Adding members manually

A member is a contact who has been assigned to a membership level.

There are three ways a member can be added to a WildApricot database:

• By members themselves, using an online self-service membership application form.
• By an administrator, using a spreadsheet to import membership data in bulk.
• By an administrator, manually, one at a time.

Bundle coordinators can also add members to their bundles. For more information, see Membership bundles.

An administrator can add a member directly, or add a contact then convert the contact to a member. In either case, you will be asked to choose whether to generate an invoice or activate without an invoice.

Important note: Before you can add a member to a bundle, you must first discontinue that member's recurring membership payments. For instructions, see our help article about recurring payments.

Adding a member directly

To add a new member directly, hover over the Members menu and select either the Summary or List option.

From your member summary or member list, click the Add member button.

On the next screen, you fill in the member's details.

You can specify the following information about the member.

• Membership level – This is a required field. See Membership levels for more information.
• Password – You can assign an initial password if you want, but the member can always set this password themselves using the Forgot password link.
• Common fields – Fields that appear on all forms and apply to all contacts. When manually adding a member, only one of the Email, First name, Last name, or Organization fields is required. A value should be specified for Email since it is required to log onto a WildApricot site.
• Membership Fields – Additional fields used by members only. For more information, see Adding and modifying database fields.

If you check the Send notification to member checkbox, then the member will receive the application initiation email.

When you are finished entering details about the member, click the Save button.

If you have entered an email address that is already in your database (even if it is part of an archived record), an error message will appear with a link to the existing contact's record.

After you click the Save button, you'll be asked whether you want to activate the membership without generating an invoice, or just generate an invoice. If you choose to just generate an invoice, the membership might not be activated until payment is received and/or the application is approved by an administrator, depending on the membership level settings. Once the membership is activated, the activation email will be sent to the member.

When you add a member manually, an email with their password is not automatically sent. You can email the password to the member by clicking the Email new password button from the member's Contact details tab on their contact record.

To customize the password email, hover over the Settings menu and click the Contacts option. Under the Contacts settings list, click Password email.

Converting a contact into a member

You can convert a non-member contact into a member.

A contact does not have to be a member of your organization. For example, a contact can be an event attendee or a donor without having been assigned a membership level.

To convert a non-member contact to a member, follow these steps:

1. Hover over the Contacts menu and select the List option.
2. Find the contact's record.
3. Open the contact's record by clicking on it within the list.
4. Click the Membership tab.
5. Click the Assign membership button.
   
6. On the Assign membership screen, choose the membership level. You can also assign a password, and enter information in the common and membership fields.
7. Click the Save button to save your changes.

Activating the membership and generating an invoice

When you manually add a member, or convert a contact to a member, an invoice is not automatically generated. You will be asked to choose from the following options:

• Activate without invoice – activates the membership without generating an invoice. Choose this option if you are waiving the membership fee or if you do not want to track this transaction in WildApricot.
• Generate invoice – generates an invoice for the member application. The member can then pay the invoice online through their profile or by using an offline payment method (e.g. cash, check). Depending on the settings for the selected membership level, the membership might not be activated until payment is received and/or the application is approved by an administrator.
• Cancel – cancels the membership, but keeps the contact in the database.

After saving the invoice, you can email it to the member. Emailing the invoice is an effective way of letting the member know that payment is required.

Once the membership is activated, the activation email will be sent to the member.