Manage Memberships Part III: Renewing Memberships (including Batch Renewal)

Manage Memberships Part III: Renewing Memberships

1. When it is time to renew a membership, do NOT create a new membership record for the member/contact. Also, do NOT edit the existing membership record and extend the end date as this will just make it look like one continuous membership record and obscure the history of renewals. Instead, you should use the “renew” function.
2. Adding a new/second membership for the member will create reporting issues. You will then have one active and one inactive membership, which will make it nearly impossible to create reports that exclude people who have an inactive membership but also an active membership.
3. Memberships can be renewed before or after they expire.
4. You cannot upgrade or downgrade a membership or change membership levels/categories via the Renew function. Instead, you need to use the “Change” option.
5. You cannot transfer a membership between two members using the Renew function. Instead, you need to use the “Transfer” option.
6. Memberships can be renewed one at a time or in batch (see instructions for using the Batch Renewal function starting at step #17).
7. To renew a single membership ("one at a time" method versus the Batch Renewal - see step 27 below - function which allows you to renew multiple members at once time), from the Main Menu, click on Manage Memberships, search for the contact name that you want to renew using the search box option (the membership may be on the Active, Inactive, or Lapsed tab), click on the drop down menu to the right of the contact’s name and select Renew OR view the contact record, scroll down to the membership widget, and select Renew from the drop down to the right of the membership.
   

   

   

   

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8. Select if this is a Gifted Membership (is this person receiving the membership as a gift). If it is a gift, select Yes and enter the name of the giftor and click Proceed. Otherwise, select No and Proceed.

   

   

9. Fill in the necessary fields such as Registration Date (the start date of the current membership term) [Note: the Registration/Membership Start date CANNOT be before the most recent memberships end date; that is, memberships cannot overlap. If Sally’s current membership ends on 2/1/2017, then her renewal cannot start before 2/2/2017. Membership terms/dates must be consecutive; there can be no overlap], the Transaction Date (the date on which they are renewing/the data entry date, and/or the date the transaction is being processed), etc.

   

10. If you have your system set to manually entered membership numbers and for renewals to get a new membership number (instead of carrying forward the original membership number), enter the Membership #. Otherwise, the membership # will auto-populate.
11. You can link the membership to a Program and/or Fundraising Campaign if applicable (these fields can also be configured in the membership level configuration, in which case, they will auto-populate).
12. If you want this membership to auto renew in the future, click on the Set Auto Renewal You can only select this option if the payment method is credit card. When you click the Set Auto Renewal, a box will pop up asking for the credit card information. If you cancel without saving the credit card info, the Set Auto Renewal box will uncheck itself. You cannot set an auto renewing membership without adding the credit card information.

    

    

13. The Membership Details will auto-populate from the membership level's configurations.
    

    

14. The Membership End Date will auto populate based on the membership level configurations. You can opt to over-ride the end date if need be; however, keep in mind that the end date cannot be prior to the Registration/Membership Start date.

    

    

15. You can also over-ride the Tax Deductible Amount if applicable by checking the Override box and entering a new value.

    

    

16. In the Promotions section you can override the default price/cost. Select the Complimentary Membership option if you want to "comp" the membership and provide it for free. Select Price Override if you want to set a new price (for discounts, for example). For both types of price changes, you will need to enter a reason/note for the price change.

    

    

    

17. If you have configured the Membership Additional Information custom data set (added fields to the Membership Additional Information section), then you will see this section at the bottom of the screen. Fill out any applicable information here.

    

18. After completing all of the fields, click SAVE at the bottom of the screen.

    

19. If you have a membership form configured, you will be presented with the membership form (if this is a group membership/membership for more than one person, you will be presented with on membership form per member). Verify/update the information in the membership form and select Save at the bottom of the screen.

    

    

20. Finally, click Receive Payment in bottom left of the screen to record payment.

    

21. Enter the payment details and select Receive Payment to save. Select Receive Payment and Send Receipt to send a payment confirmation email to the (primary) member (the payment receipt email uses the Configurations: Email Notifications: Financial Payment Receipt template.

    

22. If you entered mode of payment as Credit Card and the card issuer requires "Strong Customer Authentication" (referred to as SCA or PSD2 authentication), a box will pop up asking you to initiate the authentication process. SCA is a new requirement for credit cards issued by European banks or for credit card transactions taking place on European websites for the card holder to authenticate an online purchase by indicating they are the ones who has initiated/authorized the transaction (see this explanation of SCA from Stripe for more information).

    

    • Click the authenticate button and then you will have to wait until the card holder completes the validation process on their end. Once they do (and authentication is completed successfully), the transaction will finish saving automatically.
    • If the card holder fails to authenticate the transaction within the specified time frame or denies the transaction, a authentication failed message will appear on the screen.

      

23. To renew several memberships at once, use the Batch Renewal function.
24. You cannot change the membership level from Batch Renewal. Instead, you need to choose "Change" from the Membership Index screen. See our tutorial or changing/upgrading/downgrading memberships.
25. From the Main Menu or from the left hand menu inside of Manage Memberships, select Batch Renewal.

    

26. Enter the date range of membership end/expiration dates in the filters at the top of the screen or filter/search by membership number (by default, the filter populates with the start and end date of the current month).

    

27. In the results list, click the white check box to the left of each membership you wish to renew. This will open up the Renew Date, Payment Date, Payment Mode, Payment Reference #, and Renew Cost fields for editing. Fill out these fields, keeping in mind that the Renew Date (start date of the new/renewed membership period cannot be before the current membership expiration date. That is, if Jane's current membership expires on January 17th and she calls on January 10th to renew, you cannot set her Renewal Start Date early than January 18th/you cannot set it before her current membership runs out. Memberships periods mus be consecutive - they cannot overlap).

    

    

28. By default, the renewal date will auto populate to the day AFTER the most recent/current membership ends. You can update/change this date if need be, just keep in mind that this membership renewal/start date cannot be prior to the end date of the current membership.
29. Enter the payment date (required), payment mode (required), and reference # (optional).
30. Adjust the renewal/membership cost if needed.
31. If the member is also making an optional donation, click the Add Donation button. This will add an additional row where you can specify the Fund, Source, and Amount of the donation (if you need to add additional donation details, such as Program or Campaign, then you can either edit the donation(s) after the fact or use the regular Add Gift or the Batch Gift Entry function to enter multiple donations rapidly with all of the additional information that you wish to record.

    

    

32. After you have filled in the required info for each renewal, click Renew Selected in the lower right.