Manage Membership Part V: Transfer Membership (From One Contact to Another)

Manage Membership Part V: Transfer Membership (From One Contact to Another)

1. When a membership is transferred from one contact to another, the recipient contact becomes the primary member/holder/owner of the membership. Transfer is generally used when someone has purchased a membership and cannot use the remaining benefit/time on it and wishes to transfer it to someone else to use. This most often is done when one spouse/partner dies and then ownership of the membership is transferred to the surviving spouse or when a family member wishes to transfer the unused portion of a membership to a different family member (maybe a parent to an adult child or vice versa). Transfer is different from a gifted membership in that, for a gifted membership, the recipient is the primary member from the start.
2. To transfer a membership from one contact to another, start by viewing the contact record and scrolling down to the membership widget (you may need to turn this on on Available Widgets if you are not seeing it) and click View All OR go to Main Menu: Membership: Manage Membership. Click the drop down to the right of the membership that you want to transfer and select Transfer.

   
   

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3. On the resulting pop-up window, the Membership Start Date and Membership End Date (and Transfer From) fields will be locked - you cannot alter the membership start and end date during transfer (if you need to alter the membership start and/or end date, you will need to edit the membership first, then complete the transfer). You can, however, change the Transfer Date (back date or post date) if so desired.

   

4. Next, select the contact to transfer the membership to in the Transfer To field (you can add a new contact "on the fly" if the contact is not already in your database). This will be the new primary member.

   

5. Fill out any Other Members if this is a group membership. Be sure to not only select the name but to also click the + button to add them. Please Note: the former primary member will NOT be a part of the new membership by default; if you want them to still be on the membership (as a secondary member), then you will need to manually add there here in the Other Members field. Also please note: if the membership was originally entered under the wrong contact and you wish to update the membership to reflect the correct primary member, it is not recommend that you use transfer to do this as it makes for a messier record. Instead, it is recommended that you delete the erroneous membership and re-enter it under the correct primary member. Slightly more complicated data entry/more steps, but it will result in a cleaner record and easier reporting.

   

6. Finally, click the Transfer button in the lower right to save the changes and Transfer the membership to the new contact.

   

7. On View Contact for the former primary member, you will notice that the membership has been inactivated (if you haven't added them as a secondary member on the transferred membership.

   

8. On View Contact of the new primary member, if they were on the original membership (as a secondary member), you will see that they still have just one membership entry/thread but the transfer shows in the history.