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How do I create a membership form?

The Membership Wizard helps you create a membership by taking you step-by-step through the creation process. Navigating the wizard is easy. You will see a series of light blue tabs which are the main navigation sections, with subsections displayed as grey tabs.

Before creating a membership, ensure that a profile exists for the coordinator assigned to your membership.

Begin creating your membership form, clicking Update & Next after completing each page to continue building the membership form. When finished, click Save as Draft to save the membership in the Draft folder, to complete the profile later or to activate the form. Or, click Save as Active, if the membership is already in your active folder.




Step 1 - Add membership details Back to Top
  1. Click Membership to view the Main Menu of this service.
  2. From the Setup section, click Memberships.
  3. Click Add a Membership. This will take you to the Membership Details page.
  4. Choose a Membership Coordinator from the drop-down list. The coordinator's contact information will be displayed in the confirmation email sent to new members. The coordinator will also receive copies of each confirmation emails.
  5. Enter a Membership Name.
  6. Enter a Membership Price, and select the currency.
    • This is the price shown on the registration form.
    • For free memberships, set the price to $0.
    • To offer a discounted rate for a multi-period sign-up, create a separate membership form. For example: If a one year membership is $100, signing up for three years at once might be discounted $250. To show this, create two membership forms: 1 year for $100; and 3 years for $250.
  7. Specify the Membership Duration. The duration can be set to expire on a specific date or elapse after a certain time period. You can also limit member sign-up to a specific time period. You can change the duration of a membership form at any time. GiftTool tracks which duration was agreed to by each member.

    Choose whether the Membership Duration period...

    • Begins on the day when the member joins:

      Set the duration period with 12 months and 0 days for an annual membership duration. Setting the days to 0 days sets the renewal date for the same day of the month as each member joined. Leave both fields blank for lifetime membership were no renewal is needed .

      This membership duration is most appropriate when:
      • Members are likely to join year-round.
      • Members won't want to wait for their memberships to begin.
      • Staggering the membership renewals generates revenue sooner than waiting for a fixed date.
      • There is an administrative advantage to staggering membership renewals throughout the year.
    • Begins and ends on fixed dates:

      Use the calendar icons to set fixed start and end dates, restricting membership to a specific block of calendar dates. Note, the End Date is the LAST day that the membership is valid. So if you set an end date of 2009-11-31, the membership will still be valid on that day, only expiring on the following day 2009-12-01.

      This membership duration is most appropriate when:
      • The membership applies to a time-specific event.
      • Waiting for a membership to begin is not important.
      • There is an administrative advantage to concentrating membership renewals during a specific time period.
  8. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 2 - Add membership description Back to Top

From the Description tab of the Setup section:

  1. Enter your Membership Description.
    • You can use the HTML editor to add text attributes, paragraph formatting, images, links, embedded videos and colours to your description.
    • Create a table to position an image beside a block of text.
    • When pasting text from a Microsoft document, use the "Paste as Plain Text" icon and format your text with the HTML editor icons.
  2. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 3 - Add member information fields Back to Top

Include fields that you want members to fill out during the registration process. You can collect additional information later in the setup process, on the Additional Info tab.

From the Member Information tab of the Setup section:

  1. Start by clicking the Default button to populate the Text Shown boxes. You can now customize this text shown on your registration form to better suit your needs.
  2. Check Include beside each information field you wish to include in your form.
  3. Check both Include and Required if the information field must be completed by the member.
    • Included fields are optional until the Required box is checked.
    • The member's email, password and state/country are required to process the membership and calculate taxes. These fields cannot be unchecked.
    • You do not need to delete the text fields that are not included.
  4. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.

 

Step 4 - Optional: Enable member access for pending members Back to Top

Optionally, allow pending members full access to member login and member authentication for event registration, before their offline payment is received and their membership activated.

If this box is left unchecked, then members will only have member access once you have activated their pending membership. 

From the Membership Options tab of the Setup section:

  1. Check Allow Allow members with a pending payment, for this membership, full access to member login and member.
  2. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished, to save your settings to the system.
Step 5 - Add payment options Back to Top

Choose a currency for the membership form, and which taxes to be charged. GiftTool automatically calculates the taxes and adds them to the total amount charged. Aside from credit card payments, you can allow other payment methods where membership is confirmed after offline payment is received. You can also remind registrants of your cancellation policy before they finalize their online registration.

From the Payment Options tab of the Setup section:

  1. Check Allow other prepayment methodsto give members option to pay other than by credit card—for example, by cheque or money order. When choosing this option:
    • Enter the payment options in the text field.
    • Confirm the payee. Your organization's name and address registered with GiftTool is shown as the default recipient. Notify GiftTool if the payee address is not correct.
  2. Choose the Currency for the membership price.
  3. Choose the applicable Taxes to be charged and the location for tax calculations.
  4. Enter the Payment Instructions & Cancellation Policy text that is shown on the payment page of the registration form.
    • This message is displayed before and after payment is completed, as well as, in the confirmation email.
  5. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished, to save your settings to the system.
Step 6 - Optional: Setup a membership card Back to Top

Optionally, configure this section to have a Membership Card automatically included in the on-screen and email confirmation. See sample confirmation and membership card. Membership cards will only be issued to member's paying online by credit card, or for a free membership.

Membership Cards will automatically include the:

  • Name of Membership
  • Expiry Date (not included for Lifetime Memberships with no expiry date)
  • Member ID
  • Member Full Name

From the Membership Card tab of the Setup section:

  1. Click Browse to upload an image of your card, clicking Updateto view the image on the page.
    • See examples of a basic card or a card with a fold.
    • Your image should include a blank section where the member information will automatically appear.
    • To include text on the back of your card, your image can be double the size with a fold line indicating where your member should fold their card once printed.
  2. Change the numbers for the padding to move the text block to the left or down from the top, clicking Update to see the impact on your sample card. See example.
  3. Change the font size, clicking Update to see the impact on your sample card.
  4. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished, to save your settings to the system.
Step 7 - Optional: Add a waiver Back to Top

The Membership Waiver is shown as a link on your registration page. Choose a waiver from the drop-down list, or create a new waiver. You choose whether members must accept the terms of your waiver before registering for the membership.

STEP 1 - Create your Membership Waiver

  1. Click Save to save your Membership created in steps 1-6.
  2. Create your Membership Waiver.

STEP 2 - Attach this waiver to your registration form:

To access the membership setup:  From the Memberships section of the Membership menu, choose Manage and click Change beside the name of the membership.

  1. Click the Waiver tab of the Setup section.
  2. Choose the Waiver from the drop-down list.
  3. Enter the Link Text that you want members to see when they visit this page (such as: View Waiver).
  4. If you Require registrants to accept the waiver before proceeding with registration, choose this option.
    • Enter the Waiver Section Heading in the text field (such as: Membership Waiver).
    • Enter the Instructions that are shown above the event waiver (such as: I have reviewed and accept the following Terms and Conditions:). Your actual waiver will be displayed below these instructions.
  5. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished, to save your settings to the system.
Step 8 - Optional: Add a donation section Back to Top

If membership is to a charitable organization, include a donation option in your registration form to be shown to members.  This optional donation is in addition to any membership fees charged. 

From the Donations tab: 

  1. Choose Include a Donation section.
    This adds a donation section to the registration form.
  2. [Optional] For Registered United Kingdom (UK) Charities only: check the box to display the Gift Aid declaration.
  3. Enter the Donation Section Name [such as: Additional Donation].
  4. Enter Donation Instructions in the text field.
  5. Check the Onetime Donation frequency.  You can also check the Monthly or Quarterly option, if you wish to offer the opportunty to join your recurring giving programs.
  6. [Optional] Enter a confirmation message (such as: Thank you for your donation. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.).
  7. Determine if donations are tax deductible.
    • For Registered Canadian charities:
      • Select this option to automatically issue eTax Receipts.
      • Click Default to populate the email used when sending the eTax Receipt, modifying the text to your needs.
      • Optionally, set a minimum contribution amount below which a tax receipt will not be issued.
    • For Registered US 501(c)3 charities
      • Select this option to automatically display the following tax receipt message:
        Please print this receipt for your records. Our organization is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. As no goods or services were received, your donation is fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
      • Optionally, set a minimum contribution amount below which a tax receipt will not be issued.
  8. Click Update & Next to continue; or Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.
Step 9 - Optional: Ask additional questions Back to Top

Many types of information you may want to gather from members don't fall neatly into the member information fields. GiftTool gives you a way to gather that information as part of the registration process, automatically tabulates the answers, and allows you to put the results to use immediately.

  1. On the Ask Questions tab, select your Question Type from the drop down menu and click Add Question.
    • Multiple Choice: Allows you to collect a multiple choice answer using radio buttons or a drop-down list; or collect all answers that apply with Multi-select check boxes.
    • Text / Numeric: Allows you to collect a Text answer, a Number answer, a Dollar amount answer or a Percentage answer.
  2. If you run out of spaces for the multiple choice options, click Add another choice.
  3. Click Save Question.
  4. You can modify the order in which your questions will be displayed by clicking on the up or down arrows.
  5. Click Save as Draft/Active when finished to save your settings to the system.



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