific type of program.