The list displays the following fields:

Membership Type

The type of this membership.

Available

This is the range of dates during which a membership of this type is displayed on membership applications and webforms used to manage memberships.

Duration

Set the duration of this membership type. This information is displayed everywhere that the membership type and memberships based on this type are displayed, including membership signup, renewal and status forms, bills and invoices, and Admin area pages.

Options:

Annual Fixed Term

If the Annual Fixed Term option is selected, the membership duration is one year and the Start Date of the membership term occurs on the same day every year. The membership term's end date is one day before the next year's start date. This is usually synchronized with the organization's fiscal year or with the calendar year. For example, if the Start Date is set to January 1st, the End Date is December 31st. If the current year is 2007, the current membership term is January 1st, 2007 to December 31st, 2007. Next year's membership term would be January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2008.

The next year's membership is automatically created by the application unless membership type availability is restricted in the Dates Available option. Subsequent memberships are configured exactly the same as the first as far as fees, etc., so when membership fees increase, a new membership type has to be added. The easist way to handle this is to edit the existing membership type and set the Dates Available option to the end of the current membership term, then clone the membership type to create a new one and enter new fees and other information as necessary.

Billed membership types that use this duration can be configured to prorate membership fees for memberships acquired after the start date.

Fixed Dates

This duration is rarely used, but allows you to set specific start dates and end dates, regardless of the duration (e.g., the duration could be a year-and-a-quarter or some random fraction of a year). The advantage of the Fixed Dates option is that it can be used to set a date range that isn't available through other options (e.g., the Martian year).

Billed membership types that use this duration can be configured to prorate membership fees for memberships acquired after the start date.

Fixed Duration

Memberships of this type are good for a certain number of days, months or years from the date that the membership becomes current. Because the duration remains constant, fee proration doesn't apply.

Renewing Membership Start Date Behavior

• These fields are used to impose an anniversary date renewal model on the membership process, so that the start date of a renewed membership is set to the date that the previous membership ended. In this model, members have a series of uninterrupted memberships that have the same start and end dates every year.

  If you do NOT want to use the anniversary date model, leave the date value set to zero and the 'Set a new start date based on renewal date' option selected.

• If you DO want to use the anniversary date model, set the date fields to the maximum amount of time during which a membership can be renewed online with no lapse in membership (i.e., have the start date set retroactively to the day after the previous membership expired). This time period is often set to the same value as the membership grace period, but can occur after the grace period expires to give members additional time to renew after experiencing deactivation. This time period can be no longer than the duration of the membership.

  Now select what will happen when a member attempts to renew after this period has elapsed. By default this option is set to 'Set a new start date based on renewal date'. If you want lapsed members to be given memberships that begin on the date that all renewal criteria is met and the membership is approved, leave this set to the default. Note that except for the start date, these memberships go through the normal membership renewal process.

  To prevent these members renewing through the normal online membership renewal processes, set this option to 'Disallow renewal and display the following message' and edit the default message as desired. Organizations that moderate new members but waive moderation for normal membership renewals should consider whether members whose memberships have lapsed by more than a year or so should still be eligible to renew online or if this option should be set to disallow online renewal so the organization can have administrators handle these lapsed memberships on a case by case basis.

An organization's bylaws specify a two-year term for Board members. A Super Admin adds a 'Board' membership type with the duration set to 2 years. The membership for a board member who joins in August 1st, 2008 has an expiration date in August 1st, 2010. This type of membership term is also known as an "anniversary term."

Lifetime

An open-ended membership term that has a start date but no formal expiration date. Once a 'Lifetime' membership goes current, it never expires.

Founding members usually have a permanent place on the organization's board in recognition of the profound role these founders played in the establishment of the organization, so a 'Founding Company' membership type probably has a 'Lifetime' duration.

Display Order

This determines the order in which this membership type is displayed when membership types are listed on forms.

Action

Links to tools that allow you to edit and delete memberships. If you wish to remove a company membership type and the Delete tool link is not displayed, this indicates the membership type is in use. For information on how to delete membership types in this situation, see Delete Company Membership Type.