4.5 Membership Renewals

This video gives background and context to the topic which is also documented following:

Please note that while this video includes Rolling Membership,  this was to cover the very few existing sites. It is not an option we offer currently.

Select Membership renewals on the Home Page. The membership Renewals page lists both Current and Lapsed members, as Beacon believes they are the members who might renew.

Note: Members with other status values cannot be renewed without first changing their status to Current or Lapsed. For example a former member with the status Resigned needs to be changed to Current so that their name can be selected on the Renewals screen, as demonstrated in the video above.

For u3a's with rolling membership years, all Current and Lapsed members are shown.

For u3a's with a fixed membership year, depending on the time of year there are 2 or 3 options that can be selected, all based on the Next Renewal date for the member:

• Next year: those who have not renewed for next year. This option is only visible during the Advance Renewals period prior to the start of a new year.
  
  
• Current year: those who have not renewed for the current year, but did renew the previous year
  
  
• Previous years: those who didn't renew for either the current nor previous year.  

After selecting one or more members, the following operations are available by choosing from the drop-down list below the table and pressing the Do with selected button:-

• Send email: opens a form on which to compose an email (see 6.1)
  
  
• Send letter: opens a form on which to compose a letter (see 6.2)
  
  
• Add to poll: presents a list of Polls to add the members to
  
  
• Renew Selected members: see below

IMPORTANT
Members should only be renewed by this facility or online. Do not change the Member Record or enter a renewal transaction directly.

If a renewing member is changing Membership Class, the class on their Member Record must be updated BEFORE processing the renewal payment so that the membership fee will be correct. Please refer to 4.5.1 Changing membership class at renewal for more information about changing Membership Class.

If a member has become newly eligible for Gift Aid, this needs to be reflected by:

• Entering a date in the "Gift Aid from" box on the Member Record before processing the renewal payment, or
• By ticking the Gift Aid box while processing the renewal payment,
• Making sure that a Title is in for the relevant member.

If a member is no longer eligible for Gift Aid, this needs to be reflected by:

• Blanking out the date in the "Gift Aid from" box on the Member Record before processing the renewal payment, or
• By unticking the Gift Aid box while processing the renewal payment

 Making such changes does not affect the Gift Aid eligibility of Transactions already in the system.

To Renew Members

Multiple renewals can be made, but only against one account and payment method at a time. It is recommended not to do too large a batch at a time in case an error occurs:

• Select the Account to be credited. This is likely to be the Current account or the Membership account if you have one set up (see 7.10 Financial Approaches for guidance on how to manage your membership payments)
• Select the Payment Type, e.g. cash, cheque, BACS. etc.

For each member to be renewed:

• Locate the member in the list and check that their address and other details are still correct.
  
  
• If a member's Gift Aid status has changed this should be updated by ticking or unticking their Gift Aid box. This does not affect any previous Gift Aid claims for that member.
  
  
• If another member lives at the same address, both may be renewed together by ticking the checkbox in the Incl Partner column [A]. After ticking, both names will be grouped together and the renewal fee will be adjusted accordingly.
  
  If one of the 2 members is eligible for Gift Aid and the other not, make sure to tick Incl Partner for the member that is eligible for Gift Aid. If the non-eligible member is ticked the Gift Aid for the eligible member will not be claimed.
  
  
• Edit the amount received in the Received column (if different to that displayed). Any amount above the expected fee Due will be treated as a donation.
  
  
• Tick the checkbox in the Select column for the member [B].

When you are ready to process the batch of renewals select Renew selected members from the drop-down list below the table and press the Do with selected button.

Beacon then asks for confirmation.

IMPORTANT: Exercise caution if experimenting with the Membership Renewals command – once  Continue has been pressed it is too late to go back!

A confirmation page will be displayed. Here you may enter a Payment Reference for each renewal (e.g. cheque number, paying-in slip number, etc.). Press Update to save this. You do not need to press Update If you do not wish to enter Payment References.

Note 1. Please refer to 4.5.2 Members renewed by mistake to see how to reverse a membership renewal.

Note 2. Please refer to  4.5.3 Generate a list of members who have renewed to see a video demonstrating how to create a list of renewed members.

Revision History

v2	2020-08-10	Graham Tigg	Mention that the Membership a/c could be the default account for some u3a's.
v3	2021-04-26	Lyn Bossons	Links added to 4.5.1 and 4.5.2
v4	2021-05-07	Graeme Bunting	Link added to 4.5.3
v5	2021-07-02	Graham Tigg	Added confirmation dialogue box.
v6	2022-04-25	Graeme Bunting	Video added.
v7	2023-01-12	Graeme Bunting	Notes about changing Gift Aid status updated. New images added.
v8	2023-02-18	Graeme Bunting	Notes added about renewing resigned former members and processing a renewal for members living at the same address when one if Gift Aid eligible and the other not eligible.
v9	2023-08-24	Graeme Bunting	Reference to 7.10 Financial Approaches added
v.10	2023-11-01	John Alexander	Add the system ensuring that a Title is present when selecting Gift Aid