10.2 Members Portal

If you are a Current U3A member you can log in to the Members Portal to see information about your U3A’s Interest Groups and Meetings that only members can view (as long as your U3A has enabled these features).

You may also be able to do the following:

• Add or remove yourself to/from Groups
  
  
• Update your personal details
  
  
• Upload your photo (to be used on your membership card)
  
  
• View and print personalised Calendars for the Groups that you belong to
  
  
• Renew and pay for your membership online.

a) Logging on to the Portal
Your U3A should have provided a link to access the log-in page (probably on your U3A website):

  

Type in your Membership number, Forename, Surname, Post Code and email address, then press Confirm Identity. 

• If you can’t remember your membership number, it is shown on your Membership Card.
• Forename and Surname are case sensitive and have to be entered exactly the same as on your Membership Card (which is generally all lower case except the first letter in upper case). If you have registered a familiar name (e.g. Ed, Dee) then that is also accepted. The Post Code and email fields are not case sensitive.
• Beware of using predictive text or ‘copy & paste’ to complete your name – it may insert a blank space after your name which will make the log-in fail.
• If you are unable to log in to the Members Portal, it may be due to not having JavaScript enabled in their browser. This can be remedied as described at https://enable-javascript.com/

 After logging in you will see the Select an option screen where there are usually 3 choices available:

• Your U3A Groups (see section b)
• Calendar of Meetings & Events (see section c)
• Update your Personal Details (see section d)

From the time when membership renewals are being accepted you may also see an option to Renew Membership. This will remain there until your membership has been renewed (see section e).

b) Your U3A Groups
Click Your U3A groups from the Select an Option page. The information displayed in this members’ Groups List may be more detailed than that on the public Groups List and is personal to you.

• Click on any Group to view additional information about the Group
• Groups that you belong to are indicated MEMBER
  
  
  
  
• You can add yourself to a Group by clicking Join group
  
• You can leave a Group by clicking Leave group
  
• When joining or leaving a Group you will be prompted to confirm the operation and the Group Leader will be notified by email.
  

Note: You may need to scroll downwards to see the Join & Leave prompts.

 

c) Calendar of Meetings and Events
Click Calendar of meetings and events from the Select an Option page to open a Calendar of meetings from the current date to the end of the year. The information displayed in this Members’ Calendar may be more detailed than that on the public Calendar, and is personal to you.

Click on any Calendar entry to view additional details about the event. Some venues have yellow links that can be clicked to open a map of the venue and/or the website.

Creating your own Personal Calendar

You may personalise the Calendar in a number of ways: 

• Selecting All displays every Calendar entry:
  
  
  
• Selecting a specific Group from the drop-down list displays only the entries for that Group:
  
  
  
• Selecting the blank space at the top of the drop-down list displays only General/Open Meetings (those not related to a specific Group):
  
  
  

• Selecting Own groups and general meetings displays only the Groups that you belong to, plus any Open meetings.
  
  
  
  

Downloading the Calendar

When viewing any version of the Calendar, press the Download button below the table to open or save a pdf file with details about the meetings that are displayed on screen.

 

You will be given the choice of Opening the file onscreen or Saving the file in your default download location (folder). Clicking the arrow next to Save gives the option of doing a Save-as to a specified location.

d) Updating your Personal Details
Click Update your personal details from the Select an Option page.

You may update the following details about yourself:

• Title, Forename & Surname
• Known as (e.g. William may be known as Bill). This will be printed on your membership card instead of your Forename.
• Suffix: an honour, e.g. MBE
• Initials, Mobile phone number and Email address
• Emergency Contact – the name and phone number of a friend or relative (make sure that you have permission to share their details).
• There is a box which you can tick if you don’t wish to allow the Leader of any Group that you are a member of to see your contact details.
• There is also the option of uploading your photo which will then appear on your next membership card. The picture must be saved as jpg, png, or gif, maximum file size 2MB. A square format photo (aspect ratio 1:1) is advised to suit the space on the membership card. Photos can be cropped to a square using a smartphone app or other photo editing software (if you are unsure how to re-size a photo, send it to your Beacon Admin or Membership Secretary to upload it for you).

You may update the following details about where you live:

• House Number/Name & Street
• Additional line (for a Village or District name)
• Town
• County (may be blank because a County is not required according to Post office address guidance)

There is an option to change the Security question and answer. This is not in use and the option will be removed in a future enhancement of Beacon. Note for System users (Membership Secretary, those managing Groups etc.) this does not change the question and answer used if you forget your password - this is updated from the Personal Preferences page.

After making any alterations to your details, press Update Personal Details.

e) Renewing Your Membership
If you are a current member of your U3A or your membership has been lapsed for less than 12 months, you will be able to renew and pay for your membership on-line if your U3A has enabled this function (see 10.2.1).

Revision History

v1		Graeme Bunting	First version.
v2	2021-08-10	Lyn Bossons	Photo sizing information (part (d)) amended.
v3	2022-09-03	Graham Tigg	Mention familiar name works as well as forename for logging in
v4	2022-09-22	Graham Tigg	More information on the Security Question