How to Set Up an Annual, One-Term Membership Program

When you add an annual membership program, you determine if there is only one set term or if multiple terms exist. For example, some annual programs are valid for one year. Other programs use multiple terms to keep members engaged for longer periods of time. If a single-term, one-year annual membership costs $100, a two-year term for the same membership program may cost only $170. The member saves money and gets a good deal and your organization has twice as long to build a relationship and interact with the member.

When you set up an annual, one-term membership program, you complete a series of tabs with information about the program. As you indicate whether the program is dues-based, contributions-based, or both, the tabs and fields change to reflect the information needed for the specific type of program.

This workflow walks through the setup of an annual, one-term membership program, along with the different tabs and fields you encounter along the way.

Before you begin, consider whether your membership program is going to include any benefits A benefit is an extra token, service, or gesture provided to constituents based on their giving. Benefits may or may not have an explicit monetary value. Benefits can include things like stickers, coffee mugs, or magazine subscriptions. or add-ons A membership add-on is an additional offering to be sold or included with memberships, such as parking passes or guest memberships., as you can set these up in advance. Benefits include items given to the member when joining at a certain level, such as a key chain or calendar. Add-ons are items members can purchase in addition to the membership, without any impact to the membership level. For example, at any level, you might allow members to purchase an additional member or "plus one" for a guest. For more information, see Membership Benefits and Membership Add-ons. Also consider whether you need to create a membership promotion, such as 20% off, to offer when someone purchases the membership. For more information, see Membership Promotions.
From Memberships, select Add. The Add a membership program screen appears. The first fields on the screen are for general information about the membership program, such as its name and description. For more information, see General Information about the Membership Program.
On the General tab, make key choices about the type of membership program you want to set up. This workflow is for an annual, one-term program. However, you can still choose whether membership in the program is based on dues, contributions, or both. This workflow covers all three scenarios. For more information about dues and contributions, see Rules for Dues and Contributions.

On the General tab, you can also enable the annual dues-based programs for auto-renewal. For more information, see ***
On the Levels tab, set up the levels for your membership program. You need to have at least one level, but you can have multiple levels. For example, you might have a standard level as well as a premium one. When you enter your levels, begin with the lowest or most basic level first.

For dues-based programs, each of your levels has one price. You can also specify the number of members, membership cards, and children allowed for each level.

For contributions-based programs, you set minimum and maximum amounts for each level. The lowest level might be any gift under $50, while other levels may be between $50 and $99, $100 and $249, and so on.

If your program includes both, you specify how people obtain each level—whether it is purchased with dues or awarded with contributions. You then specify the amounts for each level accordingly.

For more information about levels, see Membership Program Levels and Terms.
On the Levels tab, you can also specify add-ons for dues-based programs or levels. Contributions-based programs and levels do not use add-ons. Any additional benefit is a reason for a member to upgrade to a higher level rather than remain at a lower level and purchase the add-on. For more information about add-ons, see Membership Add-ons.
On the Benefits tab, select which format to use for your membership cards, along with the name format to use for members. In addition, you can indicate whether any portion of the membership amount is tax deductible. If the membership program has any benefits, you can assign those to levels on this tab. The benefits will be awarded when memberships are added. For more information, see Membership Benefits.
For a dues-based program, the Dues tab appears. For a contributions-based program, the Contributions tab appears. And if it has both, both tabs appear.

On the Dues tab, you set rules for any membership dues received, including tax deductibility and payment options. In addition, you can specify which promotions, if any, can be used when memberships are purchased. For information on these options, see Rules for Dues-Based Programs and Levels.

On the Contributions tab, you set rules for any membership contributions received, including the types of giving activity that count toward a membership and what happens if someone gives more than the amount specified for a level. You also specify when the contributions-based membership expires. For information on these options, see Rules for Contributions-Based Programs and Levels.
On the Renewals tab for a dues-based program, specify whether the membership term varies based on the start date of the membership or based on a fixed date such as a calendar year. You also specify when dues-based levels expire.

To expire the memberships for the program on the same day and month every year, select Is fixed and enter the month and day in the Expiration date column. In the Push to next period after column, enter the membership join date that extends the membership until the next expiration date. For example, you enter 12/31 in the Expiration date column. If you enter 09/01 in the Push to next period after column, the expiration date for a constituent who joins on or after September 1 is December 31 of the following year, not the current year. You can enter multiple rows of dates in this grid if you want to expire and push multiple dates throughout the year.

Then on the Renewals tab for dues- and contributions-based programs, you set up the renewal window and determine how members' statuses change based on where they are in the window. For information about renewals, see Manage Renewal Information for Membership Programs.
The final tab is the Review tab. On this tab, you can select each level on the left and view information about the level on the right. If you need to make any changes to the information, you can select back through the tabs. Otherwise, select Save.