Learn how to set up membership levels and terms, including sub-membership levels and terms, to begin establishing memberships for your organization. This step-by-step guide will help you set up your membership levels and terms in Neon CRM.

Important Note

Before you set up your membership levels and terms, it is recommended you first edit the membership settings for your organization. These settings set the parameters for all memberships. See the Recommended Reading Before You Begin section above for more information on this process. After these settings are made, you may then create your membership levels and terms. After the membership levels and terms are set for your organization, you may then begin creating memberships for constituents.

What are Membership Levels?

Membership Levels are the various "degrees" you may offer potential members. For example, you may choose to have three membership levels, such as Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Each level will then have its own price and number of benefit offerings, as applicable to your organization.

What are Membership Terms?

Membership Terms are the various prices and date ranges designated for each Membership Level. For example, a "Gold" level membership may cost $100 for a 1-year period or $50 for a 6-month period, while a "Silver" level membership may cost $50 for a 1-year period or $25 for a 6-month period. In other words, Membership Terms refer to the price and length of each Membership Level.

Navigating to Membership Levels and Terms

To navigate to the membership levels and terms settings in Neon CRM:

1. Select the Settings cog in the upper right corner of the page and then select Global Settings on the drop-down menu.

2. Select Levels & Terms under the Memberships heading on the Global Settings page (as seen in the zoomed-in image below).

You now arrive at the Membership Levels & Terms page (as seen below).

Creating a Membership Level

Note: You must first set up a Membership Level before you can set up the Membership Terms for that Membership Level, as outlined in the processes below.

To create a Membership Level:

1. Select New Membership on the Membership Levels & Terms page.

2. On the System Settings: New Membership page (as seen below) complete the following field(s) as described under the image below:

Name: This is the only required field on this page. Enter a name for the Membership Level you are adding. (Note: If you intend to have "tiers" of Membership Levels, such as Gold, Silver, and Bronze, it is recommended to make your Membership Level Name clearly describe the Membership Level it represents - for example, "Gold Membership" or "Silver Membership - 1 year/$50" rather than "Membership 1", etc.)
Code: The Code field is used for internal purposes only; it is an optional field. You may assign each Membership Level a specific code for internal tracking purposes. You may skip this field, as applicable.
Rank: You may assign a Rank to each Membership Level, if applicable; it is an optional field. Neon CRM can track if a constituent has upgraded or downgraded their membership level if you assign each Membership Level a specific rank. Note: The lowest numbers listed on the Rank field's drop-down menu (as seen below) represent the lowest Membership Level rank. The higher the Rank number, the higher the Membership Level assigned to that rank. For example, if you have three levels - Gold, Silver, and Bronze - with Gold being the highest membership level, you would give the Gold Level rank 3, the Silver Level rank 2, and the Bronze Level rank 1.
Type: You have three options for the Membership Type, as follows (per the image below):
1. No Group Membership: Refers to a single entity, such as a single individual or a company with no additional contact memberships. Thus, this option does not allow "child" members, or sub-members.
2. Company Group Membership: Allows one company to establish a membership and then add additional company contacts (such as employees) as "child" members, or sub-members, on the membership. Each sub-member will receive their own account in Neon CRM and will also be added as a Company Contact on the primary member's account (typically, the company's account).
  - Note: Per the image below, when you select "Company Group Membership" in the Type drop-down field, two additional fields appear. Enter and/or select information in these fields as follows:
    - In the Max # of Sub-Members field - Enter the maximum number of sub-members your organization will allow on one company membership (note: you must enter a number in this field if you wish to allow sub-members; if you leave this field blank or enter zero, you will not be able to add sub-members to the membership).
    - In the Sub-Membership available to drop-down field - Select whether you wish to allow "Current Employees" only or "All Contacts" as sub-members on the company membership.
3. Household Group Membership: Allows one individual to establish a membership and then add additional household contacts (such as a spouse or children) as "child" members, or sub-members, on the membership. Each sub-member will receive their own account in Neon CRM and will also be added as a Household Contact on the primary member's account.
  - Note: Per the image below, when you select "Household Group Membership" in the Type drop-down field, one additional field appears, the Max # of Sub-Members field. Enter the maximum number of sub-members your organization will allow on one household membership (you must enter a number in this field if you wish to allow sub-members; if you leave this field blank or enter zero, you will not be able to add sub-members to the membership).
Status: You may decide to set the associated Membership Level to Active or Inactive status. Note: In most cases, this field will be left in the default position of Active.

3. Select Next once all applicable fields have been completed.

The Membership Level has now been created, and the Membership overview page appears (as seen in the image below). On this page, you may:

Select Edit Membership if you wish to make changes to the Membership Level.
Select Return to Membership List in the upper right corner to return to the main Membership Levels & Terms page as seen in Step 1. You can then repeat Steps 1-3 to add additional Membership Levels.
Select New Membership Term to add the Membership Term to this Membership Level (this process is covered in the next section of this article).

Creating Membership Terms

Note: You must first set up a Membership Level before you can set up the Membership Terms for that Membership Level. You may choose to add the Membership Terms to a Membership Level immediately after you create a Membership Level. In that case, you would begin where the process in the previous section ended. For this guide, however, let's begin on the Membership Levels & Terms page.

To create Membership Terms:

1. Select Edit next to the Membership Level to which you wish to add Membership Terms.

2. Select Next on the System Settings: Edit Membership page. This page displays the Membership Level information.

3. Select New Membership Term on the Membership overview page (notice the Membership Level information is displayed at the top of the page).

The Membership Term/Pricing page now appears. As this is a very large, long page, it cannot be fully shown in this guide. As such, this guide will review and complete each section of the page separately from top to bottom.

Section 1: Membership Term Type & Auto-Renewal

1. Select the Membership Term Type, namely, whether the membership term fee will be paid as a one-time, one lump-sum or in monthly installments. For the monthly installment option, online payment is required. The credit card or bank account will be charged the monthly amount until the final payment is made for the term.

2. Select the applicable option on whether you require auto-renewal for the membership term. This option is only available if you select the one-time, one lump-sum payment option. Note: It is best practice to leave this field as "No" in order to avoid the appearance that your organization is forcing or "tricking" constituents into renewing their memberships.

Section 2: Membership Term - Join

The information you configure in the Membership Term - Join section defines the Membership Terms for first-time members (also for "Rejoin" members - see the "Membership Grace Period" section in the Editing Membership Settings guide linked at the beginning of this guide). Complete each field as follows:

Display Name: Enter the name for the specific Membership Term you are configuring. This is also the name that will display on your Membership Form. It is recommended to have the name be descriptive, such as "1 Year Gold Pass" or similar language.

Fee: Enter the price a constituent must pay for the membership term.

Term: Enter the length of time the membership will last before expiring. Unless you select the Life option, in the first field, enter a number (or the term duration), and in the drop-down menu, select the term unit (month, year, etc.).

Allow members to enter their own membership payment amount online: Select this checkbox if you wish to allow constituents to determine how much they wish to pay for the membership. The amount must be equal to or larger than the amount set in the Fee field. This option is only available if you selected the Membership Term Type of a one-time, lump-sum payment.

(Legacy) Hide this membership term online: This option only applies to legacy membership forms.

Non-Deductible Amount: Adjust, if you wish, the non-deductible amount for the membership. By default, the amount you enter in the Fee field will automatically populate into this field. You may adjust it as needed. Additionally, you may select the Membership is Not Tax-Deductible checkbox and/or add an Amount Description, as applicable.

Section 3 - Membership Term - Renew

This section configures the Membership Terms for a membership renewal. You must configure the "join" and "renew" terms at the same time. As you complete the Membership Term - Join section, as outlined above, you will notice the same information you enter in that section will auto-populate into the corresponding fields in the Membership Term - Renew section. There are a few notes about this section, as follows:

1. You may adjust the renewal information as needed. For example, if you wish to have the renewal fee differ from the join fee, you may adjust it in this section.

2. In the Display Name field, the same name you enter in the Display Name field in the "join" section will auto-populate into this field in the "renew" section. As you can see above, the display name in this section will automatically include "(Renew)" after the name.

3. You cannot adjust the Term in the "renew" section. The length of the "join" and "renew" terms must be the same.

Section 4 - Membership Settings

This section only appears if you select the Membership Term Type of one-time, one-lump sum payment. The settings here are also a few of the settings you may edit as outlined in the Editing Membership Settings guide linked at the beginning of this guide. In most instances, you will use the default options.

Once you have completed all the applicable above sections, select Submit at the bottom of the page. You will then see the Membership overview page (as shown below). This page displays the Membership Level at the top of the page and the Membership Terms at the bottom of the page. Notice there are two Membership Terms displayed, the "join" and "renew" terms. These terms will always appear as a pair. You may add additional Membership Terms to this Membership Level (i.e. a Gold, a Silver, and a Bronze level) by selecting New Membership Terms and repeating the process above. A Membership Level may have as many Membership Terms as needed for your organization. If you have more than one Membership Level, ensure to configure the Membership Terms for those levels as well.

Creating Sub-Membership Terms

If your Membership Level allows for sub-members (i.e. the Type field in the Membership Levels settings is set to either Company Group Membership or Household Group Membership), you must also set Membership Terms for the sub-memberships. To create Sub-Membership Terms, you must have already, 1) created the Membership Level and also, 2) created the Membership Terms (as described above) before you can create Sub-Membership Terms.

To create Sub-Membership Terms, let's begin on the Membership overview page (as seen in the image above). In most circumstances you will add the Sub-Membership Terms immediately after creating the Membership Terms; so, let's begin where the previous section (Creating Membership Terms) ended.

To create Sub-Membership Terms:

1. Select Add Sub-Member Terms in the Join Membership Term line.

You will now see the Membership Term/Pricing page. This page is virtually identical to the page you saw when you set up the Membership Terms. As this is a very large, long page, it cannot be fully shown in this guide. As such, this guide will review and complete each section of the page separately from top to bottom.

Section 1 - Membership Term Type

Note: This section will match the selections made in the Membership Terms. You cannot change any of this information for sub-members, as you can see some of the information in the above image is grayed out.

Section 2 - Membership Term - Join

Again, this section is identical to the section you completed when creating the Membership Terms. The information you configure in the Membership Term - Join section defines the Sub-Membership Terms for first-time sub-members (also for "Rejoin" sub-members - see the "Membership Grace Period" section in the Editing Membership Settings guide linked at the beginning of this guide). Complete each field as follows:

Display Name: Enter the name for the specific Sub-Membership Term you are configuring. This is also the name that will display on your Membership Form. It is recommended to have the name be descriptive to differentiate this sub-membership from a regular membership, such as "1 year Gold Pass - Household Membership."

Fee: Enter the price a constituent must pay for the Sub-Membership Term.

Term: Enter the length of time the sub-membership will last before expiring. In most cases, the term length will match the Membership Term set in the previous section of this guide. Unless you select the Life option, in the first field, enter a number (or the term duration), and in the drop-down menu, select the term unit (month, year, etc.).

Allow members to enter their own membership payment amount online: Select this checkbox if you wish to allow constituents to determine how much they wish to pay for the sub-membership. In most cases, this information will match the Membership Term set in the previous section of this guide. The amount must be equal to or larger than the amount set in the Fee field. This option is only available if you selected the Membership Term Type of a one-time, lump-sum payment.

(Legacy) Hide this membership term online: This option only applies to legacy membership forms.

Non-Deductible Amount: Adjust, if you wish, the non-deductible amount for the sub-membership. By default, the amount you enter in the Fee field will automatically populate into this field. You may adjust it as needed. Additionally, you may select the Membership is Not Tax-Deductible checkbox and/or add an Amount Description, as applicable.

Section 3 - Membership Term - Renew

Again, this section is identical to the section you completed when creating the Membership Terms. This section configures the Sub-Membership Terms for a sub-membership renewal. You must configure the "join" and "renew" terms at the same time. As you complete the Membership Term - Join section, as outlined above, you will notice the same information you enter in that section will auto-populate into the corresponding fields in the Membership Term - Renew section. There are a few notes about this section, as follows:

1. You may adjust the renewal information as needed. For example, if you wish to have the renewal fee differ from the join fee, you may adjust it in this section.

2. In the Display Name field, the same name you enter in the Display Name field in the "join" section will auto-populate into this field in the "renew" section, but with one difference: the display name in this section will automatically include "(Renew)" after the name.

3. You cannot adjust the Term in the "renew" section. The length of the "join" and "renew" terms must be the same.

You have now created the Sub-Membership Terms for the "Join" Membership Term, as seen in the image below.

4. Select Submit at the bottom of the page.

As you may notice in the above (per the yellow arrow and box), in the "Renew" Membership Term line, there is also an Add Sub-Member Term link. You must select this link and repeat the process just outlined above in the Creating Sub-Membership Terms section. This part of the process may seem confusing since the "renew" sub-membership terms were just created in the above steps. Sub-Membership Terms, however, must be created for every Membership Term (in the image below, the two Membership Terms are the "1 Year Gold Pass" line and the "1 Year Gold Pass (Renew)" line). Thus, to complete this process, select Add Sub-Member Term in the "1 Year Gold Pass (Renew)" line (per the yellow arrow and box in the image above) and repeat the steps as outlined in this section. Once you have completed this process, select Submit at the bottom of the page. You will then see Membership Term and Sub-Membership Term information similar to the image below.

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Setting Membership Levels & Terms

Recommended Reading Before You Begin