Introduction
In CiviPlus a membership is simply is a record that is attached to a contact record, either individual, organisation or both. Every membership has a specific type - you can see how to configure a Membership Type in the article here
The membership record includes a number of key pieces of information
Shows what category of member that person is
Shows the status of the membership (i.e. current or expired)
Shows when they joined
Shows when their membership will finish
Tracks the status of any contribution related to holding the membership
Note: A contact can have more than one membership record attached
Membership records can be created in a number of different ways:
Through the CiviPlus user interface you can manually create a membership record
CiviPlus can automatically create a membership for contacts who are part of an organisation that is a member - this is known as "Inherited Membership"
Members can sign up via an online form, which may include an application review/approval process
You can import memberships into CiviPlus.
Manually creating a Membership record
The simplest way to create a new membership is using the CiviPlus user interface. Navigate to Memberships -> New Membership and complete the form that is shown:
Enter the name of the Member that is going to hold the membership. This can be an individual, or an organisation. If you select an organisation to hold the membership then you can decided whether individuals who are related to the organisation (eg Employees) can automatically "inherit" the membership. This is covered later in this article.
Now you can either choose a Membership Organisation and then one of the Membership Types available, or a Price Set which may have been configured to allow a mixture of subscription elements. See the article here on how to configure Membership Types, or the article here on how to configure Price Sets.
If you choose a Membership Organisation and Type then the price will be automatically filled in the Contribution Total Amount field further down the form. You can also specify the Number of Terms, which will affect the amount to be paid and also the membership end date.
If you choose a price set then you will need to select one or more of the pricing options shown to you. the Total Amount will be shown, and the Contribution Total Amount will be updated.
Now you can enter the Source of the new membership. For example, you may decide to record how the member contacted you (eg, by Phone, email, letter etc), or you could use it to describe when/where it happened (eg at an event, conference etc).
If CiviCampaign is enabled on your system the next field, Campaign, allows you to choose the campaign that this membership resulted from. This is a more sophisticated way of tracking engagement that the Source field mentioned above.
There now follows a series of fields that cover the various dates related to the membership:
Member Since defaults to the date that this membership is being created. This value will stay the same, even if the membership is renewed.
Unless you override it, the Membership Start Date will be automatically set when the record is saved based on how the Membership Type has been configured. For example, if this is a "Rolling" membership type then the Start Date will be set to the date that the record is created, if this is a "Fixed" membership type then the Start Date will be set to the Fixed Period Start Day for this membership type.
Unless you override it, the Membership Expiration Date will be automatically set when the record is saved based on how the Membership Type has been configured. For example, if this is a "Rolling" membership type then the Start Date will be set to the date that the record is created, if this is a "Fixed" membership type then the Start Date will be set to the Fixed Period Rollover Day for this membership type.
The Membership Status is normally assigned and updated automatically based on your configured membership status rules. However, you can use the Status Overide field to manually assign a status, choosing either "Override Permanently" or "Override Until Selected Date" beore selecting from the available status options. As long as the Membership Override is active, the automated membership status update script will NOT update this membership record.
If you select "Override Permanently", The status you assign will remain in force, unless it is again modified on this screen.
If you select "Override Until Selected Date", it will behave same as "Override Permanently" but will revert to "No" once the selected date is reached.
Finally, you can specify whether the membership is Free or Paid.
Contribution and Payment Plan
If the new Membership is flagged as "Paid Membership" then you can complete the Contribution and Payment Plan fields, or leave the defaults provided by the membership Type.
Contribution Fields
Record Payment from a different contact? If someone other than the member is paying for this membership (for example, a gift membership)and you want to link the payment to the person who is actually paying then check this field. You will then be able to select an existing contact or enter a new one. The resulting contribution record will be linked to the payer, and a soft credit for that contribution will be linked to this contact (i.e. the member).
Contribution Total Amount - This is the total amount of the membership related contribution. It defaults to the Minimum Fee specified for this Membership Type.
Contribution Financial Type - This defaults to the Financial Type specified for this Membership Type.
Contribution Date - This defaults to the current date.
Record Payment - This option is selected by default, and the the default Payment Method is displayed along with a Transaction ID field. Depending on what payment method is selected, different fields may be shown (your system may be configured with different payment methods)
Cash / Debit Card / Bank Transfer / Accounts Receivable - None
Credit Card - Last 4 digits of the card
Cheque - Check Number
Send Confirmation and Receipt? if this option is selected a membership confirmation and receipt will be automatically emailed either to the new member, or to the contact who has paid if this is a different person. You can use the Receipt From field to specify who the email be be from, and either complete the Receipt Message box to send a specific message, or leave blank to use the standard System Workflow Message.
Payment Plan Fields
Schedule - You can specify "Monthly", "Quarterly" or "Annual" and CiviPlus will automatically divide the Contribution Total Amount into 12, 4 or 1 payments with appropriate Due Dates.